Light Filth in Dried Fruits

Abstract

Background: Dried fruits are a processed product from fruits that add value by reducing moisture though the sunlight or baking and may add flavor or color or taste or other ingredients. There are produce in local and industrial factories. Besides fruits are food for humans, they are for insects and animals. Hence, dried fruits may have extraneous material that can both visible and invisible to the naked eyes due to very small size and light (light filth). These light filths include insects, insect fragment, and animal hair that all disgusting and indicate as unhygienic in production process.

Objectives: To evaluate a quality of dried fruits.

Methods: The research studied extraneous materials in dried fruits at 110 samples which they were sent by the Thai Food and Drug Administration (Thai FDA) to investigate via a visuality and microscope according to AOAC 945.85, Filth in Pickles.

Results: The results of the examination with the naked eyes was not found light filth, but examined under microscope found insect fragment, human hair, weevil, ant, feather, cat/dog hair, mite, worm larva, rat hair, book lice and insect egg at 100.0, 49.1, 34.5, 33.6, 30.0, 29.1, 26.4, 17.3, 12.7, 3.6, and 1.8 percent respectively. In dried tamarind products especially found 9 kinds of light filth contamination, which it was the highest in among other dried fruits.

Conclusions: The light filth that include insect, insect fragment and animal hair, and insect fragment were detected in all dried fruit samples. These light filth might cause raw materials, production process, packing, and storage that was not good standard. As a result, dried fruit manufacturers should improve the production process to meet hygienic according to GMP to get good products as customers need. Finally, supervisory agencies should take the information to surveillance light filth in dried fruits and consider to lunch a quality criterion to protect the health of consumers to get quality, clean, and safety.