Sustainable design of a local industrial process for obtaining a tuna leaf drink

Abstract

 In Ecuador, the fruit of the prickly pear is consumed, however, the leaves or cladodes are discarded without taking advantage of their main components. The purpose of this study is to prepare a prickly pear leaf drink (Opuntia ficus-indica) through a sustainable industrial production design for the town of Guano, producing a good quality product that contributes to local development of the canton. The socioeconomic characterization was carried out through focus groups and social methodology, while the physicochemical characterization of the raw material and the final product was carried out in a private laboratory. With the results, it was determined that this drink has social acceptance, because it uses as raw material a local component known to the population and whose process does not generate negative impacts. Its acceptance is based on the fact that, when the tuna leaf is processed, it does not lose any of its nutritional components, it is a harmless product with innumerable antioxidant and detoxifying properties. The project consists of a socioeconomic analysis and a process of industrialization of the drink that consists of the following stages: reception, inspection and selection of the raw material, deboning, washing, peeling and pulping, chopping, homogenizing, shaking and mixing, filtering, pasteurizing, adding additives, packaging and labeling. In the experimental development, four formulations for the drink were obtained, by applying a sensory analysis of affective judges, it was determined that the peach flavor formulation is the most accepted in the study social group.