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Commercial Ingredients
Ingredients chosen for commercial production must
have consistent quality to ensure the same in the
final product. For example, the characteristics of
lemon juice may change with the maturity and
freshness of lemons and may alter the flavor and/or
acidification of the product. Where long term
consistency is needed, the use of a standardized
commercially available lemon juice or lemon
powder is advisable.
In commercializing a home recipe, the grade of raw
ingredients must be considered from both a cost and
quality viewpoint. For example, in developing a
formulation for jams and jellies the quality of the
raw ingredients, the use of commercial pectin and
acidifying agents is considered to provide a
standardized consistent product.
In choosing commercial ingredients, you are
presented with quality characteristics and functions
not available to the home cook. Technical assistance
from suppliers, universities, research stations and
food research centres can help you select the
ingredients most appropriate for your product.
Consideration should also be given to the use of
semi-prepared ingredients. Compare the overall cost
of preparing these yourself (raw ingredient, storage,
processing equipment, processing losses, labor,
packaging) to the cost of purchasing them semi-
prepared. Some semi-prepared raw ingredients
include peeled vegetables, prepared pie shells,
frozen diced onions and prepared salad dressings.
Fool-proof commercial production is the ultimate
goal of every processor. Therefore, minimizing the
number of individual ingredients that must be
weighed and added should be considered in product
development. Dry ingredients may be purchased pre-
blended and unitized. Rather than weighing and
adding different spices, additives, milk powder and
starch, you simply add one unit to your batch along
with the other required ingredients. These suppliers
purchase in bulk. If your order is a reasonable size, it
may be cost effective to purchase ingredients in this
manner. Most commercial ingredient suppliers
provide samples for testing and test production free
of charge. This allows you to experiment to see
which suppliers’ claims are true for your product.
Additives and Preservatives
A food additive is an ingredient that is added to
foods to help processing, preservation or quality
improvement. Additives should not be used to
disguise faulty or inferior manufacturing processes
or to conceal damage or spoilage. Only the minimum
amount of an additive necessary to achieve desired
results should be used.
While consumers are somewhat wary of food
additives, it is important to recognize that additives
are used to help maintain safety and quality.
Regulations govern the levels of additives and the
specific foods to which each can be added. These are
strictly regulated and are established at levels proven
to be safe for consumption. All additives must
appear in the list of ingredients on the label.
Sensory Evaluation
Sensory evaluation should run concurrently with
formula development. This is the use of the senses
(sight, smell, taste, touch, hearing) to evaluate a
product. In product development, sensory evaluation
allows you to measure response to the product as it
is eaten. The goal is to develop a product that has the
appearance, flavor and texture that the target
consumer likes.
Trained panels are conducted under controlled
conditions to identify specific quality attributes
(e.g. sweetness). This is done as you assess the use
of different ingredients during product development,
substituting an ingredient, or assessing the stability
of the product quality over a period of time (shelf-
life study).
Consumer sensory evaluation trials can be done on
prototypes or products ready for launch. This helps
you gauge how close your product meets consumer
expectations. Consumer panels should be made up of
at least 50 consumers and be as representative as
possible of the final target market.
Consumer sampling is often neglected by small food
processors, but it can give valuable information
about the product’s potential success. A simple and
inexpensive method of consumer testing is to present
your product to consumers in its ready-to-eat state at