eChapters

Abstract

The UAE Space Reconnaissance Center (SRC) is accounted as a major national and regional source of up-to-date geospatial data, with direct reception of IKONOS, IRS and KOMPSAT satellite imagery as well as access to some other satellite and aerial imagery resources; an activity which covers the whole Middle East region. The main concern in monitoring the environment of UAE and surrounding countries is the desertification process, the monitoring of which requires careful watching of the sand movement and some other relevant features.

This paper throws light on the role of various types of satellite images in monitoring desertification, by utilization of IKONOS, IRS Pan and Landsat TM images covering part of Liwa and Alain areas, representing the two main dune regimes; Liwa and Manadir, which constitutes the northeastern edge of the Empty Quarter sand sea.

The availability of high resolution images makes it possible to detect the yearly or even seasonal sand movements, being controlled by the prevailing wind conditions and distance from the main sand source. The results clarify that movements of up to 25m was encountered at some small sand dunes and about 10m for larger sand dunes, towards the SSE and SSW in Liwa area. In Rimah area a movement of up to 30m was noticed at a small sand dune towards the ENE and about 12m shift in the hinge of a larger sand dune towards the NW. Temporary or permanent ? movement of thin sand sheets can reach 100’s of meters, was easily detected on Landsat images; ~ 25km NE of Alain city. The 5m panchromatic images, on the other hand, helped in tracing sand movements measured in few 10’s of meters, and interpretability of such images was enhanced by merging them with Landsat imagery.

Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most important tropical fruits of the world and is commonly known as the ‘King of fruits’ for its high quality fruits which are very popular among the Indians (Sharma et al., 2008). It is the oldest and extensively cultivated fruit crop in India having high socio-economic significance. India is the home of more than 1000 mango varieties, which originated in the Indo-Burma region (Mukherjee, 1958). India is the largest producer of mango, grown in about 2.3 million hectares with an annual production of 15.02 million tones. However, its productivity is only 6.5 tones per ha against 30 tones per ha in Israel (Bijay Jumar, 2010). Improvement of productivity in mango continues to be the foremost issue in mango production (Sauco, 1993). Of late, all the mango importing countries are considering the India as a source of quality mangoes due to its varietal wealth and availability. Hence, it is imperative to improve the productivity and quality of Indian mangoes to meet the global need (Balamohan et al., 2014).

Abstract

Application of ultrasound is one of the most promising uses of novel technologies in food processing. Use of ultrasound at various stages of drying has resulted in significant decrease in drying time and improvement in quality characteristics of dried products. The chapter discusses the principle behind use of ultrasound, general application in food industry with detailed description of various drying processes and equipments assisted by ultrasound.

ABSTRACT

Fruits and vegetables are rich source of bioactive compounds such as polyphenols, antioxidants and flavonoids. Drying is one of the common methods for preservation of food and agricultural commodities. However, drying may negatively affect the product quality attributes. This article is a capsule overview of current state of art ultrasound (US) assisted drying on technical aspects and bioactivity of fruits and vegetables. US assisted drying is an economical and sustainable technique compared to other existing conventional techniques used for food processing and preservation. US as a pretreatment before drying of agricultural-products enhances drying efficiency, inactivate enzymes and improve overall quality of dried products. Current developments and available solutions in drying have shown that US assisted drying may be used to restrict the loss of crucial bioactive components occurring naturally in fruits and vegetables. US when combined with hot air drying helps in achieving adequate drying rate at lower temperatures and improves overall dehydration process. This technique has found no practical application commercially due to various difficulties in achieving high-intensity US in air. One practical benefit of using US assisted drying is the minimization of the drying time along with reduction in total energy consumption.

Introduction

Organic substances consumed for nutritional purposes can be called as “food”. Food contains biomolecules, like, protein, lipid and carbohydrate, inorganic minerals as salts, and organic substances, such as, vitamins, emulsifiers, acids, antioxidants, pigments, polyphenols and flavour-producing compounds. They can be of plant or animal origin. Depending on the durability in terms of suitability of consumption, foods can be perishable, semi-perishable and non-perishable. Food spoilage occurs due to chemical, microbial, or physical actions. eventually affecting its nutritional values, colour, edibility and texture (M. Rahman, 2007).

