Ronaldo Perez

Perfil dos consumidores de hortaliças minimamente processadas de Belo Horizonte

Consumers food consciousness has increased, however, time for preparing healthy food has decreased. Therefore, the market of minimally processed vegetable has increased rapidly, giving rise to the appearance of fresh products that can be prepared and consumed faster than conventional foods. Thus, the objective of this work was to establish the behavior and profile of minimally processed vegetable consumers in supermarkets of Belo Horizonte, Minas Gerais State, Brazil. Based on the answers to a survey, the consumers profile was traced, highlighting preferences, habits, complaints and demands. The survey was conducted with consumers of five supermarkets which sell minimally processed vegetables (MPV). Consumers were chosen randomly when they were buying in November 2004. Of two hundred and forty six interviewed persons, 23% were consumers of MPV. The main reasons for consumption were: easiness and feasibility (46%); short preparation time (21%) of meals and hygiene (11%) of the products; and the main reasons against consumption were: the high price of the precuts (31,9%); easy to prepare and/or to choose (23%) and distrusting (17,8%) the offered products. The major consumers were those with a better education. Comparing the overrating of MPV with other vegetables, a variation of 2,4 (potato) to 39,5 times (carrots) was found. On average the overrating found in markets for eleven MPV was of 10 times.

Análise de arranjos para extração de óleos vegetais e suprimento de usina de biodiesel

This study aimed at the technical-economical evaluation of implanting some vegetal-oil extraction units in order to insert the family agriculture into bio-diesel production chain. Three project models (arrangements) for vegetal-oil extraction units at different sizes were proposed, using extraction by pressing and mixed extraction (extracting by either pressing or solvent) and different raw materials (castor-oil and soybean). For the size analysis, the oil production scales between 50/60 tons/day were used with real market data concerning investments, inputs prices of the process, raw materials and vegetal oil. For the economic analyses, the software BioSoft was used. The BioSoft is a program for supporting the decision-making process, which was developed through analyzing units of bio-diesel production, and it was adapted to evaluate units of vegetal oil extraction. It was concluded that the unit of chemical extraction producing castor and soybean oils shows more satisfactory results. However, this model presents less social return because the number of the families involved is lower, once, in using soybean, it operates with only 50% of raw material deriving from family agriculture.

Indicação geográfica de alimentos e bebidas no Brasil e na União Europeia

Among rights related to intellectual property, the geographical indication (GI) comes up as mean to stimulate the socioeconomic development of a society. Some countries, especially in Europe, for long have been using legal protection provided by GI certification as a way to make their products more competitive, contributing to the development of less favored regions. In Brazil, the subject is, still, recent and needs to be studied in order to be better understood. This justifies a comprehensive review.

Investigação de grupos estratégicos na indústria de latícinios por meio da abordagem multivariada

The objective of this paper was to analyze the strategic group in the industry of dairy products. The study was based in the approach of strategic groups and it used as methodology the multivariate analysis of data. The Factorial Analysis was used for the construction of the strategic components and the cluster analysis was used to define the strategic groups. They participated in the research 188 companies of dairy products of the state of Minas Gerais. The results pointed out the presence of strategic factors in the industry and they made possible to build three strategic groups: Small and Specialized companies; High and Diversified companies and Medium and Differentiated companies.

O processo de reconhecimento das indicações geográficas de alimentos e bebidas brasileiras: regulamento de uso, delimitação da área e diferenciação do produto

The appellations of origin and indication of source are species of geographical indication (GI) provided by the Brazilian industrial property law that could be seen as one of the ways of mobilization and recovering of the rural territories adding value to local products with differentiated quality. This study aimed to characterize the stages of the construction of the regulations of use of GI, the geographical area delimitation, the evidence of reputation and the relationship between product and geographical environment of GIs in Brazil. The survey research was the methodology adopted conducted through semi-structured questionnaires. The results showed that despite the shortcomings of the Brazilian legislation on GIs, several organs has enabled the construction process of the Brazilian GIs acting decisively on the elaboration steps of the regulation of use (universities, NGOs, INPI), on the area delimitation (universities , Embrapa, Emater, IMA), on the evidence of reputation (SEBRAE) and on the relationship between geographical environment and quality (universities). The proof of the influence of the geographical environment on the product qualitative characteristics is currently the main obstacle to the development of appellations of origin in the country.

