Grant: Engage Grants Program

Taste, texture and appearance of French fries are primary factors affecting consumer acceptance and it market value. Frying operation of the partner in this project has problems related to quality of par-fried fries. The main goal of this project will be improvement of the frying process including it optimization and development of frying oil fitting this operation. The main problem in the operation is greasiness of fries caused by excessive absorption of fat by fries and with it problems with product handling and freezing. Many factors can affect fat absorption and all of them have to be found and assessed to improve efficiency of the frying operation and enhance quality of fries. To achieve improvement in quality of produced fries it is required to scrutinize processing and develop potential improvements in processing and optimize particularlly frying process. Additionally, suitable oil will be selected to replace two oils currently used for frying of different types of fries. Selected oil will be firstly assessed in lab for it performance and potential frying parameters developed. All these improvements and optimization will lead to better profitability of the processing operation.