Quality of canned vegetables in the commercial network from the municipality of Iaşi

Abstract

The thermally-sterilized canned vegetables represent the most important share from the thermally-sterilized cans consumed in Romanian. Except for the products processed from tomatoes that are the majority group, we also enumerate the following more important sterilized assortments: vegetables in water and tomato sauce, vegetables in vinegar, vegetables in oil, products from vegetables and juices/nectar . The industry of canned vegetables form Romania goes through a reorientation and re-equipment period referring to the obtaining of raw materials and assimilation of higher technologies. Many units have mixed capital or they have become the property of some companies from other countries. The thermally-sterilized products from vegetables from the offer existing in the municipality of Iasi presents specific characteristics depending on the producing unit, and we may identify some unprofitable aspects in terms of quality itself or the manner of conditioning-packing. The study pursues comparatively Romanian products and from exportation both in terms of organoleptic – sensorial appreciation, aspect and integrity, the hygienic quality and the more important physical-chemical features. The sensorial analysis allowed the identification of many positive aspects characteristic to all assortments under study: aspect, air-tightness, dosage and accuracy of label sticking, cleaning and integrity of jars – lids, contents in accordance with the preparation recipe. We could notice some flaws in some assortments in terms of aspect of contents, color of products or the covering liquid and consistency. Two products may be practically considered flawless. The contents in ascorbic acid diminished for the products preserved as compared to the fresh raw material, proportionally to the initial contents and depending on the preservation method. The vegetables in vinegar had acetic acid contents standard. The thermally sterilized products had salt contents also standard.