What are food quality principles?

Food quality principles are that it is accepted by customers both inside and outside. It is good
such as hygiene, reliable, consistent, traceable, relevant for the customer and consumer, and
above all transparency and accountability are the driving principles.
When the quality of the food matters a lot?
Quality of food matters every time especially for babies, patients, pregnant women and old age
people. Hence, the quality of food is the basic right of every person of all ages.
Where the quality of the food checked?
Quality of food check in different state laboratories and it can be check during making food.
Who checks the quality of the food?
There are different public health agencies in the different countries that proved food safety and
inspection services these people check the quality of food.
Food manufacture requirement
Food quality is an important food manufacturing requirement, because food consumers are
susceptible to any form of contamination that may occur during the manufacturing process.
Many consumers also rely on manufacturing and processing standards, particularly to know
what ingredients are present, due to dietary, nutritional requirements
(kosher, halal, vegetarian), or medical conditions (e.g., diabetes, or allergies).
Sanitation requirement
Besides ingredient quality, there are also sanitation requirements. It is important to ensure that
the food processing environment is as clean as possible in order to produce the safest possible
food for the consumer.
Why are food safety and quality important?
Food is the basic need of every person. Food safety and security is the basic need of every
person. People pay for food and it has to be safe and qualitative. After eating bad food people
can be sick and it can cause a bad effect on their health that is why food safety, security, and
quality is very important.
How do you determine the quality of the food?
Food quality is determined by its external and internal factors. Its external factors are its
appearance such as its size, shape, color, consistency, etc. and its external factors are texture,
flavor chemical, microbial etc. if food is accepted by consumer and customer both internally
and externally hence, it is qualitative food.
Quality of packed and frozen foods
The shelf life of a food can be defined as the time period within which the food is safe to
consume and/or has an acceptable quality to consumers. Just like any other food, frozen foods
deteriorate during storage by different modes or mechanisms. Microbes usually are not a
problem since they generally cannot grow at freezing temperatures unless subjected to
extensive temperature abuse above the freezing point. Enzymes, which can cause flavor change
(lipoxygenase) in fruits and vegetables and accelerated deterioration reactions in meat and
poultry (enzymes released following disruption to organelle membranes during precooking) are
a big concern for frozen foods. Cell damage or protein and starch interactions during freezing
cause drip and mushiness upon thawing. Discoloration could occur by nonenzymatic browning,
bleaching, and freezer burn. Vitamin C loss is often a major concern for frozen vegetables.
Physical changes, such as package ice formation, moisture loss, emulsion destabilization, and
recrystallization of sugars and ice in frozen desserts are often accelerated by fluctuating
temperatures.
Fresh foods get deteriorated quickly due to various reasons. Food preservation, which is still
evolving, is essential to save food loss. Freezing is one of the most common food preservation
processes used for storage of foods. Quality and safety of frozen foods must be kept in mind at
all stages of freezing, frozen storage, and thawing. New methods of freezing such as high-
pressure freezing, dehydrofreezing and use of antifreeze and ice nucleation proteins, improve
freezing process. Thawing methods such as high-pressure thawing, microwave thawing, ohmic
thawing, and acoustic thawing are innovative and can shorten thawing time, thus reducing drip
loss and improving product quality, and safety. Freezing usually retains initial quality of
products. However, during freezing and frozen storage, some physical, chemical and nutritional
changes may occur. To avoid loss of quality and to keep the frozen foods safe, basics of food
preservation must be understood and applied during freezing and storage.
The quality of packaged foods is a combination of attributes that determine their value as
human food. These quality factors include visual appearance, texture, flavor, nutritive value,
and safety. “Keeping quality” is used more commonly than “shelf life” because of consumer
demand for product freshness. The deterioration of foods that occurs progressively during
storage may result from physical or chemical changes in the food itself, or from the activity of
microorganisms growing in or on the product. Eventually, the cumulative effect of the changes
reaches a point at which the consumer rejects the product. Rejection is based on the sensory
expectations and perceptions of consumers. Shelf life of a product depends on a multiplicity of
variables and changes in them, including the product, the environmental conditions, and the
packaging. Depending on the product and its intended application, shelf life may be dictated by
microbiology, enzymology, and/or physical effects. The combined knowledge and experience of
processors, and those involved in the storage, distribution, and retailing of foods enable
estimates to be made of the likely shelf life of the product under specific storage conditions. In
practice, however, the influencing variables that accelerate or retard shelf life are temperature,
pH, water content, water activity, relative humidity, radiation, gas concentration, redox
potential, the presence of metal ions, and pressure.
Food Additives
Food additives are substances added to foods to enhance some of their natural qualities. Some
additives keep foods fresher for longer or improve their safety. Others boost or maintain the
food’s nutritional value. Finally, there are also additives that improve the appearance, texture
or taste of foods.
Why Food Additives Are Used
The benefits of food additives can be grouped into three major categories:

 Maintaining freshness or improving safety. Additives often serve as preservatives that

help slow the damaging effects that oxygen, mold, bacteria, fungi or yeast can have on
food. They include antioxidants and antimicrobials.
 Improving or maintaining nutritional value. These substances are added to foods to
replace nutrients lost during processing (enriched foods) or simply to help boost a
person’s intake of certain nutrients, including those that were not part of the original
food (fortified foods). Such additives include vitamins, minerals and fiber. Enriched and
fortified foods have helped to dramatically reduce diseases attributed to nutritional
deficiencies such as goiter, pellagra, rickets and scurvy.
 Improving appearance, texture and taste. Natural and artificial colors are added to
improve a food’s appearance. Emulsifiers help maintain a consistent texture of the food
and keep it from separating whereas stabilizers and thickeners ensure a smooth,
uniform texture. Anti-caking agents keep food from absorbing moisture so it does not
clump together. And finally, sweeteners and spices (both natural and artificial) are used
to enhance the food’s flavors.
Types of food additives
The different types of food additive and their uses include:

 Anti-caking agents – stop ingredients from becoming lumpy.

