FOOD SAFETY Unit 1: Food Inspection Topic: Factors influencing food quality

Overview Quality of a food product involves maintenance or improvement of the key attributes of the product –Appearance Colour, size, shape –Flavour –Texture –Safety –Healthfulness –Shelf life –Convenience

Overview To maintain quality, it is important to control microbiological spoilage, enzymatic degradation, and chemical degradation. These components of quality depend upon the composition of the food, processing methods, packaging, and storage

Appearance Factors Of the sensory attributes of food, those related to appearance are the most susceptible to objective measurement –Appearance is important to the consumers –expectations of how food should look Two separate categories of appearance include: –1. Colour attributes –2. Geometric attributes (size and shape)

Appearance Factors Colour Food colour measurements provide an objective index of food quality. –Indication of ripeness or spoilage –End point of cooking processes –Changes in expected colours can indicate problems with the processing or packaging

Appearance Factors Colours Browns and blackish colours can be either enzymatic or non-enzymatic reactions –Non-enzymatic Maillard reaction, which is the dominant browning reaction –Enzymatic Oxidation in fruits and vegetables Natural occurring pigments –Myoglobin contributes to the colour of meat

Appearance of foods Measuring Colour –Needs to be standardized If a food is transparent, like a juice or a coloured extract, colorimeters or spectrophotometers can be used for colour measurement. The colour of liquid or solid foods can be measured by comparing their reflected colour to defined (standardized) colour tiles or chips.

Appearance of foods Size and Shape –Depending on the product, consumers expect foods to have certain sizes and shapes –Size and shape are easily measured. –Fruits and vegetables are graded based on their size and shape, and this is done by the openings they will pass through during grading. Now computerized electronic equipment can determine the size and shape of foods.

Textural Factors Refers to the quality felt by the fingers or when chewing, biting Refers to the mechanical behaviour of foods measured by sensory or physical means Change in texture is often due to water –Loss –Gain

Flavour Factors Taste perceived by tongue –Sweet, bitter, salt, sour Often flavour and taste used interchangable Difficult to measure based on individual preference Influence decision to purchase and eat foods –Bacteria, yeast, enzymes, time, additives, moisture/dryness, heat/cold

Flavour factors Professional taste panel Group of consumers

Additional quality factors Shelf life –Enhanced by preservation methods Safety –Regulatory control Healthfulness –Healthy lifestyle – functional foods Oats, soy, tomato Convenience –Chopped vegetables vs whole vegetables

Food quality standards Ensure standardization of food quality Types of standards include: –Research standards set up by a company to help ensure the quality of its products in a competitive market –Trade standards Established by members of an industry Voluntary and assure at least minimum acceptable quality –Government standards some are mandatory and some are optional. –Grade standards Established by the government, provide a common language for producers, dealers, and consumers for buying and selling

Conclusion Food quality factors are important determinants of purchasing Quality factors vary according to consumer The PHI not only focus on safety factors, but ensures that consumers get value for money