Book of Abstracts
11th IFOAM
Scientific Conference
11-15 August 1996
Copenhagen, Denmark
Abstract front
page
Subject index
Athor index
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Symposia
The P-value as a holistic quality-parameter for food experiments S23
Walz, Veronika
Institute for Horticulture and Fruit Growing, University of Agricultural Sciences,
A-1190 Vienna, Austria |
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| A method is being sought that will give a simple
numerical assessment of food quality. The P-value appears to be a possible method,
incorporating the electrochemical values pH, redox potential and electrical conductivity
in a single number. The method has its origins in the 1950s in the bioelectronic theories
of the French hydrologist Louis Claude Vincent and the Hungarian physicist Janos Kemeny.
Present electrochemical food measurement research started in the 1970s and was taken up
and intensified by the German scientist Manfred Hoffmann (TU München). Tests were
conducted using carrots (Daucus carota ssp. sativus) grown under ecological and
conventional conditions at two different sites in France (see also MinnaarC. and
Kienzl-Plochberger K.). It was shown that the P-value could be used to distinguish between
carrots grown using different methods and to distinguish between carrots stored for
different periods of time. Furthermore it could be confirmed that the lower the P-value
the higher the quality of the carrot. Though some questions remain, the P-value method
appears to offer itself as an easy to manage, inexpensive, multi-purpose technique to
assess food quality. It is suggested that it could form part of a standardized food
quality procedure. Hoffmann, M., (1991): Elektro-chemische Merkmale zur Differenzierung
von Lebensmitteln. In: Meier-Ploeger, A., Vogtmann, H., (eds.):Lebensmittelqualität -
ganzheitliche Methoden und Konzepte. 2nd ed., C.F.Müller, Karlsruhe, p. 67-86
Kaiser, Barbara, (1991): Elektrochemische Produktdifferenzierung am Beispiel Karotte.
Diploma Thesis, Technical College, Weihenstephan.
Velimirov, A., Plochberger, K., Schott, W., Walz, V., (1995): Neue Untersuchungen zur
Qualität unterschiedlich angebauter Äpfel. (Nicht alles, was golden ist, ist auch
delicious!). In: Forschungsinstitut f. Biologischen Landbau, Oberwil, Schweiz (ed.) das
bioskop, No. 6, p. 4-8 |