Spec for celery dices
1 Sensory Requirements
Attribute
|
Acceptable Standard
|
Colour
|
Excellent appearance. Reasonably bright, pleasant colour .
|
Flavour
|
Very good flavour. Good strong flavour characteristic of celery.
|
Texture
|
Crisp not mushy, dry, fibrous or stringy.
|
2 Physical Requirements
DEFECT
|
DEFINITION
|
Upper Tolerance Limit
|
Foreign Matter (FM)
|
All material not derived from the celery plant, or not defined as EVM, e.g. wood, glass, stones, metal, etc.
|
Nil per 5kg
|
Extraneous Vegetable Matter (EVM)
|
Harmless vegetable material other than celery stalk, e.g. leaf or grass.
|
20 per 5kg (leaf)
5 per 250g
|
Major Blemish M
|
Appearance and eating quality seriously affected, e.g. severe brown discolouration, softening of tissue (rot) or shrivelled, crushed or insect damaged etc.
Aggregate size of blemishes exceeds area of a 6mm diameter circle.
|
1% by weight
|
Minor Blemish m
|
Appearance and eating quality materially affected. Aggregate size of blemishes is in between the areas of 2mm and 6mm diameter circles.
|
3% by weight
|
White Pieces
|
Dry or pithy internal tissues or stalk that is not green.
|
5% by weight
|
Under/Over Size
|
Pieces outside the specified size. Less than half the area of average sized unit, or significantly larger.
|
10% by weight
|
Size
Dice
|
Generally pieces roughly square but not completely regular / straight dice
Length: 10mm + 3mm
Width: 10mm + 3mm
|
90% by weight within
|
3. Microbiological Requirements
Parameter
|
|
cfu/g
|
Test Method
|
Total Viable Count
|
max
|
100 000
|
Aerobic Count petrifilm @ 35ºC
|
Coliforms
|
max
|
1000
|
E. coli Petrifilm @ 35ºC
|
E.coli /0.1g
|
max
|
0
|
E. coli Petrifilm @ 35ºC
|
S.aureus (coag +ve)
|
max
|
100
|
Baird Parker @ 35º confirmed rabbit plasma
|