eChapters

1. Introduction

Fruits and vegetables in fresh form in general contain very high water content, with the fast rate of metabolic activity, including respiration rate, which may vary with the fruit type. Accordingly, the storage life at room temperature is considerably less, to expect acceptable quality. A range of transformational changes occur in various features of the fruits and vegetables, such as color, flavor, texture, structure, sweetness, sourness, pungency, astringency and so on. Phenolic browning of mushrooms, intensive softening of papaya, coloration and softening of ripe banana, softening of pear and jackfruit , flavor transformations of mango, banana and jackfruit after ripening, their color and texture transformations, are classic examples of post-harvest changes in fresh commodities, over a course of storage period at room temperature. These physical and sensorial perceptions of fresh commodities over a length of storage period are based on the range and multitude of operations of physical, chemical and bio-chemical reactions occurring in various constituents of the fresh fruit or vegetable such as moisture, pigments, vitamins, pectin, cellulose, hemicelluloses, phenolics, lignin, sugars, flavor compounds, amino acids, fatty acids and so on. In order to increase the storage stability, the fresh fruits and vegetables are processed and converted into various products such as juice, RTS beverages, jam, jelly, marmalade, fruit spread, dehydrated, spray dried powder, frozen stored, fruit cereal flakes, canned, candied, fruit bar and so on. Based on the nature of processing, the original form, shape, size, texture and structure are transformed, however with due maintenance in storage acceptability. A number of external factors are applied to achieve this product range such as heat, air velocity, pressure, radiation, chilling, freezing, vacuum impregnation etc. The ultimate quality of the final product is essentially an interaction between and amongst the various chemical constituents so characteristic of each fruit or vegetable under study, and a sum total of positive and negative reactions related to sensorial acceptability of the product. This quality is again a function of the storage period and the conditions of storage. Consumers in modern days are more health conscious to choose between consumption of fresh or processed fruits and vegetables. For trade over distance and time and particularly for geographic regions not producing a particular fruit or vegetable, it is of utmost importance to process the fresh produce. Enzymatic transformations in color, texture and flavor deserve utmost attention to ensure acceptable quality of the processed product, in particular over the course of storage period or until consumed after transportation and marketing. Microbiological quality of the product in final form is a most vital factor of consumers' health and this is dependent on water activity, sugars and protein / amino acid contents. In this regard, additives and preservatives come into picture. Strict regulations are imposed on their use, type and concentration over a storage period, for healthy consumption. Accordingly, this chapter would deal with several examples of processing conditions influencing the quality of the product, that emanates. Processing involving chemical, bio-chemical, engineering, bio-technological and microbiological methods to achieve a product are vivid, varied and different to different species / variety of fruits or vegetables to target different products.

Definition
Production and operations management is the process of conversion of inputs into outputs, using physical resources, so as to provide the desired utility/utilities —of form, place, possession or state or a combination thereof—to the customer while meeting the other organizational objectives of effectiveness, efficiency and adaptability. It distinguishes itself from the other functions such as personnel, marketing etc. by its primary concern for ‘conversion by using physical resources’. Figure 1.1 describes a generalized concept of production system. It takes resource inputs and processes them to produce useful outputs in the form of goods or services.

Centuries before Greece and Rome were discovered, sailing ships carried Indian spices, perfumes and textiles to Mesopotamia, Arabia and Egypt. It was the lure of these that brought many seafarers to the shores of India. Emperors, kings, senators and the aristocracy transformed spices into the mostly highly prized commodities of ancient trade routes The story of Indian Spices is more than 7000 years old. By the 1400s, when navigational equipment had improved to the point that long-haul sailing became possible, European rulers set out to change the balance of world trade by funding spice-hunting missions of their own. Christopher Columbus who, in searching for a quick route to India, reached the Americas. Vasco de Gama was the first to surround Africa, and with a crew led by Ferdinand Magellan, fully circumnavigated the globe.