 Antioxidants – prevent foods from oxidizing, or going rancid.
 Artificial sweeteners – increase the sweetness.
 Emulsifiers – stop fats from clotting together.
 Food acids – maintain the right acid level.
 Colors – enhance or add color.
 Humectants – keep foods moist.
 Flavors – add flavor.
 Flavor enhancers – increase the power of a flavor.
 Foaming agents – maintain uniform aeration of gases in foods.
  Mineral salts – enhance texture and flavor.
 Preservatives – stop microbes from multiplying and spoiling the food.
 Thickeners and vegetable gums – enhance texture and consistency.
 Stabilizers and firming agents – maintain even food dispersion.
 Flour treatment – improves baking quality.
 Glazing agent – improves appearance and can protect food.
 Gelling agents – alter the texture of foods through gel formation.
 Propellants – help propel food from a container.
 Raising agents – increase the volume of food through the use of gases.
 Bulking agents – increase the volume of food without major changes to its available
energy.
Food Preservation
“Food preservation is the technique to prevent food spoilage, food poisoning, and microbial
contamination in food.”
Food preservation is one of the methods to protect food from unwanted microbial growth.
After the food is produced, we store and protect by covering the rice and curry with lids to keep
away flies and other insects. By this, we are protecting it from any infection caused by them.
This is a short-term condition. Food preservation, on the other hand, is done to preserve food
for a longer time.
Objectives of Food Preservation
Following are the important objectives of food preservation:

 To prevent microbial contamination.

 To kill pathogens.
 To minimize food spoilage and food poisoning.
Food Preservation Methods
Food preservation started long back in ancient times. Cooling, freezing, fermentation, sun-
drying, etc., are few age-old food preservation techniques. With the advent of technology,
modern methods of food preservation were developed. Chemicals and other natural
substances were used for preservation. These substances are known as preservatives. Let us
discuss some of the methods of preservation in detail.

 Chemical Method: Salt and edible oils are two main preservatives which are used since
ages to prevent microbial growth. This is why we add extra oil to pickles. Preservation by
salt is known as salting. Salting helps to preserve fruits for a long term. Meats and fishes
can also be preserved by salting.
Other synthetic preservatives include vinegar, sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulphite,
etc.
 Sugar: Sugar is another common preservative used in jams and jellies. Sugar is a good
moisture absorbent. By reducing moisture content, it restrains the microbial growth.
 Heat and Cold Methods: Boiling and refrigeration prevent around 70 percent of
microbial growth. Boiling kills the microorganisms that cannot tolerate extreme
temperatures. Thus, it helps in food preservation.
Refrigerators have very low temperatures. Since microbes do not get optimum
temperature they need for growth, their growth is inhibited. Pasteurization developed
by Louis Pasteur is used until today to preserve milk.
 Smoking: Smoking prevents dehydration in fish and meat and thus prevents spoilage.
The wood smoke contains a large number of anti-microbial compounds that slow the
rancidification of animal fats.
 Canning: The food contents are sealed in an airtight container at high temperatures.
Meat, fish, fruits are preserved by canning.
 Sterilization: This method is carried out to remove microbes from food. For e.g., milk
sterilization at 100°C kills the microbes.
 Dehydration: It is the process of removal of water from food. It is the simplest method
and prevents food spoilage by removing water.
 Lyophilization: This is the process of freezing and dehydration of the frozen product
under vacuum.
 Radiation: This method is also known as cold sterilization. The UV rays, X rays, gamma
rays kill all the unwanted microbes present in food.
The principle behind all these methods is either to reduce the temperature conditions
required for microbial growth or to evaporate the water content.
Antioxidants
An antioxidant is a molecule capable of slowing or preventing the oxidation of other molecules.
Oxidation is a chemical reaction that transfers electrons from a substance to an oxidizing agent.
Oxidation reactions can produce free radicals, which start chain reactions that damage cells.
Antioxidants terminate these chain reactions by removing free radical intermediates, and
inhibit other oxidation reactions by being oxidized themselves. As a result, antioxidants are
often reducing agents such as thiols or polyphenols
Oxidation causes rancidity and flavor changes in foods, fats, oils, alcohol and drugs.
Antioxidants include vitamin C and E, sulphites, butylated hydroxyanisole and butylated
hydroxytoluene. Sulfites may not be used on foods that are eaten raw (except grapes) because
this may cause adverse reactions. They also cannot be used in foods that are important sources
of thiamin (also known as vitamin B1), because they destroy this vitamin. Products that contain
sulfites must indicate the additive on the labeling. This may be referred to as sodium sulfite,
sodium bisulfite, sodium metabisulfite, sulfur dioxide or potassium metabisulfite

 Antioxidants are used as food additives to help guard against food deterioration.