HTM 056

LECTURE TWO

Attributes of food quality

Introduction
Food quality and safety are important consumer requirements. In the evaluation of food
quality, its complexity, dynamic variation, and relativity raise a number of problems.
The application of systems analysis for the solution and related decisions is
indispensable. Quality is a concept based on a number of product attributes that
basically determine their level of suitability to a concrete and predetermined use.
To formulate an evaluation pattern, the concept of food quality is outlined as follows.
The quality of food products, in conformity with consumer requirements, is determined
by sensory attributes, chemical composition, physical properties, level of
microbiological and toxicological contaminants, and shelf life, and by packaging and
labeling. Another unique trait of food quality is the hierarchical and dynamic
interrelation of almost all of its attributes.
2. Factors Determining Food Quality
2.1. Sensory Properties
The measurement of sensory properties and determination of the importance of these
properties to consumer product acceptance represent major accomplishments in sensory
evaluation. These achievements have been possible as a direct result of advances in
sensory evaluation, in the application of contemporary knowledge about the
measurement of human behavior, and in a more systematic and professional approach to
testing.
Man accepts food on the basis of certain characteristics that he defines and perceives
with his senses. These attributes are described in terms of sensations and are sometimes
referred to as qualitative or sensory qualities. They include perceptions of appearance
factors such as color, size, shape, and physical aspects; kinesthetic factors such as
texture, viscosity, consistency, finger feel, and mouth feel; and flavor factors or
sensations combining odor and taste.
2.1.1. Appearance and Color
Color and other aspects of appearance influence food appreciation and quality,
especially by the consumer. Man has subjective standards for the acceptable range and
preferred optima for these qualities for almost every food.
The importance of the color of agricultural commodities and processed foods cannot be
overstressed. An important problem is discoloration or the fading of the colors of
various raw and processed fruits and vegetables. In some cases, color changes are
accompanied by undesirable changes in texture, taste, or odor. Overaged cheese, beer,
meat, and fish all develop off-color, which the consumer recognizes as being associated
with poor flavor quality. The maturity of many fruits and vegetables is closely
associated with color development or changes in color. In other cases, a color change
may not be actually detrimental, but nevertheless reduces consumer acceptance.
Consumers expect certain foods to have certain colors, and deviation from those colors
may cause sales resistance. Many of these prejudices are altogether irrational. When
natural carotene content is low, butter is artificially colored; mint-flavored ice cream is
white before artificial green coloring is added; orange sherbet is also fortified with
artificial coloring. Maraschino cherries, oranges, syrups, jellies, and many types of
candy are artificially colored.
Five functions that should be considered in understanding human reactions to color in
foods are as follows :
• Perception. Food selection or judgment of food quality would be extremely difficult
if color discrimination were removed, even though size, texture, shape, and other
cues were left intact.
• Motivation. Food color and the color of the environment in which the food is seen
can significantly increase or decrease our desire or appetite for it.
• Emotion. Liking or disliking a food is conditioned by its color; attractive foods are
sought out as pleasure-giving, while unattractive foods are avoided.
• Learning. By the process of experience, we learn what color to expect and consider
“natural,” and we predict rather precisely what properties a food or beverage will
have from our memory of similar materials.
• Thinking. Our reaction to unusual properties or to new foods can be changed if they
are explained to us.
Obviously, far too little is known about the significance of color perception in food
acceptance. Observers do associate certain colors with acceptance, indifference, or
rejection. Colored lights are used to mask color differences and reduce some influence
of color on sensory evaluation, but the psychological effect of colored lights has not
been adequately measured. These effects may be direct, on the appeal of the food as a
whole, or indirect, in influencing odor, taste, or texture thresholds. Various
interrelationships suggest themselves.
The human eye has a remarkably fine qualitative discrimination for color, but is not a
quantitative instrument. Consequently, precise color measurement requires modern
instruments. This need is felt particularly where food products are blended to a certain
standard from raw materials that differ somewhat in their color properties, such as with
tomato catsup. The effect of climate and time of harvesting have a marked influence on
the color of the raw material from which many processed foods are made.
2.1.2. Texture
Texture can be described as the properties of a food stuff apprehended both by the eyes
and by the skin and muscle senses in the month, embracing roughness, smoothness,
graininess, and so forth.
The texture of fruits and vegetables has been assessed with instruments that measure
compression, resistance to penetration, or force required to shear.

