Optimum quality
Times Food Processing Journal explains what it takes for
the German Agricultural Society (DLG) to assure food
quality in ready-to-serve meals
Food should be healthy, safe and of good
quality - but quality must be assessed as
well as achieved. As such, at the
recently held Anuga FoodTec, the
International Food Technology Fair at the
new Cologne Trade Fair Grounds from
April 4-7, 2006, the question of optimum
quality loomed large over all the technical
shoptalk, especially as to how quality can be
assessed at all outside of measurable
nutritional values. It is a well-known fact that
tastes can differ widely. Yet quality can indeed
be assessed, as the Anuga FoodTec
co-organiser, the German Agricultural Society
(DLG), demonstrates. Over its 120-year
history, the quality of the food, which is
produced, has become an increasingly
important issue. The annual DLG Quality
Competition, the winners of which can be
identified from the gold, silver and bronze
award badges on food packaging, has been
demonstrating that for 50 years.
Inconvenient route to a
convenient product
For the diverse range of convenience
products, which roughly comprises pre-cooked
or ready-to-serve food and meals, the
products submitted for the competition are
thoroughly reviewed by an army of experts.
They investigate the product safety of the
food and verify the truthfulness of the
declaration of ingredients. If irregularities
appear here, any discussion of quality is over.
In addition, practical utility is assessed:
How simple, fast and practical is the
processing or preparation? Is the packaging
too tricky to open? The 'consumption value'
plays the largest role. Here, the inspectors first
check whether the food was produced without
defect in respect of the technology used and
according to previously defined standards.
Then things get really interesting: The
'sensory evaluation' comes into play. Does the
consumer find what he or she expects and
what was promised? Or does the deluxe meal
turn out to be a bland flop?
