Optimization of osmotic dehydration of pineapple (Ananas comosus L.) using the response surface methodology

<p class="MsoNormal" style="text-align: justify; line-height: normal; margin: 0cm 0cm 0pt; mso-layout-grid-align: none;"><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: MinionPro-Regular; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">The response surface methodology was used to optimize the effects of temperature (25 - 45</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: MinionPro-Regular; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Cambria Math'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">⁰</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: MinionPro-Regular; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">C) and citric acid concentration (0.5 - 2.5% w/w) in osmotic dehydration of pineapple in a sucrose solution. A 32 factorial design was used with weight loss (WL, %), moisture loss (ML, %) and solid gain (SG, %) as responses. The models obtained for all the responses were significant (<em>P</em>≤0.05) without a significant lack of fit. The results suggest that WL, ML and SG can reach 42.62%, 36.54% and 292.16% respectively, after 4 to 6 h of the process, with 100% sensory acceptance and reductions in microbial counts of more than two log cycles, using the conditions defined by the optimization (44.99</span><span style="font-family: "Cambria Math","serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: MinionPro-Regular; mso-bidi-font-family: 'Cambria Math'; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">⁰</span><span style="font-family: "Arial","sans-serif"; font-size: 10pt; mso-fareast-font-family: MinionPro-Regular; mso-ansi-language: EN-US;" lang="EN-US">C and 2.48% citric acid).</span></p>