Ministry specifies requirements for cream-like products

Business Saturday 12/January/2019 14:11 PM
By: Times News Service
Ministry specifies requirements for cream-like products

Muscat: The Ministry of Commerce and Industry (MoCI) said that the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) standard 2332, for pasteurised, sterilised, and high-temperature-treated creams, specified the requirements for manufacturing, packaging, transportation and storage, as well as general requirements for cream-like products.
The Directorate General of Standards and Metrology said that the specification confirmed that the manufacturing materials must be completely free of pig products and its derivatives.
They should also abide by the production rules and health conditions mentioned in the Unified Gulf Standard Specifications No. 21 regarding health conditions in food factories and their workers. The raw materials used in the manufacture of vegetable oils should be in accordance with their own specifications; in addition to this, the product must be free of bitterness, acidity or taste of soap and minerals or have any other strange taste. It must also be free of pathogenic microbes or their secretions or whatever leads to undesirable changes.
Nawal Bint Suweid Bin Said Al Abriyah, head of the Food and Agricultural Products Division in the Directorate General of Standards and Metrology of the MoCI, said: "The addition of fruits, fruit juices, natural flavours and natural honey is allowed. Sugar can be added to only whipped or flavoured cream. The use of fixatives, acidity regulators and textures is permitted in accordance with the Omani Gulf Standard for Food Additives."
"You know that cream-like products are food products made from the emulsification of liquids or dried skimmed milk or its saturations or other fat free milk solids to which natural oils are added," she added.
The sterilised cream-like product is sterilised in containers sold to consumers. The cream-like product is treated at a high temperature, packaged in sterile conditions. The specification also included contents of the vegetable fat, as specified in the specification, said Al Abriyah.