Deploy

There are a lot of thoughts to reflect upon as we enter the last week of the food product development project. Over the last week, we have accomplished a lot; for instance, we conducted a sensory analysis to assess the acceptability of our product using a 9-point hedonic scale. We received positive feedback, and the color, flavor, general appearance and overall acceptance categories were approximately 8 or “like very much.” However, the texture received a 7 or “like moderately,” This allowed us to relook over our product and investigate the best reconstitution method before presenting our product this week to improve the texture component of our product. We want to present the best product that we can for the competition on Wednesday, April 24, 2019; some of the problems that we encountered was that the egg roll wrapper was becoming soggy after storing the egg rolls in the freezer for a week prior to reconstitution. Initially, we rubbed flour on the inside of the egg roll wrappers to reduce the water loss from the dip mixture; however, this did not work as well as we had hoped; therefore, we switched from using flour to the Kerry chicken pre-dust. After reconstitution, we noticed that there was less sogginess when using the pre-dust, but we also decided that we should par-fry the product instead of a full deep-fry prior to storage to reduce the oil seepage even more. We made our product 2 days before the product competition, so the storage period won’t be as long as it has been (7 days); we made our product, par-fried it and set the egg rolls on cooling racks over a baking sheet. The product was cooled, covered with aluminum foil and then set in the freezer for storage. We chose to set the product on racks instead of in plastic bags to reduce the condensation on the product and to allow the excess oil to drip onto the pan. On the day of the competition, we will be frying the product to create a crispy texture and to enhance the color. Food product development has a lot of different components such as product formulation, shelf-life stability, packaging, marketing, sales, sensory, etc. Throughout this project, each of us has been tested in some way to think outside the box as well as to think critically to solve problems that arose during this process. Two of the group members have a food science background, so it has been fun applying the concepts from the various courses that we have taken to see our product thrive, as well as to teach others and to learn more about how certain aspects have pertained to the further processing industry. Our group is as prepared as we can be to present our product to a vast audience; we are confident that it will go well and hope that we have a chance to win the competition with our tasty, Kick-6-Chicken Buffalo Chicken Egg Rolls!

Lindsey Spencer

Buffalo Chicken Egg rolls the final product