1. INTRODUCTION

Colour affects every moments of our lives, strongly influencing the cloths we wear, the furnishing in our house and garden, and the appeal of foods. Not only this, colour aids the recognition of food and also has psychological appeal on the enjoyment of food. It is also one of the first characteristic perceived by our senses and help in determining acceptability, judging the quality and basic aesthetic value of food. Addition of colour to the food ensures the uniformity and intensifies the naturally occurring pigments in our food. To achieve this, historically natural or bio-colours have been used extensively till the end of 19^th century, when synthetic colours called ‘coal tar dyes’ were developed that acquired a widespread acceptability. But unfortunately, these are not totally safe for human consumption; for example high levels of erythrosine intake causes thyroid tumors, while Ponceau 4R, tartrazine and sunset yellow were found to be allergic. Many dyes used as colourant have been proved to be carcinogenic. The consumer wants to see the food looking natural as the synthetic colours have been proved to be carcinogenic to humans. Thus, increasing consumer awareness for natural products with almost no chemical additive and certified dyes (which was earlier considered safe) has necessitated the need to exploit food colourants of natural origin. Natural colours are generally extracted from materials of biological origin like fruits, vegetables, seeds, roots and microorganisms, and are often called as ‘Biocolours’. Microorganisms like Rhodotorula, Sarcina, Chromobacter have been proved to be a good source of biocolour.Colour has also been successfully produced from microorganisms using apple pomace as a base for the growth medium of biocolour producing microorganisms.

Objective: Production of Chocolate.
The major ingredient of chocolate is cocoa mass, which is mixed with sugar, and in case of milk chocolate, also with milk powder. The conching process then follows, which is important for the development of full chocolate flavour. Melted cocoa butter is added, the chocolate mass becomes liquid and is cooled, tempered and poured into moulds to form chocolate products.
Mixing of ingredients
Sugar, cocoa mass and milk powder are intensively mixed forming a dry powder. This powder is pre-ground in various types of mills and then finely ground in a 5-roll refiner. The size of particles in chocolate is between 15- 70 mm (average 25 mm). Small operators use vertical ball mills. Optimum flow properties are required for further processing. The yield value required differs according to the potential use (e.g. hollow moulding or enrobing). The particle size affects both the yield value and the plastic viscosity. In order to reduce recipe costs, the most expensive major constituent (i.e. fat) should be used in the smallest possible proportion which will give correct flow characteristics.

Introduction A functional food is a food that provides alimentative beyond their actual nutritional value & are claimed to have an extra function by the addition of new ingredients or more of already present ingredients into it. Functional food have also become a part of our everyday daily diet & are told to offer potential various health benefits other than the widely accepted nutritional effects among them. (Roberfroid MB 2009). Many bioactive active compounds are contained by them like roughage, OS, vitamins, inorganic elements, & bacterium probiotic, having scented whiff, relish & fineness, which sustain the balance & balance of the enteric system. Functional may also be said as artificer‘s foods, NC, restorative foods, curative food, & super food etc because of the roles & functions they perform. (Wlodzimierz Grajek et al., 2008). There are many utilitarian sequels of functional food & beverages with added bug & probiotics on the health of humans which are increasingly promoted & recommended by the nutritionists & other we-being professionals. (Aditya Chaudhary 2019). For a time being, the most salient & over & over again used functional foods amalgam are probiotics & probiotics, or they altogether called as symbiotic‘. he dwell Microbes or foods microbes, which are beneficial for human, are probiotics. (Armachius James &Yousheng Wang 2019).

1. INTRODUCTION

With diverse agro-climatic conditions, India produces a wide variety of horticultural crops and out of these crops and out of these apple (Malus x domestica Borkh.) occupies a prominent position in India. It is processed into different products like juice, concentrates, wine, cider, canned slices etc. Apple processing is one of the major industries in countries of the world including India, where it is processed in different states like H.P, Jammu and Kashmir and Uttarakhand. Apple pomace is a left-over residue after juice extraction containing peel, seeds and remaining solid parts and represents about 25-35% of the weight of the fresh apple processed. At prasent, it is a waste and its disposal is a major environmental problem (Plate 1). Being precious natural resources its utilization is a challenge and opportunity to the scientists and technologists. It may be a good substrate for the pectin esterase enzyme, animal feed, citric acid, ethanol and biocolour production. It could be a good substrate for the production of microbial colours under SSF which otherwise require a costlier medium for its production. Different products using solid state fermentation of apple pomace forms the subject matter of this chapter. Here the efforts made to utilize apple pomace especially to explore the possibility of making value added products using Solid State Fermentation (SSF) have been summarized.

