Análise e otimização do funcionamento do sistema de aromatização de batata frita

O presente relatório de estágio foi elaborado no âmbito da unidade curricular de Estágio Profissionalizante do Mestrado em Engenharia Alimentar, lecionado na Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, e decorreu no período de 18 de janeiro a 18 de julho de 2016 (6 meses). O estágio foi realizado nas instalações da Sociedade Industrial de Aperitivos S.A., empresa localizada no distrito de Coimbra e no concelho de Montemor-o-Velho, em Tentúgal, cuja base de negócio é a produção e comercialização de batatas fritas embaladas. O presente trabalho teve como objetivo o estudo do método analítico utilizado na quantificação do teor de sal/aroma no produto acabado (que consiste na medição de iões cloretos, através de uma titulação potenciométrica), de forma a validá-lo, a conhecer as variáveis que o afetam e os desvios que estão associados a cada medição. Com a validação do método de quantificação de cloretos, uma das conclusões mais importante foi o facto de o tempo de agitação da solução das batatas fritas artesanais reduzir de 10 para 6 minutos, sendo esta redução bastante benéfica para o trabalho diário em laboratório. Por sua vez, também se iniciou um estudo de otimização de alguns parâmetros do sistema de aromatização, com o objetivo de tornar a alimentação do produto aos tambores de aromatização mais uniforme. Para tal, primeiramente efetuou-se um estudo acerca da estabilidade do sistema de aromatização, tendo-se concluído que os tambores de aromatização mais instáveis são os de fim de linha (tambores 3 e 6) por não trabalharem de forma contínua. Por este motivo estudaram-se dois parâmetros do sistema de aromatização (tempo de paragem e arranque do transportador secundário) referentes ao tambor 6, de modo a encontrar a melhor relação entre o tempo de funcionamento do tambor e a altura de camada de produto a aromatizar. Os tempos do transportador que mais se adequam à otimização pretendida são o tempo de paragem de 5 segundos e o tempo de arranque de 2 segundos. Ao longo do período de estágio também foi possível conhecer e caracterizar o processo industrial de produção e embalamento de batata frita, bem como ter contacto com os parâmetros que o influenciam, tendo-se, para o efeito, procedido a um acompanhamento das linhas de produção. No decorrer deste trabalho foram cumpridos todos os objetivos propostos para o estágio, não só no que diz respeito às tarefas concretas que foram definidas no início, como também os objetivos de âmbito mais lato, que têm a ver com a experiência adquirida no dia-a-dia de trabalho numa empresa com a dimensão da SIA. Palavras-chave: Aromatização, Batata, Cloretos, Fritura.This internship report has been prepared within the course of the Master Professional Training program of the master’s degree in Food Engineering, lectured at the Escola Superior Agrária de Coimbra, which took place from 18 January to 18 July 2016 (6 months). The internship was carried out at the premises of Sociedade Industrial de Aperitivos S.A., company located in the district of Coimbra and Montemor-o-Velho municipality, in Tentugal, whose business base is the production and marketing of packaged chips. This study aimed to acknowledge the analytical method used to quantify the salt content/flavor in the finished product (consisting in the measurement of chloride ions across a potentiometric titration), in order to validate and recognize the variables that affect it, and the deviations that are associated with each measurement. With the validation of the quantification of chlorides method, one of the most significant conclusions was that the time of stirring the solution of hand-cut chips dropped from 10 to 6 minutes, being this a very valuable time reduction for daily work in the laboratory. On the other hand, was also initiated an optimization study of some parameters of the aromatization system, in order to achieve a more uniform feeding at the flavoring fillers. For this, it was performed in a first place a study on the stability of the flavoring system, and it was concluded that the more volatile flavoring fillers are at the end of the production line (fillers 3 and 6) for not work continuously. Therefore, two parameters of the flavoring system were investigated (stop and start time of the secondary carrier) related to the filler 6, in order to find the best relationship between the operating time of the filler and the height of the product. The carrier time best suited to the desired optimization are 5 seconds, and to 2 seconds to the startup time. During the internship period it was also possible to identify and characterize the industrial production and packaging process of potato chips, have contact with the factors that influence it, carried out, for this purpose, a monitoring of the production lines. In the course of this work, all the objectives proposed for the internship were fulfilled, not only regarding to the precise tasks that were set at the beginning, but the broader scope of the objectives as well, which have to do with the experience acquired in the day-to-day work in a company with the magnitude of SIA. Key-words: Flavoring, Potato chips, Chlorides, Frying

