Particle size and concentration adjustments of tomato products for Howard mold count

The present AOAC method for mold counts of tomato products (44.096) provides no inter-product standardization of concentration among juice, sauce, paste, puree, and catsup; no intra-product standardization of concentration for juice, sauce, and catsup; and no adjustment for degree of comminution. Use of the official method, therefore, could result in an artificially increased mold count for products which have undergone extreme comminution. A new method was developed to adjust all products to the same concentration and grind them to a uniform particle size, thereby ensuring comparable mold counts on products produced by different processes. Collaborative study results showed equal repeatability for both the official and the proposed methods and a lower coefficient of variation for the proposed method.