Canned Food

TITTLE: Evaluation of Canned Foods

DATE

OF

EXPERIMENTS: 23.07.2013 INTRODUCTION Food

commodities

are

traded

to

international

markets

across

continents and distributed to reach certain places. Non-processed food items such as whole grains, pulses, spices, cashews, frozen foods, fruits, vegetables, milk and eggs while processed food commodities include edible oils, butter, cheese, cedars, fruit juices, sauces and all types of flours. Canned vegetables and fruits are the most readily-available commodities. According to United States Food Drug Administration (2012), Canned food is a type of acidified food where it is low acid foods which means any foods, other than alcoholic beverages, with a finished equilibrium pH greater than 4.6 and a water activity (aw) greater than 0.85. There is some essential composition and quality factors that need to be determine in canned foods. According to codex standard (1989), the minimum content of fruit ingredient of canned product shall contain not less than 50% of single strength fruit ingredient or the equivalent derived from any concentrated fruit ingredient, except in cases where high acidity, high pulp content, or strong flavour lower the necessary content. On the other hand, the type of sugar used is depends on the fruits that are used. For example, sour fruits need heavy syrup with high sucrose content. The sugar added must defined by Codex Alimentarius Commission including sugar extracted from fruits, fructose syrup, brown sugar and honey. Other essential composition is soluble solid where the soluble solids content of the product shall be not more than 20% as determined by refractometer at 20 °C, uncorrected for acidity and read as °Brix on the International Sucrose Scales. In contrast, in organoleptic properties the product shall have the characteristic colour, aroma and flavour of the fruit from which it is made, taking into consideration the addition of honey in

substitution of sugars. According to Malaysian Food Act Regulation (1983), canned food may contain sugar, invert sugar, refiner’s syrup, glucose or dried glucose syrup and potable water. Meanwhile, canned food or fruits may contain permitted food conditioner. The examples of food additive that can be added to canned fruit are citric acid, malic acid, L-ascorbic acid and carbon dioxide that are limited by GMP. In food industries, contaminant of heavy metals can leads to detention and rejection of the product. Heavy metal that involve including Arsenic (Ar), Cadmium (Cd), Chromium (Cr), Lead (Pb) and Mercury (Hg). There are also maximum levels for heavy metals established by the Codex Alimentarius Commission for these products. Meanwhile, the weight and measure is depends on type of food that are used. Every canned food must be labelled with the percentage of fruit or vegetable inside. On average, cans contain between fifty and sixty per cent solid food. The rest is juice or water with some salt and sugar. In addition, drained weight is not a definitive measure of the fruit or vegetable content in a canned product, it is only an indication. Moreover, the measure of ingredients by percentage in the canned food is determined based on the weight of solid foods and liquids. For labeling and marking of canned food, net content and drained weight is one of the mandatory labelling besides the list of ingredient, name and address, the name of food, country of origin, date marking and storage instruction and lot identification. In addition to the declaration of net contents, a food packed in a liquid medium shall carry a declaration in the metric system of the drained weight of the food. Besides that, removal of air in canned food products is very important in order to maintain color and flavor in canned food. It is done by removing oxygen from food tissues and jars. The methods on how to remove the air from canned food is by vacuum, hot filled or exhausting process. Exhausting process is process of removing air in the container before it is tightly closed, sealed or seamed. One of the

exhausting purpose is to reduces O2 content of the headspace therefore internal corrosion will not occur thus prevent rusting. OBJECTIVES To evaluate canned foods product

PROCEDURE

The label information ( Name of the products/ Net weight/ Vendor/ Other information ) was recorded

The following container information such as code mark on container exactly as presented, external condition of container and size of container was recorded The gross weight of the container and its contents was also determined and recorded The lid of canned product was removed The headspace of the canned product was measured The syrup was poured into a cylinder The clearness of the syrup was observed The drained weight was recorded The net weight was determined and recorded The interior appearance of the container was recorded The score point was determined for each factor of quality according to applicable standard for grades or quality for the particular commodity.

The score points was recorded

RESULTS

SECTION A Label/Brand Commodity Style Type Net weight (being label of packaging) Vendor Condition of container Container size Gross weight Headspace Drained weight Net weight (actual weight) Count Brix

Ali Shan King Lychee Canned Food Ready to eat Solid 565 g Tian Hua Sdn. Bhd. Dented, rusty, dusty can Height : 11.3 cm / Diameter : 8.4 cm 640 g 0.5 cm 245 g 395 g 16 15.40

SECTION B Clearness of liquid Colour Uniformity of Size Absence of Defects Character

Grade Grade Grade Grade Grade

B B B B A

DISCUSSION From the experiments, we need to evaluate canned food product which is Ali Shan King Lychee. According to Malaysian Food Act and Regulation (1985), canned food shall be the sound fruit of one type, packed in clean containers that are hermetically sealed and processed by heat. The canned was observed for both interior and exterior of the product. All the information including the drained weight and net weight was recorded and appropriate score was given to the clearness of liquid, colour, uniformity of size, absence of defects and character of the Ali Shan King Lychee. The interior of the canned was evaluated by removing the lid of the canned.