Health-status outcomes with invasive or conservative care in coronary disease

BACKGROUND In the ISCHEMIA trial, an invasive strategy with angiographic assessment and revascularization did not reduce clinical events among patients with stable ischemic heart disease and moderate or severe ischemia. A secondary objective of the trial was to assess angina-related health status among these patients. METHODS We assessed angina-related symptoms, function, and quality of life with the Seattle Angina Questionnaire (SAQ) at randomization, at months 1.5, 3, and 6, and every 6 months thereafter in participants who had been randomly assigned to an invasive treatment strategy (2295 participants) or a conservative strategy (2322). Mixed-effects cumulative probability models within a Bayesian framework were used to estimate differences between the treatment groups. The primary outcome of this health-status analysis was the SAQ summary score (scores range from 0 to 100, with higher scores indicating better health status). All analyses were performed in the overall population and according to baseline angina frequency. RESULTS At baseline, 35% of patients reported having no angina in the previous month. SAQ summary scores increased in both treatment groups, with increases at 3, 12, and 36 months that were 4.1 points (95% credible interval, 3.2 to 5.0), 4.2 points (95% credible interval, 3.3 to 5.1), and 2.9 points (95% credible interval, 2.2 to 3.7) higher with the invasive strategy than with the conservative strategy. Differences were larger among participants who had more frequent angina at baseline (8.5 vs. 0.1 points at 3 months and 5.3 vs. 1.2 points at 36 months among participants with daily or weekly angina as compared with no angina). CONCLUSIONS In the overall trial population with moderate or severe ischemia, which included 35% of participants without angina at baseline, patients randomly assigned to the invasive strategy had greater improvement in angina-related health status than those assigned to the conservative strategy. The modest mean differences favoring the invasive strategy in the overall group reflected minimal differences among asymptomatic patients and larger differences among patients who had had angina at baseline

Initial invasive or conservative strategy for stable coronary disease

BACKGROUND Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, whether clinical outcomes are better in those who receive an invasive intervention plus medical therapy than in those who receive medical therapy alone is uncertain. METHODS We randomly assigned 5179 patients with moderate or severe ischemia to an initial invasive strategy (angiography and revascularization when feasible) and medical therapy or to an initial conservative strategy of medical therapy alone and angiography if medical therapy failed. The primary outcome was a composite of death from cardiovascular causes, myocardial infarction, or hospitalization for unstable angina, heart failure, or resuscitated cardiac arrest. A key secondary outcome was death from cardiovascular causes or myocardial infarction. RESULTS Over a median of 3.2 years, 318 primary outcome events occurred in the invasive-strategy group and 352 occurred in the conservative-strategy group. At 6 months, the cumulative event rate was 5.3% in the invasive-strategy group and 3.4% in the conservative-strategy group (difference, 1.9 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.8 to 3.0); at 5 years, the cumulative event rate was 16.4% and 18.2%, respectively (difference, 121.8 percentage points; 95% CI, 124.7 to 1.0). Results were similar with respect to the key secondary outcome. The incidence of the primary outcome was sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction; a secondary analysis yielded more procedural myocardial infarctions of uncertain clinical importance. There were 145 deaths in the invasive-strategy group and 144 deaths in the conservative-strategy group (hazard ratio, 1.05; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.32). CONCLUSIONS Among patients with stable coronary disease and moderate or severe ischemia, we did not find evidence that an initial invasive strategy, as compared with an initial conservative strategy, reduced the risk of ischemic cardiovascular events or death from any cause over a median of 3.2 years. The trial findings were sensitive to the definition of myocardial infarction that was used