Abstract  

Ecuador is considered one of the richest countries regarding biodiversity and its Amazon region guests several flora and fauna species. Cacao (Theobroma Cacao) is a tropical fruit with high commercial and biological importance due to the presence of polyphenols with antioxidant activity. In the present work cocoa polyphenols (Theobroma cacao) are used as natural Amazonian antioxidant in sausage fresh. Experimental units of sausage samples with different percentages (0, 2, 4, 6%) of cocoa polyphenols in the formulation with an experimental size of 5 kg were made; once the sausage was prepared, samples of 100 g were taken to perform sensory analysis and 100 g of samples destined for microbiological analysis. The microbiological analysis was performed on each sample of the formulated product, analyzes on the newly elaborated samples (1 day of elaboration) and an analysis with samples was developed after an estimated time (30 days) to assess the differences and active action of the antioxidant as a natural Amazonian preservative were performed. 15 people evaluated sensory characteristics to the sausage samples through a tasting test. As main results the natural antioxidants use allows prolonging the product shelf life, which results in an increase in color stability, since it prevents the transition from myoglobin to metamyoglobin, as well as maintaining its organoleptic conditions unalterable, slowing down oxidative phenomena such as product rancidity or increasing resistance to bacterial growth, since antioxidants of polyphenolic nature have antimicrobial activity.