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Quality is a term which denotes a degree of excellence, a high standard or value. Quality of
foods may be defined as the composite of those characteristics that differentiate individual units of a product, and have significance in determining the degree of acceptability of that unit to the user Kramer (1965).
Food Quality:
The four principal quality factors in food are the following: Appearance, comprising colour, shape, size, gloss, etc. is based on optical properties and visual manifestation of size and shape.
Flavor: comprising taste (perceived on tongue) and odour (perceived in the olfactory centre in
the nose), is the response of receptor in the oral cavity to chemical stimuli.
Texture, is the response of the tactile senses to physical stimuli that result from contact
between some part of the body and the food
Nutrition Cost, convenience and packaging are also important but not considered quality
factors. Of the above listed the first three are termed as “sensory acceptable factors” because they are perceived by the senses directly. Nutrition is a quality factor that is not an acceptability factor as it is not perceived by the senses. As consumers, these four attributes typically affect us in the order specified above, for example we evaluate the visual appearance and color first, followed by the taste, aroma, and texture.
The appearance of the product usually determines whether a product is accepted or rejected; therefore this is one of the most critical quality attributes. Nutritional value is a hidden characteristic that affects our bodies in ways that we cannot perceive, but this quality attribute is becoming increasingly valued by consumers, scientists, and the medical profession Kramer (1965)
