Utilização tecnológica da curcuma longa em alimentos e suas propriedades funcionais: um diagnóstico da produção científica

Abstract

The general objective of this work was to carry out a scientific mapping analysis on the use of Curcuma longa as a food coloring and its functional and antioxidant properties. Turmeric (Curcuma longa L.) is a monocot plant belonging to the Zingiberaceae Family and is considered a spice plant. In Brazil it is popularly known as saffron, saffron, turmeric, turmeric and golden ginger. Turmeric is mostly commercialized in the form of powder, it contains essential oils of excellent technical and organoleptic qualities, with proven antioxidant and antimicrobial characteristics. In the food industry, the participation of turmeric is increasing as a colorant for various products. The methodology used was a bibliometric analysis in the Web of Science Database through Capes Periodicals and later this survey was analyzed in RStudio, a free tool. 547 publications addressing the keywords were identified, the filter was made relating turmeric to food and functional properties and 57 publications were found, which were analyzed in this work. A greater increase can be observed from 2015, with a decrease from 2017 and growth in publications from 2019, and in this period the maximum number of publications was 10 documents, increasing from 1 to 10 in 2021. It is noticed that the last three years were the most productive for the researched theme. The justification for this increase in publications may reflect the growing concern of organizations and research institutions to develop products with natural dyes rather than artificial ones. Brazil stands out in second place with 8 publications, showing that, although there is still a small number of records, Brazil is concerned about the development of research involving saffron and production. The words Turmeric, Curcuma longa were the most used by the researchers. But other words can also be observed as powder, antioxidant, quality. The two most relevant countries in research with Curcuma longa are Brazil and India, but there is little international collaboration on this topic by Brazilian researchers. The research collaboration network on this topic is centralized between African, European and Asian countries.