Research
Projects
Frozen
“Development of process strategies to minimise the risk of microbiological alterations in frozen vegetables”.
CONSORTIUM:
- ULTRACONGELADOS VIRTO, S.A.
- CONGELADOS DE NAVARRA, S.A.
- CNTA: National Centre for Food Technology and Safety
From a microbiological perspective deep frozen vegetables are generally considered to be safe and stable products, as the low temperatures reached during the process, maintained during their storage and distribution, constitute a restricting factor for the development of most pathogenic and spoiling micro-organisms.
A significant % of deep-frozen vegetables is designated for use as a food ingredient by other food industries, such as preserves, ready-made meals, pre-prepared food, baby food, etc.
The aim of this project is to develop processing alternatives to reduce the incidence of specific groups or microbiological indicators that are problematic when these vegetables are used as an ingredient in the food industry.
Development will focus on these alternatives in 2 critical stages of the process:
- El Washing and preparing the vegetable
- El Blanching and cooling it
To do this, chemical and physical strategies will be addressed, or a combination of various strategies with the aim of maximising the results.
