Creating New Foods. The Product Developer's Guide - Product Design and Process Development

Project Break 5

You can use the product design specifications from the Project Break 4 at the end of Chapter 4 to start the product design.

In the company project this will be the final product you selected, or if you have used Project 4, this would be a dried vegetable mix.

Instead of using either of these, you can use Project 5 (below) for chilled delicatessen salads. You will need to select a product and write product design specifications for it.

Now plan the activities in product design and process development as in Figure 5.1.

PRODUCTION

List the possible raw materials and their functions.

Identify the limits on the raw materials from the product design

specifications.

Draw a process flow chart for the process.

Identify the unit operations in the process.

Select the important processing variables in the unit operations.

Outline an experimental plan to design the process to give desired

product qualities.

MARKETING

Identify the market channel and the distribution methods.

What are the transport and storage conditions?

What is the basic package design for processing needs and

protection during distribution?

What are the needs of the retailer and the consumer in the

packaging?

What are the promotional needs of the package?

What is the price range for the product?

Now:
1. Describe the final product prototype, including the package.
2. Outline the product and process specifications.
3. Outline the marketing strategy
4. If possible, do a financial analysis
5. Finally write a two page feasibility report.

Project 5
Delicatessen Salads

A logical development for the mayonnaise-based salads industry is the production of entire mini-meals based on the salad concept. Such products are in keeping with the image of a healthy diet, and they offer the manufacturer an opportunity for added value. What has limited this progression has been the inherent difficulty in making a product that is both bland (not too acidic) and safe. The product must be bland in order to allow consumption of the quantity needed to constitute a mini-meal, and yet a mild product would not have sufficient concentration of anti-microbial acids to ensure either microbiological safety or a sufficiently long shelf life.

The important constituent that controls the microbial growth and therefore the safety of the product is the concentration of undissociated organic acid, usually acetic acid, remaining in the aqueous phase of the mayonnaise, but this gives an acidic taste to the salad. Buffer systems, for example acetic acid and sodium acetate, have sometimes been used which can control the acidity in the food. Fermentation of the vegetables also develops acidity, and the flavour is not usually as harsh as acetic acid. An attractive feature of many mayonnaise-based salads is the incorporation of high protein ingredients such as cheese, chicken meat, corned beef, crab meat, egg, ham, herring meat, mycoprotein, prawns and sausage. These ingredients give a less acid food; standard salads are pH 3.2-4.5, but with cheese are 4.0-4.5, fish 3.6 -4.4 and meat 4.0-5.1. There are suggestions that the protein components could confer some protection on the contaminating bacteria from the hostile environment of the dressing and therefore preservation and shelf life would be reduced.

Storage conditions that can affect the shelf life of the salads are temperature, packaging and modified atmospheres. In modified atmospheres using nitrogen and carbon dioxide, the C0₂ atmosphere can cause unattractive flavour changes.

(Source: Brocklehurst, T.E. (1994) 'Delicatessen salads and chilled prepared fruit and vegetable products', in Man, C. M. D. and Jones, A. A. (eds,), Shelf Life Evaluation of Foods, London: Blackie Academic and Professional, pp.87-126.)

CHAPTER 6: PRODUCT COMMERCIALISATION

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Creating New Foods. The Product Developer's Guide. Copyright © Chartered Inst. of Environmental Health.
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