The cold chain is the lifeline of the ice cream industry because the product must remain continuously frozen from factory hardening until consumption. This chapter examines the complete cold-chain network, beginning with hardening and factory cold storage and extending through CFA or distributor cold rooms, refrigerated transport, retail freezers, and final consumer handling. It explains temperature requirements, monitoring systems, equipment selection, cold-room management, stock rotation, and quality assurance. Particular attention is given to Indian challenges such as power interruptions, inadequate freezer maintenance, poor retailer practices, and temperature abuse. The chapter demonstrates how disciplined cold-chain management protects texture, flavour, shape, overrun, shelf life, and ultimately consumer confidence

Introduction

Self Help Groups (SHGs) are fast emerging as a powerful tool of socio-economic empowerment of the poor in rural areas. These are based on the principle by the people, for the people and of the people. Such groups are participatory processes to provide opportunities for people to share knowledge, common experiences and problems.

Self Help Groups (SHGs) of women in India have been recognized as an effective strategy for the empowerment of women in rural as well as urban areas, bringing women together from all spheres of life to light for their rights or a cause. Since the overall empowerment of women is crucially dependent on economic empowerment,  women through these SHGs work on a range of issues such as health, nutrition, agriculture, forestry etc. besides income generation activities and seeking micro credit. “SHG is a small, economically homogeneous and affinity based group of people who have decided to save and contribute to a common fund to be lent to its members as per the groups decisions”. Generally, a ‘Self Help Group’ (SHG) is formed when members of a community, who have the same or similar problem, come together, meet, share experiences, have discussions and thereby arrive at solutions.

A social group is commonly conceptualized as an entity comprising two or more individuals engaged in reciprocal communication, characterized by shared traits and possessing a collective sense of unity. Within the framework of the social identity tradition, researchers delineate groups as entities whose members self-identify as part of the collective. Social groups exhibit diversity in terms of size and typologies. For instance, an individual’s initial social interactions occur within the familial context, where interactions with immediate family members, notably the mother, serve as primary points of contact. Subsequently, as the individual progresses through developmental stages, engagement with peers and neighbors expands the social sphere, constituting another significant social group. Further social group affiliations emerge during formal education, as the individual integrates into student cohorts within educational institutions. Over time, the individual assumes diverse roles within broader societal contexts, contributing to the fabric of community and national citizenship. The diagrammatic representation of an individual’s interaction with his/her social group is as under.

3.1 Language and Principles of Writing: Basic Differences Between the Print, Electronic and Online News

Because each media has a unique readership with different needs, writing for print, electronic, and digital news demands distinct terminology and approaches. Here are the key differences:

Print News: Language

1. Conciseness: Print news requires concise and to-the-point writing due to limited space.
2. Formal Language: Language tends to be more formal and structured.
3. Third Person: Writing is often in the third person.
4. Headlines: Print headlines are shorter and must convey the essence of the story.

Introduction

Modern agricultural systems that promote cultivation of a very limited number of crop species have relegated indigenous crops to the status of neglected and underutilised crop species. This has caused a decline in crop diversity in agricultural systems across the world and current research efforts have identified these underutilised crops as having potential to reduce food and nutrition insecurity. This is because of their adaptability to low input agricultural systems and better nutritional composition. Underutilised crops are otherwise known as undervalued or neglected or development opportunity crops (DOCs) (Kahane et al., 2013). They are already cultivated, but underutilised regionally or globally giving relatively low global production and market value. These underutilised crop species have also been described as “minor”, “orphan”, “promising” and “little-used”. Many of these traditional crops grown for food, fiber, fodder, oil and as sources of traditional medicine play a major role in the subsistence of local communities. With good adaptation to often marginal lands, they constitute an important part of the local diet of communities providing valuable nutritional components, which are often lacking in staple crops. Global Facilitation Unit (GFU) for Underutilised species define underutilised crops as, those plant species with under-exploited potential for contributing to food security, health (nutritional/ medicinal), income generation and environmental services.

