3.1. Fungi and water activity during the primary processing of cocoa
Table 1 shows the values of a w found during the primary processing of cocoa beans at the farm. The a w values showed a large decrease between the stages, with the biggest variation observed during the sun drying. The frequency of occurrence and the level of infection by each fungal species isolated during fermentation, drying and storage of cocoa are presented in Table 1. A considerable difference in fungal presence, both qualitative and quantitative, was observed between the processing stages.