FORMULATION OF AN INSTANT VEGETABLE SOUP AND EVALUATION OF SHELF-LIFE

Abstract

Soup is nutritious and flavourful food item, which is, consumed prior a meal. It timulates appetite of consumer. Soups are specially suitable for children, elderly people and patients.Preparation of nutritionally rich soup is a time-consuming task. Therefore processed soups are becoming popular among the people those who are tired with day today activities. There are three types of processed soups available in foreign markets that are dehydrated soups,canned soups and frozen soups. Dehydrated vegetable soups are manufactured in two ways. The first is dry soup mixes, which are made by using dehydrated vegetables, and the other is dehydrated instant soup, which are made by using fresh pulp of vegetables. The main steps involved in instant dry soup manufacturing are preparation of soup according to developed formula, blending into a puree, drying into powder form by a drum drier. Hence,the heat sensitive vitamin like vitamin B and C that present in freshly prepared soups are destroyed during the drying process fortification is essential. The product is also rich in other vitamins, proteins, carbohydrates, fats, minerals and fibres. The moisture content of dehydrated soups is in the range 2-3% and it should not exceed 7% during the shelf life. Water activity should below 0.6 to avoid microbial deterioration. Studies of the estimation of shelf life of such dehydrated products was based on physical changes which are caused mainly due to the moisture content of the product. The packages, which are resistant to moisture and light can be used as protective coverage for these products and thereby extent the shelf life of the product. It has been found that Aluminium foil laminated packs are the most suitable package for dehydrated soups. In this study metalized polyethene , which can not act as a complete barrier to oxygen and light was used as the package. Storage-life of dehydrated soup at ambient temperature is longer than canned and frozen soups. Therefore there is an increasing demand for them in foreign market. Higher consumer acceptability of soup, nutritive value and low cost are the major reasons that the popularity among majority of people. During the study it was found that there was no post fecal contamination in the product and rancidity after four months in storage life. Sensory evaluation proved that there is no significance different of consumer acceptability of the product when comparing with instant soup cubes that are available in local market. Slight changes in colour and aroma was occurred due to inability of package to avoid oxygen and light completely. However the product has passed successfully four months of storage life.