Frozen Ready-to-(h)eat Meals : Evolution of Their Quality during a Real-Time Short Shelf Life

The purpose of this experimentation was to study the evolution of the quality of two types of blast-frozen ready-to-(h)eat meals, tortellini and a vegetable soup, during a short shelf life of 70 days. The analyses, performed in order to identify any variations resulting either from the freezing process or from the subsequent storage, carried out at the temperatures of -30 °C and -18 °C, respectively, examined the consistency of the tortellini and the soup, the acidity and the peroxide value of the oil extracted from them, the phenols and carotenoids present in the soup, the volatile compounds in the tortellini and the soup, and a sensory analysis of both products. The results showed that, during the 70 days of shelf life, there was no variation in the texture of the tortellini, but there were changes in the consistency of the soup, which decreased as the days of storage went on. Furthermore, statistically significant increases (p < 0.05) in the acidity and in the peroxide value of the oil of the soup were observed during the storage period; however, no statistically significant difference (p > 0.05) in the peroxide value of the oil of the tortellini was found. Moreover, no quantitative changes were observed in the phenolic compounds and carotenoids in the soup or in the volatile substances of either product. Finally, the sensory analysis confirmed, together with the chemical data, that the blast-freezing process adopted was suitable to maintain the good quality of these fresh meals, even if some technical modifications (in particular, lower freezing temperatures) should be adopted to improve the final quality of the products.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2023

Erschienen:

2023

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:12

Enthalten in:

Foods (Basel, Switzerland) - 12(2023), 5 vom: 03. März

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Dottori, Ilenia [VerfasserIn]
Urbani, Stefania [VerfasserIn]
Sordini, Beatrice [VerfasserIn]
Servili, Maurizio [VerfasserIn]
Selvaggini, Roberto [VerfasserIn]
Veneziani, Gianluca [VerfasserIn]
Ranucci, David [VerfasserIn]
Taticchi, Agnese [VerfasserIn]
Esposto, Sonia [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

Carotenoids
Evolution of quality
Frozen
Journal Article
Peroxide value
Phenolic compounds
Ready meals
Sensory analysis
Short shelf life
Texture
Volatile compounds

Anmerkungen:

Date Revised 13.03.2023

published: Electronic

Citation Status PubMed-not-MEDLINE

doi:

10.3390/foods12051087

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM354062379