1. Introduction

There is intense commercial interest in dehydrated fruit and vegetable products especially mango powder, banana powder, orange powder, papaya cereal flakes to powder, tomato juice powder and other vegetable powders, which are in great demand for soups, biscuit type cookies supplemented with fruit powders (Ana Maria et al. 2009; Sunita and Chauhan 2008), pizza mixes and sauces. Natural fruit and vegetable powders are gaining lot of popularity in recent years as they are very easy to handle after production, require minimum storage space and they are attractive. Tamarind powder is developed from tamarind fruit (Tamarindus indica) (Manjunath et al. 1991) and recently cashew apple and guava residues from fruit juice industry were successfully converted into fruit powders and used at different levels of wheat flour substitution for cookies formulation (Ana Maria et al.2009) and fruit puree like papaya can be mixed with cereal flour to prepare slurry and after gelatinization, the slurry can be useful for preparing drum dried flakes and powder (Sunita and Chauhan 2008). Tropical fruits are exotic in flavor but their juices and purees are seldom available in dehydrated powder (James, 1971). Citrus juice concentrates were produced during world war II in powdered form by using spray, drum, vacuum-puff, and freeze drying (USDA, 1962). The preservation of fruits and vegetables by dehydration offers a unique method, which may be considered as an alternative low cost preservation technique. A shift from fresh to more and more processed foods with significant value addition is bound to occur sooner or later considering the socio-economic changes taking place in the country and the rapid integration of Indian economy with global system. Most popular brands are found in the “ready to consume” food sector.

Abstract

India is one among the major fruit producing countries of the world and offers opportunities of women empowerment through quality fruit production, planting material generation and production of value added products. There is a great opportunity to increase and improve the production of tropical, subtropical, and temperate fruits. Underutilized fruits also have a huge potential waiting to be exploited. This will only be possible with a concerted effort by researchers and growers, especially women to improve quality and increase production based on consumer demand and export potential. Women play significant role in fruit production activities. Unfortunately their access to knowledge, technology, finance, information, and training is minimal which hampers productivity of fruit crops. The mode of female participation in agricultural production varies with the land owning status of farm households. Their roles range from managers to landless labourers. In all farm production, women’s average contribution is estimated at 55 percent to 66 percent of the total labour with percentages much higher in certain regions. About 48 percent of India’s self-employed farmers are women. Thus, rural India is witnessing a process of transition which could be described as feminization of agriculture particularly fruit crop cultivation and their post harvest management. Women play an active role in various production and postproduction activities of horticultural crops. The number of women engaged in horticulture has increased continuously in the past two-three decades due to various factors such as migration of men to urban areas in search of non-farm income, increase in the demand of labour force in construction and other sectors. The data on the women involved in horticulture sector are scanty however the involvement of women in various operations of cultivation and post harvest handling and storage is very high because of entrepreneurial nature of horticulture. There is need to adopt collective and SHG approach to take women contributions to socio-economic significance. Thus horticulture, especially the pre-harvest and post harvest management of fruit crops have considerable employment avenues for women and make horticulture an effective subject of women empowerment.