Caracterização e desempenho logístico das indústrias laticinistas da Zona da Mata e Campo das Vertentes em Minas Gerais, Brasil

In order to evaluate the logistics activity in the dairy companies operating in Zona da Mata and Campo das Vertentes in Minas Gerais, Brazil a research has been promoted on 40 industries that represent the sector assessed. The questionnaire answered by company employees, contained variables that allowed obtaining information about company identification, gathering and distribution logistics, internal management, marketing and commercialization. Factorial statistical analysis was very important to enable the construction of an index representing the logistics performance of each company and was also used to perform the grouping of these industries into 4 groups containing similar characteristics. The index logistics (IL) showed that companies in the study area still need to improve their activities which were measured to make the logistics a competitive advantage. Moreover, the groups formed also allowed to evaluate that is not enough the improvement at only a part of logistics activities, but is necessary to improve the set of variables that can positively influence the final result in the logistics competitiveness and leadership.

Análise colorimetrica de açúcar mascavo e sua aceitação no mercado de viçosa-MG, Brasil

Brazil is known for its sugar cane production. Raw sugar is produced by artisanal farmers. As a result of artisanal production, raw sugar is diverse in color. The aim of this study was to analyze raw sugar color and its sensory acceptance in the market of Vicosa, Minas Gerais, Brazil. Colorimetric tests (CIELAB) were done. The results were analyzed by multivariate analysis, similarity and dissimilarity measurements and clustering techniques (GENES software). Two samples of raw sugar commercialized by Associacao Riobranquense de Produtores de Rapadura, Acucar Mascavo, Aguardente e Melado (ARPRAM), eleven samples produced of his associates and six samples from commercial brands were colorimetrically analyzed. Three representative samples of dark, semi-dark and light color were chosen to test color sensory acceptance. This assessment used a nine point hedonic scale. Of the 19 samples analyzed, 13 had visible color differences. Samples with the highest dissimilarity were from a producer and from ARPRAM, with 16.47 Euclidean distance. Samples with greatest similarity were from ARPRAM and from a commercial brand with 0.44 Euclidean distance. There was no significant difference in color sensory acceptance among the tested raw sugar samples. Colorimetric analysis confirmed a lack of color uniformity among the samples produced and marketed by ARPRAM and from the commercial brand. However, differences in color did not influence the sensory acceptance of raw sugar among consumers

PROPOSTA LOCACIONAL PARA UNIDADES DE PROCESSAMENTO DE MAMONA PELA AGRICULTURA FAMILIAR, NO CENTRO NORTE DO ESTADO DA BAHIA.

Este trabalho avalia locais para instalacao de unidades de producao de oleo vegetal de mamona na regiao centro-norte do estado da Bahia. Na regiao existem 55 municipios produtores de mamona, e a cidade de Candeias sera o destino do oleo vegetal produzido, em razao da instalacao da unidade de producao de biodiesel da PETROBRAS. Com a finalidade de garantir a participacao da agricultura familiar, o estudo considera unidades de processamento de pequena escala, com capacidades de processamento de 7,5 e 22,5 toneladas/dia de mamona. Para a solucao, desenvolveu-se um modelo matematico, utilizando o software XPRESS MP Release, 2007, considerando as producoes nos municipios, as distâncias entre as areas de producao agricola e as cidades candidatas ao esmagamento, e destas ate a usina de producao de biodiesel. Como resultado, obteve-se a indicacao de oito cidades potenciais para instalacao de plantas de producao de oleo vegetal, de forma a minimizar o custo logistico.