2.1.3. Taste and Flavor

When food is consumed, the interaction of taste, odor, and textural feeling provides an
overall sensation that is best defined as “flavor. Flavor results from compounds that are divided
into two broad classes: Those responsible for taste and those responsible for odors, the latter
often designated as aroma which provides both sensations.
Flavor is the most important sensory property of many food products. Flavor, as an
attribute of foods, beverages, and seasonings, is defined as the sum of perceptions
resulting from stimulation of the sense ends that are grouped together at the entrance of
the alimentary and respiratory tracts is restricted.
Aroma substances are volatile compounds that are perceived by the odor receptor sites
of the smell organ, the olfactory tissues of the nasal cavity. The concept of aroma
substances, like the concept of taste substances, should be used loosely, since a
compound might contribute to the typical odor or taste of one food, while in another
food, it might cause a faulty odor or taste, or both, resulting in an off-flavor.
The lowest concentration of a compound that can still be directly recognized by its odor
is designated as an odor threshold. Threshold concentration data allow comparison of
the intensity or potency of odorous substances.
The threshold concentrations (values) for aroma compounds are dependent on their
vapor pressure, which is affected by both temperature and medium. The values are also
influenced by the assay procedure and/or performance of the sensory panel

The amount of volatile substances in food is exceptionally low, generally only 1 mg/kg
to 50 mg/kg. However, their number reaches several hundreds. Not all of these are
important to food aroma. For an aroma compound to be perceived, a component of the
volatile fraction must be present in food in higher concentration than its threshold value.
The discrimination of the aroma constituents from the other volatile compounds is often
difficult, and usually provides only approximate values at best. Particularly important
aroma constituents are those compounds that bear the characteristic aroma of the food,
the so-called “character impact compound.” With regard to the occurrence of such key
compounds, food can be divided into four groups:
• Group 1: The aroma is decisively carried by one compound. The presence of other
aroma compounds serves only to round off the characteristic aroma of the food.
• Group 2: Several compounds, one of which may play a major role, create or
determine the typical aroma of the food.
• Group 3: The aroma may be closely simulated or reproduced only with a large
number of compounds not present.
• Group 4: The food aroma cannot be satisfactorily reproduced even with a large
number of volatile compounds.
Examples of all four groups outlined above exist among fruit and vegetable aromas.
Butter and blue cheese aromas are decisively formed by 2,3-butanedione and supported
by acetaldehyde and dimethyl sulfide or by 2-heptanone and 2-nonanone, respectively,
and are suitable examples of Group 2.
Food aroma obtained by a thermal process, alone or in combination with a fermentation
process, is highly complex in its composition. This aroma should belong to Group 3
(processed meat, roasted coffee, tea, or bread), or to Group 4 (cocoa or beer).
A strange, extraneous type of aroma, normally not present in a food, may arise through
loss of “impact compounds,” or a shift in aroma concentration, or a change in
composition of the individual components of the aroma.

2.2. Physical Properties

Among physical properties playing a role in the determination of food quality, the
appearance, color, and texture are primary.
Appearance. The size and shape of food products, together with defects and color, are
appearance factors that greatly influence initial consumer impressions. Unfortunately,
these sensory attributes are often taken for granted or even overlooked. Appearance
factors are also useful in sizing and grading, which ensure uniformity and facilitate the
process of buying and selling. During food manufacture, grading according to size
shortens the succeeding processing operations and improves the quality of the
end product.
Color is a quality factor that greatly influences the appearance of a product. Associated
with it are several desirable and undesirable changes in food, such as those occurring
during ripening, storage, curing, spoilage, and so on. Color is a character of light,
measurable in terms of intensity and wavelength. It is a general term for all sensations
arising from the activity of the human eye. When light reaches the retina, it sensitizes the
nerve mechanisms.
The physical tests commonly used for color measurement are the spectrophotometric
and the Munsell systems. Each is a tri-stimulus system in which color is specified by
three attributes; dominant wavelength, purity, and lightness in the spectrophotometric
systems; hue, chroma, and value in the Munsell system. Of the two, the latter is more
popular because of its simplicity and low cost.
Some other physical properties may be also of importance in quality evaluation of
specific foods. Volume is interesting for baked products; textural properties for meat
products. Tenderness of meat is an important quality index. Specific gravity
measurement is used for the detection of watered milk.
2.3. Chemical Composition
The nature and amount of substances in a given food product determine the nutritive
value and other properties. As the development and enforcement of standards of identity
and purity, the control of food safety is based on the determination of chemical
composition, including chemical contaminants. Analysis of the molecular composition
of food substances is known as proximate analysis. It is used to study the protein, fat,
carbohydrate, ash, and water content of foods (see Food Quality and Assurance).
2.3.1. Moisture Content
Water (moisture) is the predominant constituent in many food products . As a
medium, water supports chemical reactions, and it is a direct reactant in hydrolytic
processes. Therefore, removal of water from food, or binding it by increasing the
concentration of common salt or sugar retards many reactions and inhibits the growth of
microorganisms, thus improving the shelf life of a number of foods. Through physical
interaction with proteins, polysaccharides, lipids, and salts, water contributes
significantly to the texture of food.