Previous Year Questions

1. Write down the constraints of fruit processing industry in India (10M, CSE 2023)

2. Enlist & Explain the issues & challenges in the growth of food processing industry in India (10M, CSE 2022)

3. Give a detailed account of constraints in sustaining the food-grain production in India. (10M, IFoS 2020)

4. What are the major constraints of food production in India (10 mark, CSE 2020)

5. Describe the food production constraints in Indian agricultural system. (15M, IFoS-2018)

6. Indicate the major constraints in food procurement and distribution. (10M, CSE 2017)

7. Discuss the procurement and processing constraints of food grain. (15M, IFoS-2017)

India has the second largest concentration of tribal population after African continent. The tribal population of India is more than 8 per cent of the total population (Anonymous 2001). However, in Maharashtra it is over 9 per cent of the state population. Among the tribal community Bhil community is the largest tribal population in Maharashtra. They live in compact areas, which are generally hilly and undulating terrain. The Bhil are primarily farmers, though they are said to be hunters since the past. Poor condition of soil, small holdings, poor resources and economic condition, traditional methods of agriculture do not provide them a regular and continuous sustenance throughout the year as such they have to depend on other subsidiary sources of earning.

Most of the tribal communities have to live under a difficult economy; the ways of their livelihood are limited and work very hard to get a bare subsistence. Thus, the tribal children from their early age are burdened with a number of economic duties, obligations and they can hardly be spared for school. Proportion of dropout is also higher among tribal children. In fact most of the tribal youth and school going children participate in farming and looking after the economic demands of the family.

ICT refers to tools that facilitate production, transmission and processing of information. It includes the gadgets and processes to access, retrieve, store, organize, manipulate, produce, present and exchange information by electronic and automated means. According to UNESCO (2004), Information Communication Technology includes a range of technologies starting from radio, television, up to modern technologies like mobile phone, multimedia, internet, and satellite based communication systems. Modern information and communication technologies that have resulted from a breakthrough in information technology, when applied to conditions in rural areas, can help to disseminate information, improve farmers’ knowledge, increase their participation and share knowledge with others. Information Communication Technology (ICT) is one of the yardsticks to measure socio-economic development of the country and hence effective usage and management of ICTs tools is the pre-requisite for any development. Telephone is a powerful electronic device. The number of rural telephones was increased by approximately 35 per cent per annum (Jhunjhunwala and Ashok, 2005). This impressive growth in telecommunication sector is being utilized to provide information on demand to the farming community with the establishment of “Kissan Call Centers” (KCCs).  Kissan Call Centres were launched in January 2004 across the country to provide information services to the needy farmers and answer the queries made by them through telephone. In this context, a study was conducted to find out the profile of Kissan Call Centre users.

Introduction

Libraries are a center of information for the academic community of the universities in Kerala. It acts as a gateway to global knowledge. Libraries provide seamless access to the information that supports teaching, learning research, and extension. It also ensures fair access to knowledge in the academic community. The libraries fulfill the objectives of their parent organization. It caters to the educational needs of students, researchers, and faculty/Scientists of the universities for study, research, teaching, and extension activities.

The study is confined to tribal zone of Orissa, especially of Koraput district where tribes account for 49.69% of the district population. The sample SHG were selected from Sadar, Similiguda and Koraput blocks without any prejudice to their performance. At the outset, it is admitted that SHG has created a sensation among the tribes to look forward the development process. The present study ‘SHG in Techno-Economic Empowerment of Tribal Women’ has been conceived to find out inter-play of technological and economic variables that reflect in social status.

Membership status

SHG starts with the philosophy of micro-approach. Small sized group dynamics, available technology and economic opportunity linked with market structure are the perceived objectives to bring change in livelihood system. The study considered the age of SHG, present membership status, rate of discontinuance as the basic factors of SHG in tribal zone.

The study was undertaken in the state of Odisha. The state lies in between 17^o-31’ to 22^o-27’ North latitude and 81^o-27 to 87^o-30’ East longitude. It is bounded by West Bengal in the north east, Jharkhand in the north, Chatisgarh in the west, Andhra Pradesh in the south and Bay of Bengal in the east. The main features of the state is appeared inTable 3.1.

