Patent ID: 11930833
Assignee: KRAFT FOODS GROUP BRANDS LLC
Field: Food chemistry (Chemistry)
Classification: CPC A  B | IPC A  B

Claim 0:
1. A process for preparing packaged diced vegetable pieces, the vegetable pieces comprising potato pieces and other vegetable pieces, the process comprising:
immersion blanching raw potato pieces having a pH of between about 5 and about 6 in an acidic media so that the pH of the potato pieces after acidification is about 4.0 to about 4.8;
steam blanching other raw vegetable pieces which have a pH of between about 5 and about 6;
acidifying the other vegetable pieces after blanching in an acidic media so that the pH of the other vegetable pieces after acidification is 4.0 to 4.8;
freezing the blanched, acidified vegetable pieces using an IQF process;
thereafter hermetically sealing the blanched, acidified, frozen vegetable pieces in flexible pouches under vacuum with a nitrogen atmosphere;
thereafter thawing the blanched, acidified, frozen vegetable pieces in the sealed pouches in the nitrogen atmosphere; and
thereafter subjecting the thawed vegetable pieces in the sealed pouches in the nitrogen atmosphere to high pressure processing;
wherein the process enables freshness of the potato and vegetable pieces to be maintained in the sealed pouches at refrigerated temperatures for at least 75 days.