MERCHANDISING ASPECTS OF THE QUALITY OF FROZEN VEGETABLES

The distinctive feature of fresh fruit and vegetables is their seasonal production variability and their irregular consumption throughout the year. Well timed processing of fruit and vegetables, which is freezing, will allow to avoid the seasonality of their consumption and to reduce losses of plant raw materials in the process of product distribution. In quick-frozen vegetables there is one undeniable advantage – they are already washed, cleaned and sliced, so they are comfortable and quick to cook. Frozen vegetables used to be considered as significantly inferior to the fresh ones due to the and content of various important nutrients. And this is a misconception. The increasing demand for frozen fruit and vegetables product in Ukraine leads to expansion of their range. Frozen vegetables, fruit and ready-cooked frozen dinners consist of a diverse range of vegetables, fruits, berries, mixes, ready cooked meals. So, we have decided to make a research of frozen vegetables that are sold on the consumer market of Kharkiv. The commodity characteristics of frozen vegetables and the formation of their demand have been studied. A number of tasks have been solved and which is: a Ukrainian market of frozen vegetables and details of their consumption were analyzed; the quality of packaging and labeling of frozen vegetables samples was studied; organoleptic quality indicators of the selected samples of frozen vegetables were determined; physical and chemical parameters of the selected prototypes samples were studied and compared with the guidelines of standardized documents. To study consumer advantages and consumer demand a marketing research was carried out, showing the interest of consumers in frozen fruit and vegetables on the market of Kharkiv. Research of the frozen fruit and vegetable products quality showed that not all samples conform to the regulated requirements of the standardized documents. So, in order to stay on the market and to withstand competition, modern manufacturers of frozen products have to introduce new production technologies, ensure high quality of products and control a product development level.