Hello
I am developing a range of vegan nutrition bars and I am using 100% natural dates paste as sweetener.
Other ingredients I am using are nut butter, pea protein isolate, fructo oligosaccharide, cocoa powder and stevia.
I am observing that within 2 weeks the dates are turning sour and the bar doesn't taste good. i would appreciate if someone can guide me about how to overcome this issue.
I am not providing any kind of heat treatment or freezing. the bars are packing in laminated pouch and stored at ambient conditions.
Ufuk Ayyıldız reply
postedDoes your date paste sterilized?
Food R&D Emeritus reply
postedLooks like your bars had high Aw...Looks like there is no heat or very minimal. treatment there. whats tge internal temperatureof your bar during processing. ..
How did you process it after forming into bars .
Did you apply GMP and other food safefty protocols during its preparation?
Amit Chopraa reply
postedi have purchased it in bulk pack from reseller, its coming from UAE
Food R&D Emeritus reply
postedYou buy the dates but not the bars..explain how you make the bars.
Amit Chopraa reply
postedwhats Aw? there is no heat treatment involved. Havent measured the temperature. I simply packed it after making it into bars. Yes we followed GMP and food safety protocols. We sanitized the hands before handling the product and even sanitized the setup to make the bars.
Ufuk Ayyıldız reply
postedWhat is your profession?
It seems you need a consulting service.
Food R&D Emeritus reply
postedYour dates paste contains osmotolerant yeasts ..spores thats the likelt cause of the spoilage.
Aw is water activity..
Amit Chopraa reply
postedYesterday we did another trial and this time we have used date syrup instead of date paste. I will ask my qc guy to check for water activity.
Amit Chopraa reply
postedI own a food processing company and along with my team we are developing this new product range.
Amit Chopraa reply
postedSure. I am open to discussing this with a consultant.
Amit Chopraa reply
postedWe buy the date paste and other ingredients from market, blend all together and then roll them into bars
Food R&D Emeritus reply
postedThats not food safe as there is no heat treatment. Unless you subject that to irradiation to disinfecf it if you dont permit heat treatment.
Amit Chopraa reply
postedCan you please suggest what kind of heat treatment should we go for? I have a jacketed blender in which I can heat the mixture, though not sure upto what temperatures and time? Also not sure how it will impact the overall texture of the bar
Food R&D Emeritus reply
postedYou should precook the bar mixture to reach an internal temperature of not lesser than 100C
Amit Chopraa reply
postedFor how long?
Food R&D Emeritus reply
postedDepends how efficientt is your cooker ..The temperature is your end point
Amit Chopraa reply
postedGot it, will try and observe, thank you for the ideas
Amit Chopraa reply
postedI have a question, if I heat the entire mixture to 100 c, won't the date syrup caramelize and harden up?
Ufuk Ayyıldız reply
postedCheck caramelization temperature.
Food R&D Emeritus reply
postedIf the pH is acidic Maillards reaction responsible for off taste generation is not preponderant..Including also some liquid to prevent drying like syrups or even water might be advantageous. Try in lab scale before you do it in production scale to verify the feasibility.