Quality Indicators in Blanched, Frozen, Stored Vegetables

摘要

VEGETABLE QUALITY: WHAT is it, how is it measured, and why is it so important? In today's marketplace, where the consumer has a choice of a tremendous cadre of food . products, be they fresh, lightly processed, dried, canned, pickled, or frozen, the manufacturer strives to distinguish his or her product on the basis of quality. In the frozen vegetable industry, quality has at times been subjugated to second priority because of what may be overcom-pensation in the safety arena. The purpose of this article is to discuss the quality of frozen vegetables, to emphasize the importance of effective blanching, and to give tips on how blanch time may be decreased significantly to produce higher quality products while resulting in lower energy requirements and processing water disposal costs.