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Maple Food Safety Plans

Creating a food safety plan can help you maintain high-quality production and can help you when training new employees. This model food safety plan for maple is based on the recommendations made in the U.S. Food and Drug AdministrationÕs Guide to Minimize Microbial Food Safety Hazards for Fresh Fruits and Vegetables (PDF), on the 2011 Food Safety Modernization Act and on industry recognized food safety practices.

Assessment of the Flavor of Syrup Produced with High-Brix RO Systems

Concentrating sap with reverse osmosis (RO) substantially increases the efficiency and profitability of processing maple sap into syrup by reducing the amount of fuel and time required to complete concentration to syrup density in the evaporator, with gains proportional to the level of sap pre-concentration. Because most flavor development in maple syrup occurs through nonenzymatic browning reactions as sap is processed with heat in the evaporator, it has often been speculated that reduced evaporator processing time resulting from the use of RO might also result in perceptible impacts on syrup flavor. However, a series of controlled experiments conducted at the University of Vermont Proctor Maple Research Center using the same sap processed to different levels with RO determined that concentrating sap up to 21.5% prior to boiling in standard maple evaporators had no substantive effects on syrup composition or flavor.

Sanitary Design and Construction of Food Equipment

To ensure safe food and adequate sanitation programs, the equipment used for processing and handling food products must be designed, fabricated, constructed, and installed according to sound sanitary design principles. This ensures the equipment can be adequately cleaned and sanitized, and that surfaces are resistant to daily exposure to corrosive food products and cleaning/sanitizing chemicals. Equipment that does not meet basic sanitary design principles, or is installed or used improperly cannot be adequately cleaned and sanitized.

Food Safety on the Farm: Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices & Worker Health and Hygiene

Good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good handling practices (GHPs) encompass the general procedures that growers, packers, and processors of fresh fruits and vegetables should follow to ensure the safety of their product. GAPs usually deal with preharvest practices (i.e., in the field), while GHPs cover postharvest practices, including packing and shipping. This factsheet covers GAPs and GHPs relating to worker health and hygiene. There are seven other UF/IFAS Extension factsheets in the ÔFood Safety on the FarmÕ series that focus on specific aspects of the GAPs program and how they relate to Florida crops and practices.

Food Safety on the Farm: Good Agricultural Practices and Good Handling Practices & Packing Operation Sanitation

Good agricultural practices (GAPs) and good handling practices (GHPs) encompass the general procedures that growers, packers, and processors of fresh fruits and vegetables should follow to ensure the safety of their product. GAPs usually deal with preharvest practices (i.e., in the field), while GHPs cover postharvest practices, including packing, storage, and shipping. This factsheet covers GAPs relating to packing operation sanitation.

Gravity Filtering: Simple tools and techniques for filtering small batches of maple syrup

Many producers use a filter press, which uses a pressure pump to push the syrup through a series of metal plates and frames, separated by single-use pieces of filter paper which capture the particles and result in crystal-clear syrup. For smaller producers, however, using paper and cloth filters and letting gravity pull the syrup through is an acceptable and far less expensive option.

Ask Proctor

How long can I store sap? Sap is a highly perishable product. This article explains what happens as it is stored, and how to avoid problems.