**2. Geographical distribution of apple agroindustries**

The cultivation of apples is found in diverse temperate climates around the world, in both hemispheres but with a greater distribution in the northern hemisphere. In the first decade of the twenty-first century, in a situation with many global changes taking place, the five biggest producers of fruit are those known by the acronym BRICS (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa).

Characterization of Apple Pectin – A Chromatographic Approach 327

systems, with the solution of problems of overheating solved by setting branches at angles, which demonstrates the practical aspects of the solutions. The development of growth regulators and genomics shows the dependence on current scientific development [9].

In the apple processing industry the principal products are apple juice and fermented products such as cider and vinegar. In some countries (France, Spain, Switzerland and England), genetically improved fruit are used with special physical and chemical characteristics in order to standardize products, which are called 'industrial apples'. On the other hand, the production of apples generates a discarding process both at the time of harvest and in the classification process for the fresh market. These discarded apples can

These discarded fruits are taken for processing to extract the juice or must. In Brazilian companies, besides the mixture of cultivars, there are fruits in different stages of ripening (from pre-maturation to senescence) and with possible phytopathological defects due to high temperatures (25-35°C) at harvest time. This occurs in summer and fruit for processing is stored externally, as in Europe, but the temperature at harvesting time in France is 7-15ºC

Various technologies can be used in the extraction of apple juice. The system of continuous press is the most used, but in small companies discontinuous vertical hydraulic presses are also used. The addition of pectinolytic enzymes and maceration may increase the extraction yield either by pressing or centrifuging. However, the use of enzymes should not alter the physical-chemical parameters established by international legislation or the standards of

In the process of extracting the juice or must a by-product is produced, which is known as apple pomace. This residue can represent 20-35% of the production. The yield of pomace that is generated and its composition will depend upon the cultivars, their stage of

Traditional stabilization technology takes into account that apple pomace is an agroindustrial residue with a view to the fact that its disposal creates environmental problems of high cost. However, apple pomace is an interesting material that has attracted considerable attention as a potential source of dietary sugar, fiber, phenolic compounds and pectin.

These products can be used for many purposes in the pharmaceutical, cosmetics and food industries. The commercial production of apples in Brazil, based on only two cultivars, was designed to meet highly demanding customer requirements both with respect to quality and the retail prices of table fruit, and more recently the industrial product, either as juice or in a fermented form. Industrial apple pomace has in its composition all the constituents of the

**3. Principal products from apples** 

[11].

**3.1. Apple pomace** 

vary from between 10 to 30% of total production [10].

each company that will use the juice or must [10].

conservation and the technology used in processing.

The worldwide production of apples of 68 million metric tons, contains 40% that is relative to the main producing country, China, which is characterized by having a monovarietal culture based on the Fuji variety [3]. The area under cultivation in China has been stable over the past three years, with about 2,000 ha and a yield of 16 ton/ha, and the country still imports 58,000 tons which brings the domestic market up to a total of 32,058 million tons. The consumption of fresh fruits is 25.6 million tons, with a per capita index of 19.2 kg, and 1,460,000 tons of these high quality apples are exported, leaving 4,998 million tons for industrial use, of which 87.5% are destined for use as concentrated juice [4]. These statistics place China in a prominent position in the apple agroindustry. This means that just as China had increased its production to become the largest producer as forecast [5] many other countries had decreased their production to justify decline in production in the rest of the world of -2%. The production of the European Economic Community, including the UK, demonstrates stability of production and points to a fall of 5% between 2002 and 2011, demonstrating how the largest producers such as Poland and Italy (> 2,000,000 tons), France (> 1,000,000 tons) and Germany (900,000 tons), which together account for 70% of this activity of apple production available for both the common market and for export [6]. The United States, the second largest producer, accounted for 6.2% of the volume of apples produced in 2008. In South America, the main producers are, in order, Chile, Argentina and Brazil, although none of the three produced more than 2% of the world total in 2008. In that year, production in Brazil accounted for 1.6% of the world total, positioning the country as 12th in the ranking of countries by apple production [7].

There are thousands of domesticated and commercial species of apples that act as a producer or pollinator in commercial orchards and they are ranked periodically in relation to their commercial importance. The top ten apple varieties (excluding those produced in China) in descending order are Golden Delicious, Delicious, Gala, Granny Smith, Fuji, Jonagold, Idared, Jonathan, Braeburn and McIntosh [8].

The major advances in the cultivation of apples are listed by [9] and include the development of new varieties and disposal of others in the process of applying emerging research processes. Granny Smith, Gala, Fuji, Jonagold, Pink Lady and Empire are all types of apples that have excelled more effectively than expected. A new feature has been the practice of treating all the varieties in a similar way as a means of maintaining the unit price, since the producers are moving towards producing predetermined and defined amounts of fruit. This homogenous practice spread to Australia, but in Europe there are already 10 sets of varieties and in the United States there are at least seven such sets. The dwarfing of apples is regarded as an improvement as well as the optimization of planting density systems, with the solution of problems of overheating solved by setting branches at angles, which demonstrates the practical aspects of the solutions. The development of growth regulators and genomics shows the dependence on current scientific development [9].
