a) As a food technologist, you are responsible to do routine food quality analysis
i)
Determine the procedure used to check the food of random samples of
nasi lemak from a street mall
- The quality of food products in conformity with consumer requirements is
determined by sensory indicators, chemical indicators and microbial
indicators
- In sensory indicators, color and other aspect of appearance influence food
appreciation and quality especially by the consumer.
- In some cases, color changes are accompanied by undesirable changes in
texture, taste and odor
- The texture of the nasi lemak itself can be seen with eyes if they are slimy,
the sambal have bubbles or the chicken is start to smell
- We can also expert application in detection off-odor by smelling the food
- For microbiological indicators, it can be used to monitor hygienic conditions in
food production.
- The presence of specific bacteria, yeast or molds is an indicator of poor
hygiene and a potential microbiological contamination
- By using enumeration which is CFU or the total viable count on surface
describe the number of colony forming units which exist on a defined area of
the analyzed surface
- It can be determined by using a total plate count agar of grown colonies after
incubation and after 48 hours, the colonies is counted. The total viable count
is an indicator for the hygienic status of the food production and shows
possible microbial loads and contamination sources.
- Next is chemical indicators. As microorganism grows in foods, they produce
many types of metabolic by products associated with spoilage characteristics.
- The metabolic products that can be used as a spoilage indicator are H2S,
NH3, volatile substances, CO2, diacetyl, acetoin and others.
- Changes in food pH may also be used to determine the spoilage status of a
food.