Protection of cocoa beans​

A Novel Approach to the Protection of Cocoa Beans by Preventing Free Fatty Acid Formation under Hermetic Storage: Cocoa is a tropical product that grows in climates characterized by hot and humid conditions but under tropical climates storage conditions, because of the high ambient humidity there is a fast degradation of the beans due to micro flora activity which cause rise in the Free Fatty Acid content. An increase in free fatty acids (FFA) content in dry cocoa beans is a significant factor that determines its quality. A storage condition for good quality cocoa beans is 6% MC, but the beans are usually between 7 & 8% MC. Therefore in this project we investigated the beans' quality preservation under hermetic conditions when the beans are at high MC. The technology is applied at the major producers of cocoa are Ghana, Indonesia and in the Ivory Coast where the means are low and the quality is preserved​