The Cassava Processing Industry in Brazil: Traditional Techniques, Technological Developments, Innovations and New Markets

Abstract

The paper considers the evolution of cassava-based industrial production, processing and marketing in Brazil, in light of the great technological diversification to be found in Brazil. It discusses the private role of the small-and medium-scale food and related processing enterprises in the food industry, as they employ cassava in producing an array of products associated with the various domestic economic classes, as well as the export market. The paper discusses new products and markets and the development of the R&D establishment to support these new growth potentials.

A review of root, tuber and banana crops in developing countries: past, present and future

“…In Asia, output boomed in SEA driven by exports of dried cassava chips as feed initially, then starch and now a complex variety of distinct processed products (Cenpukdee et al ., 1992; Parmar et al ., 2017). In LAC, cassava utilisation historically has been more for human consumption and on‐farm use as animal feed than for processing into starch with the latter concentrated in Colombia, Brazil and Paraguay (Scott et al ., 1992; Chuzel, 2001; Henry & Hershey, 2002; Demiate & Kotovicz, 2011; FAO, 2015). Recent trends have been more unsettled due to, among other contributing factors, the steady rise in the production and/or imports of substitutes such as maize and the decline in cassava output in Brazil, the region’s predominant producer.…”

Cassava Production and Processing and Impact on Biological Compounds

“…Most productions include the following steps: washing, peeling, grating, pressing, sieving, and roasting. However, in the Amazon region the whole roots may first be retted ("farinha de aqua") or the pulp may be fermented (Chuzel, 2001).…”

“…These include "mingao" (fermented starch dissolved in boiling water and flavored with fruits) and "cassareep" or "tucupay" (juice pressed from tubers, with added spices and concentrated) (Balagopalan, 2002), and the fermented alcoholic beverage "carixi" made from a mixture of cassava and sweet potatoes by the Juruna people of Brazil (Santos et al, 2012). An overview of cassava root based food products world-wide may be gained from various reviews (Balagopalan, 2002;Chuzel, 2001;Gnonlonfin et al, 2012;Moorthy and Mathew, 1998;Westby, 2002).…”

<b>Filamentous fungi producing enzymes under fermentation in cassava liquid waste

“…In Brazil, the northeast region is the main producer of cassava, and have hundreds of flour houses dedicated to the production of cassava flour low volumes (Serviço Brasileiro de Apoio às Micro e Pequenas Empresas [Sebrae], 2012). Considering that, in the production of cassava flour, an average of 300 liters of manipueira per ton of processed root is generated, with about 50 g L -1 of COD (Chemical Oxygen Demand) and 140 ppm of hydrocyanic acid (Chuzel, 2001), the region Northeast is also largest generator of this waste, in Brazil. In order to minimize the environmental impacts resulting from the inappropriate disposal of cassava liquid waste in soils and water sources, studies have been developed to reuse this residue, including the use of this residue as a carbon source for microbial cultivation and obtention of biotechnological products of interest: Leonel and Cereda (1995) verified the biosynthesis of citric acid by Aspergillus niger; Barros, de Quadros, and Pastore (2008) reported biosurfactant production by Bacillus subtilis LB5a; Oliveira et al (2013) used cassava liquid waste as source of carbon for the production of 2phenylethanol by Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Kluyveromyces marxianus and Geotrichum fragrans.…”