Moisture
Moisture Content
Product Content Product
(g/100g)
(g/100g)

Meat 65–75 Butter 16–18

Milk 87 Margarine 16–18

Fruit 70–90 Cereal flavor 12–14

 Vegetable Coffee beans,
70–90 5
s roasted

Bread 35 Milk powder 4

Honey 20 Edible oil 0

2.3.2. Fat Content

The majority of lipids are derivatives of fatty acids. In these so-called acyl lipids, the
fatty acids are present as esters and in some minor lipid groups in amide form. The acyl
residue influences strongly the hydrophobicity and the reactivity of the acyl lipids.
Some lipids act as building blocks in the formation of biological membranes that
surround cells and subcellular particles. Such lipids occur in food products, but usually
at less than 2%. Nevertheless, even as minor food constituents, they deserve particular
attention, because their high reactivity may strongly influence the sensory quality of
food.
The fats deposited in some animal tissues and the organs of some plants are primarily
triglycerides. Lipid content in such storage tissues can rise to 15% to 20% or higher, and
so serve as a commercial source for isolation of triglycerides. When this lipid is refined, it
is available to the consumer as edible oil or fat.
The nutritive, physiological importance of lipids is based on their role as fuel molecules
(39 kJ/g triglycerides), and as a source of essential fatty acids and vitamins. Apart from
their roles, some other lipid properties are indispensable in food handling or processing.
These include the pleasant creamy or oily mouthful, and the ability to solubilize many
taste and aroma constituents of food.
These properties are of importance for food to achieve the desired texture, specific
mouthful, and aroma, with satisfactory aroma retention. In addition, some foods are
prepared by deep-frying—by cooking the food in fat or oil heated to a relatively high
temperature. The lipid class of compounds also includes some important food aroma
substances or precursors that degrade, providing the aroma compounds that are
indispensable as food emulsifiers, while others are important as fat-soluble or oil soluble
pigments or food colorants.

2.3.3Carbohydrate
Definition:
The term carbohydrate often means any food that is particularly rich in the complex carbohydrate starch
(such as cereals, bread, and pasta) or simple carbohydrates, such as sugar
(found in candy, jams, and desserts).
Composition:
A carbohydrate is an organic compound with the empirical formula Cm(H2O)n; that is,
consists only of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, with a hydrogen: oxygen atom ratio of 2:1 (as in
water). Carbohydrates can be viewed as hydrates of carbon, hence their name. Structurally however, it is
more accurate to view them as polyhydroxy, aldehydes and ketones.
Function:
Carbohydrates serve several biochemical functions:
 Monosaccharides are a fuel for cellular metabolism.
 Monosaccharides are used in several biosynthesis reactions.
 Monosaccharides may be converted into space-saving polysaccharides, such as glycogen and starch.
These molecules provide stored energy for plant and animal cells.
Carbohydrates are used to form structural elements, such as chitin in animals and cellulose in plants.
 The 5-carbon monosaccharide ribose is an important component of coenzymes (e.g., ATP,
FAD, and NAD) and the backbone of the genetic molecule known as RNA. The related
deoxyribose is a component of DNA.
 Saccharides and their derivatives include many other important biomolecules that play key roles
in the immune system, fertilization, preventing pathogenesis, blood clotting, and development.
o For example, blood sugar is the monosaccharide glucose, table sugar is the disaccharide sucrose, and
milk sugar is the disaccharide lactose.

2.3.4 Vitamins
A vitamin is an organic compound required as a nutrient in tiny amounts by an organism. In
other words, an organic chemical compound (or related set of compounds) is called a vitamin when
it cannot be synthesized in sufficient quantities by an organism, and must be obtained from the diet

2.3.5Enzymes
Enzymes are proteins that catalyze (i.e., increase or decrease the rates of) chemical reactions. In
enzymatic reactions, the molecules at the beginning of the process are called substrates, and they
are converted into different molecules, called the products. Almost all processes in a biological cell
need enzymes to occur at significant rates.

2.3.6 Protein
Proteins are biochemical compounds consisting of one or more polypeptides typically folded into
a globular or fibrous form in a biologically functional way. A polypeptide is a single linear polymer
chain of amino acids bonded together by peptide bonds between the carboxyl and amino groups of
adjacent amino acid residues.

Protein Structure
Most proteins fold into unique 3-dimensional structures. The shape into which a protein naturally
folds is known as its native conformation. Although many proteins can fold unassisted, simply
through the chemical properties of their amino acids, others require the aid of molecular chaperones
to fold into their native states. Biochemists often refer to four distinct aspects of a protein's
structure:
PACKAGING

Is the use of containers and components plus decoration or labeling to:

(i) Protect

(ii) Contain

(iii) Identify

(iv) Merchandise

(v) And facilitate use of products.

One or a combination of these elements may be involved.

Today virtually every manufactured or processed food product required packaging in some phase of
production or distribution.

Increasingly this packaging function requires specialized skills, machinery and facilities

to produce packages that meet one or more of four basic demands

1. To make it easier and safer to transport

2. To protect the product against contamination or loss

3. To protect against damage or degradation

4. To provide a convenient means of dispensing to the exterior

The Addition of printing or other decoration to the exterior of packages serve

(a) To identify the contents as to types and quantity

(b) Identify the manufacturers brand and quality grade

(c) Attract the buyer’s attention

(d) Persuade buyer to purchase

(e) Instruct purchaser on how to use the product