BQF mashed potatoes should be prepared from fresh, sound potato after trimming, washing, cooking, peeling, milling, fitting into the tray and freezing accord with good commercial practice. And they must be metal detected before being shipped out.

The potato is a starchy, tuberous crop from the perennial solanum tuberosum of the solanaceae family (also known as the nightshades). The word potato may refer to the plant itself as well as the edible tuber. In the region of the Andes, there are some other closely related cultivated potato species. First introduced outside the Andes region four centuries ago, today potatoes have become an integral part of much of the world's cuisine and are the world's fourth-largest food crop, following rice, wheat, and maize.