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Canned tomato soup is primarily tomato puree that is tomato paste and water with a few other ingredients added for flavor and physical properties of the food. The tomato is a high acid food therefore, “ … the tomato is not considered a high-risk food, as the pH of the fruit generally ranges from pH 4.2-4.9 with an average of about 4.5. At this point pathogens are unlikely to grow” (Hui, Ghazala, Graham, Murrell, &Nip, 2014, p. 399). However, there are still some food born pathogens that can pose as a major problem when it comes to the safety of the food and its shelf life stability. The main concern when canning is anaerobic microorganisms that produce toxins like Clostridium botulinum. Even though the tomato is a high acid food it still falls in the range where this organism can grow and produce toxin pH 4.6-8.5 with an optimum growing temperature between 30-40C and a maximum temperature of 50C. Even if the bacteria are killed they release heat resistant spores that if they start to multiply they become a threat. (USDA, FISI. 2012).     

THERMAL DEATH TIME EQUATION

Molecular composition

Main ingredients on the back of the can: Tomato puree, High fructose corn syrup, wheat flour

  • picture of cell wall

The cell wall structural importance for the plant’s growth and stability in the ripening process is equally as important to the quality of the tomato products it can produce. The pectin and cellulose are what determine the apparent viscosity of the tomato product. If they are broken at higher temperatures more enzymes are deactivated than if they are broken at lower temperatures.

HFCS

High fructose corn syrup is added to tomato soup to make it sweeter, without the addition of sugar it would be too bitter. HFCS is composed of both glucose and fructose in their free monosaccharide from that doesn’t crystallize readily.  HFCS is also important in binding water, the monosaccharaides of fructose and glucose have the ability to bind to water in the product. The binding of water helps to reduce microbial growth by removing available water from the product it can also prevent the separation of water in products like sauces and soups.(White, 2014).

Wheat flour

Wheat flour is composed of six main groups, carbohydrates, proteins, enzymes, lipids, minerals and vitamins.  Flour is added to tomato soup to increase its viscosity. The starch in the flour acts as a gelling agent and increases the viscosity of the product. Amylopectin is highly branched whereas amylose is not. When starch granules found in the flour are heated in solution they become less ordered and begin to gel (Xie, 2014). During this process of gelatinization the crystal like structures of the starch granules disappear and the swelling starts creating a viscoelastic product.

Rheology

Picture

The viscosity of tomato soup is a pseudoplastic, a shear-thinning product (Gould, 1992). 

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