Through the result, the label of canned food was known as Ali Shan King Lychee and it is canned food type of commodities. The style of this food is ready to eat while it was solid type. The net weight as being labelled on the packaging is 565 g and the vendor of the canned food is Tian Hua Sdn Bhd. The observation on the external of the container show dented, rusty and dusty can be observed. Besides that, the height and the diameter that was measured by using ruler is 11.3 cm and 8.4 cm respectively. The gross weight of the canned where the can including the content in it was weighed result in 640 g. Moreover, the unfilled space above the food in a can below the lid is called headspace. There is 0.5 cm of space that was left in that can. On the other hand, to measure the drained weight, the liquid solution was poured and the content of the can was weighted and recorded. The drained weight of this canned food product is 245 g. For the net weight, the results show 395 g while the count of the lychee in the can was 16. In contrast, the total soluble solid of the canned food was measured by refractometer which is 15.40 Brix.

In attributes of quality, the clearness of liquid in Ali Shan King Lychee was fairly clear but there are some slightly pink colour can be detected on the liquid. Hence, grade B was given to the clearness of the liquid for this canned fruit product. Moreover, grade B was also given to the colour of the lychee where pink staining can be detected at the lychees and the colour is reasonably uniform and typical. For the uniformity of size, the lychee show very reasonable of uniform size but not practically uniform. Thus, Grade B was also given to the uniformity of the size.

In addition, the defect show that the Ali Shan King Lychee was reasonably free harmless extraneous material and some other defect such as the lychee was broken into two was observe hence grade B was given to this criteria. On the other hand, the character for the lychee that focuses on texture and tenderness show that it was reasonably uniform with no more than slight disintegration. The soft texture of lychee also was absent in this canned food. Thus, grade A was given for this character of the Ali Shan King Lychee. Through this experiment, there are some sources of error that can affect the accuracy of the results such as the weight of the product was not properly weighted as 3 consecutives weighing should be done to eliminate the errors of the handler.

STUDY QUESTIONS 1. In your opinion, what could possibly be the cause of the defect (s) found in the evaluated can? The possibly be the cause of the defect (s) that found on evaluated cans is because improper sealed of the container that make the container become

bulged or swollen. This is also because of permanent distortion of the can end caused by excessive internal pressure. On the other hand, others cause of defect is because of improper handling during storage and distribution of the canned food that caused the canned food to be dent. While, iron oxide produced by moisture was in contact with the unprotected base plate metal causing the canned to be rust. In contrast, paneling is happen because of flat side on can body and/or permanent distortion of the can body caused by internal

vacuum

and

excessive

external

pressure

developed

during

processing or cooling. 2. From the evaluation of your sample, what category of defect does it fall into and why? From the evaluation of our sample, the defect was fall into rusty container as iron oxide produced by moisture was in contact with the unprotected base plate metal. Besides that, the canned is also dusty as it is not being store in proper storage. Last but not least, dirty. This is because of improper storage of container and the error of the handler while handling the canned.

CONCLUSION In conclusion, the brand of the canned is known as Ali Shan King Lychee, and the commodity’s type was canned food. Besides, it was ready to eat and it was solid type. The net weight is 565 g while the vendor is from

Tian Hua Sdn Bhd. In addition, the condition of the container is dented, rusty and dusty. For the container size, the height and diameter show 11.3 cm and 8.4 cm respectively. Moreover, the gross weight is 640 g, headspace is 0.5 cm and the drained weight results in 245 g. The net weight for the canned show 395 g, size/count 16 and the brix is 15.40. In contrast, Grade B was given to all this criteria including the clearness of the liquid, colour, uniformity of size and absence of defect. While grade A was given to the character of Ali Shan King Lychee.

REFERENCES

(1994), Grading Manual for Canned Fruit Cocktail: United States Department of Agriculture,

Retrieved

January,

1997

from

http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/getfile?dDocName=STELPRD3105806 (1989), GENERAL STANDARD FOR FRUIT NECTARS PRESERVED EXCLUSIVELY BY PHYSICAL MEANS NOT COVERED BY INDIVIDUAL STANDARDS CODEX STAN 161-1989,

Retrieved

from

http://siweb.dss.go.th/standard/Fulltext/codex/CXS_161E.pdf (n.d.), Reportable Food Summary Report RFR COMMODITIES Definitions: U.S. Food and Drug Administration,

Retrieved April 12, 2012 from

http://www.fda.gov/downloads/Food/ComplianceEnforcement/UCM211534.pdf (n.d.), A POCKET GUIDE TO CAN DEFECTS: Association of Food & Drug Officials,

Retrieved from http://www.evcofoods.com/pdf/A%20Pocket

%20Guide%20To%20Can%20Defects.pdf K. Humphries, (2004), Using Commodities and Canned Foods in Group Homes for Adults with Disabilities, Retrieved

from

http://mtdh.ruralinstitute.umt.edu/?page_id=817 Murano, P.S. (2000) Understanding food science and technology, Belmont: Wadsworth/Thomson Learning Inc R. Romando, (2005), Food Commodities, Retrieved from http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Richard_Romando R. Lohse, (2010), Canned Food, Retrieved

from

http://www.7perth.com.au/view/today-tonight-

articles/today-tonight-canned-food