A small company is interested in making \'red-pepper spread\' for pita. The basi
ID: 529476 • Letter: A
Question
A small company is interested in making 'red-pepper spread' for pita. The basic recipe has roasted red peppers, tomatoes, garlic and onions that are mixed in proportions for best taste. Although this product is typically heat sterilized, the company wants to sells this as a minimally processed product. While the sterilized product has a shelf life of more than 6 months, this company wants to keep the shelf life at 2-4 weeks. However, with their current recipe they observe microbial spoilage in 8-10 days. The company is open to adding more ingredients but insists on all natural ingredients. The company is also open to processing but just not thermal processing to preserve the taste. Describe what would be your approach to extend the shelf life, write justification for ingredients and or processing technology.Explanation / Answer
All food products except for the one growing in your kitchen garden has food preservatives in them. Every manufacturer adds food preservative to the food during processing. The purpose is generally to avoid spoilage during the transportation time.
Food Preservation is basically done for three reasons
Natural Food Preservatives
In the category of natural food preservatives comes the salt, sugar, alcohol, vinegar etc. These are the traditional preservatives in food that are also used at home while making pickles, jams and juices etc. Also the freezing, boiling, smoking, salting are considered to be the natural ways of preserving food. Coffee powder and soup are dehydrated and freeze-dried for preservation. In this section the citrus food preservatives like citrus acid and ascorbic acid work on enzymes and disrupt their metabolism leading to the preservation.
Sugar and salt are the earliest natural food preservatives that very efficiently drops the growth of bacteria in food. To preserve meat and fish, salt is still used as a natural food preservative.
justification:
Blanching in a solution that contains ½ teaspoon of citric acid per quart of water is recommended for most vegetables. This enhances the destruction of potentially harmful microorganisms and slows the enzyme reactions that will continue during drying and storage. Blanching also softens the cell structure, allowing moisture to escape, and allows the pieces to dry faster and later rehydrate faster. Blanched vegetables should be drained and placed on dryer trays. The heat from blanching will give them a head start in the drying process. Onions, garlic, peppers, and herbs do not need blanching.
Tomatoes:
Increasing the temperature of food makes its moisture evaporate, and air moving over the food carries the moisture away. A balance of temperature and humidity is needed to successfully dry foods.