SOP: Ascertaining Proportions of Fruits in Canned Fruit Cocktail

GIFSQ — Global Institute for Food Safety & Quality

Principle

The proportion of each fruit ingredient in canned fruit cocktail is found by separating the individual fruits from the drained product, weighing each, and expressing each weight as a percentage of the sum of all the fruit weights.

Apparatus required

• Weighing balance

Sample preparation

For ascertaining proportions of fruits and fill of container (including drained weight), the entire container is the sample unit. For ascertaining compliance with percentage requirements of sizes and shapes of fruit and defects, the sample unit is: (i) the entire container when it holds 1 litre or less; or (ii) 500 g of drained fruit (of a representative mixture) when the container holds more than 1 litre.

Procedure

After determining the drained weight, pick out the individual fruit ingredients, taking the minor fruits (such as cherries, pineapple and grapes) out first

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Weigh the individual fruit ingredients to the nearest gram

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Record the weight of each fruit and add all those weights

Calculation

% of the fruit weight = (weight of each fruit / sum of all fruit weights) × 100

Do not use the original drained weight of the product before separation of the fruits in this calculation.

Precautions

• Use the sum of the separated fruit weights as the denominator, not the original drained weight.

References

Ranganna, S., Handbook of Analysis and Quality Control for Fruit and Vegetable Products, 2nd edition.