Introduction

Agriculture is India is mostly production oriented restricted in huge number of uneven small holdings and plays a key role in the Indian economy. Cultivation of fruits and vegetables has emerged as profitable venture and it is not only providing nutritional security but also provides a substantial employment to rural people as well as open the door for export. India is the second largest producer of vegetables, next only to China, in the world with a production of 40 million tonnes from four million hectares of land area. In India, vegetables are grown in an area 1, 10, 65 thousand hectares with the production of 1, 99,882 thousand metric tonnes. Uttar Pradesh is the largest producer of vegetable production in the country (14.80 %) followed by West Bengal (14.12 %), Madhya Pradesh (10.30%), Bihar (8.88 %), Maharashtra (8.39 %), Gujarat (7.84 %), Odisha (4.76 %) and Karnataka (4.05 %) (NHB, 2021).

Profitability in the ice cream business depends on controlling costs and protecting value across the complete product journey. This chapter examines both backend and frontend profitability levers, including yield improvement, giveaway control, manufacturing efficiency, OEE, utilities, refrigeration, quality costs, procurement, channel economics, distributor performance, route profitability, freezer productivity, and return on investment. It emphasizes that high sales volume does not necessarily guarantee sustainable profitability. SKU economics, pricing discipline, working capital, cold-chain losses, stock ageing, and trade schemes must also be managed. The chapter presents a structured profitability-improvement approach that connects manufacturing discipline, commercial strategy, operational efficiency, and financial governance to stronger contribution, EBITDA, cash flow, and sustainable business growth.

Bennett’s Hierarchy

To set the scene for this we head back to the 1970s when Claude Bennett worked as a specialist in evaluation with the extension service. He wanted to make sure that extension was collecting information that was able to illustrate the effectiveness of extension, and help extension improve its services to clients. So, he developed seven categories of criteria for evaluating extension programmes based on what he called a ‘seven link chain of events. He put these into a hierarchy literally in his article describing this-as a diagram of seven steps.

Introduction

Programme for self-employment of the poor has been an important component of the anti-poverty programmes implemented through government initiatives in the rural areas in India. The Swarnjayanti Gram Swarozgar Yojana (SGSY) is the major ongoing programme for the self-employment of rural poor at present. The programme was started with effect from 01.04.1999 after restructuring of Integrated Rural Development Programme (IRDP), and allied programmes namely Training of Rural Youth for Self Employment (TRYSEM), Development of Women and Children in Rural Areas (DWCRA), Supply of Toolkits in Rural Areas (SITRA) and Ganga Kalyan Yojna (GKY) and Million Well Scheme (MWS). Govt. of Orissa have launched ‘Mission Shakti’ programme in 2001 with an aim to have at least three lakh WSHGs by the end of 2008. By the end of March 2008, 3.73 lakh WSHGs have been formed under Mission Shakti (Annon, 2007-08). SGSY has contributed substantially in carrying forward the Mission Shakti activities in the state. A study was conducted by the Center for Management and Development, Thiruvananthapuram for concurrent evaluation of the implementation of the SGSY. It was established that the performance of SGSY in Assam, M.P., Orissa, West Bengal and Bihar was the lowest among the major states (Anon, 2002-03). SGSY is implemented in a very deterministic and top down manner, ignoring the participatory approach that is envisaged in the design. Good governance for poverty alleviation programme seems to be more of rhetoric than reality (Shylendra and Bhirdikar, 2005). The Ministry of Rural Development, Govt. of India has set guidelines for successful implementation of the scheme within the framework of targets under each head. As per the guidelines, all the states are directed to fulfill the targets. After 10 years of implementation of the scheme, an evaluation of the programme in district level and state level is in dire need. Hence, it is attempted to evaluate the physical and financial achievement of the SGSY programme operated at Orissa.

An important decision that the management has to take during implementation of the process of evaluation is about which model to choose. The choice of a single model will mainly depend on the nature of the problem or the situation in an organization. However an integrative approach using more than one model may also be used. Before implementation of any of these models and before the actual process of evaluation starts it is important to make suitable preparations and create a conducive environment in the organization for successful conductance of the evaluation. The following points are to be taken
in to consideration before and at the time an evaluation is carried out in an organization: