Annemarie T. Viljoen

A comparison of the eating quality of selected potato cultivars from two potato production regions in South Africa

BACKGROUND Limited scientific information is available on the eating quality of potato cultivars in South Africa. This study aimed to determine, describe and compare the eating quality of three potato cultivars from two production regions (dry land and irrigated land) in South Africa, through sensory and physical evaluation. Sensory descriptors were identified for the sensory attributes and a lexicon was developed. A category scale was used to rate the sensory attributes and physical measurements of specific gravity, shear force resistance and scanning electron microscopy were performed. RESULTS It became evident that both sensory evaluation and physical measurements need to be performed in order to determine the eating quality of potato cultivars, as one evaluation supports the other. A partial least squares regression modelling method was used to relate the sensory attributes and physical measurements. The intensity of the sensory attributes of the specific cultivars varied between the two production regions. CONCLUSION The eating quality of potatoes obtained from two production regions differed from another due to climatic conditions and other production characteristics that exist (dry land vs. irrigation). The study confirms the valuable contribution of determining the eating quality of potato cultivars.

Policy for the complex burden of malnutrition in Africa : a research agenda to bring consumers and supply chains together

It is Tuesday afternoon and Refilwe leaves her job as a cleaner to begin her two-hour journey to her home in the Pretoria urban area of Mamelodi. After the minibus taxi drops her off a few streets from her home, she stops to buy vegetables from the street vendors at the taxi rank, before visiting a spaza store – a small-scale informal convenience store – to buy tea, sugar and more food for her family’s dinner; she is already planning a trip to the large supermarket on the outskirts of her residential area on the weekend. What is available for her to purchase at each of these venues? Imported rice, local white bread or traditional maize? Packaged biscuits, processed snack foods, or fruit and vegetables? What factors underlie her decisions to buy certain foods from different venues? What factors constrain or enable her to consistently source healthy food for her family?