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The market for processed food is rapidly growing. The industry needs methods for "processing with care" leading to high quality products in order to meet consumers' expectations. Processing influences the quality of the finished product through various factors. In carrot baby food, these are the raw material, the pre-processing and storage treatments as well as the processing conditions. In this study, a quality assessment was performed on baby food made from different pre-processed raw materials. The experiments were carried out under industrial conditions using fresh, frozen and stored organic carrots as raw material. Statistically significant differences were found for sensory attributes among the three autoclaved puree samples (e.g. overall odour F=90.72, p<0.001). Samples processed from frozen carrots show increased moisture content and decrease of several chemical constituents. Biocrystallization identified changes between replications of the cooking. Pre-treatment of raw material has a significant influence on the final quality of the baby food.

The use of anti-hail nets was effective in preventing the attack of codling moth to apple fruits, suggesting their use in organic management where conventional insecticides are prohibited. Under the conditions tested, anti-hail nets showed a negative effect on some of the quality characteristics measured on apple fruits, which could influence consumer acceptability.

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