Beverage: It includes all drinks whether they are fermented or unfermented, prepared from fruits or non-fruit, sweetened or unsweetened eg. tea, coffee, coca cola, cider, maaza are all beverages.

Fruit Beverages : Beverage which is prepared partly or fully from fruit juice or pulps with or without additives eg. pure fruit juice, squash, cordial, RTS beverage etc.

Non-fruit Beverage : Beverage which does not contain any fruit part eg. Coca cola, pepsi, sherbet etc.

Unfermented Juice or Pure Fruit Juice: This is the natural juice pressed out of the fruit and practically its composition remains unaltered during preparation and preservation. No additives like sugar, acid, water etc. are added. eg apple juice, orange juice.

Fruit Juice Beverage: This is the fruit juice that has been considerably altered in composition by adding water, sugar, acid, flavour, colours, preservatives etc. before consumption. It may or may not be diluted before it is served as a drink eg. squashes, nectars, appetizers etc.

I. Decimal Multiples and Sub-Multiples

II. Description of Units

Mechanical Units

Electric and Magnetic Units

The esu and emu unit systems are cgs systems.

esu denotes “electrostatic unit”, sometimes given prefix “stat”, e.g. statcoulomb emu denotes “electromagnetic unit”, sometimes given prefix “ab”, e.g. abcoulomb Some emu units have special names:

A. Mixing and Homogenization

1. I.ntroduction to Mixing and Homogenization

In the food industry, mixing and homogenization are fundamental procedures that are essential to the production of a wide range of food items. To produce the desired qualities and final result with uniformity and consistency, various ingredients are blended. Ensuring product quality, stability, and customer happiness are contingent upon these processes.

Importance of Mixing and Homogenization

Mixing and homogenization are paramount for several reason

A. Novel Dehydration Technologies

Dehydration, the process of removing moisture from food products, is crucial for enhancing shelf life, reducing weight and volume for transportation, and preserving nutritional value. Traditional dehydration methods, such as sun drying, air drying, and freeze drying, have been widely used for centuries. However, advancements in food technology have led to the development of novel dehydration technologies that offer improved efficiency, quality retention, and sustainability.1. Vacuum Microwave Dehydration

Vacuum microwave dehydration is a cutting-edge dehydration technique that combines the advantages of removing moisture from food products while preserving their color, flavor, texture, and nutritional content (fig 1).

A. Non-thermal Processing

Non-thermal processing encompasses a diverse range of food preservation and treatment techniques that do not rely on heat as the primary means of achieving microbial inactivation or quality preservation. Unlike conventional thermal methods such as pasteurization and sterilization, which involve exposing food to elevated temperatures for a specified duration, non-thermal processing methods operate at or near ambient temperatures. These innovative technologies offer several advantages, including the preservation of sensory attributes, retention of nutritional quality, and minimization of detrimental effects on food texture and f lavour (fig 1).

Distillation, leaching, and extraction

A. Distillation

Distillation is a widely used separation process in various industries, including chemical, pharmaceutical and food processing. It is particularly important in the production of alcoholic beverages, essential oils, and purified water. Distillation works on the principle of exploiting differences in the volatility of components in a liquid mixture to separate them based on their boiling points.

Principles of Distillation

Distillation is a time-tested and versatile separation technique employed across a myriad of industries for separating components of liquid mixtures. Its effectiveness lies in its ability to leverage differences in boiling points among the various constituents of a mixture.

1. Size reduction is also referred as

(a) Extraction

(b) Communication

(c) Leaching

(d) Distillation

2. Size reduction causes

(a) Decrease in the temperature of the product

(b) Increase in temperature of the product

(c) Increase in pressure

(d) Decrease in surface area

INTRODUCTION

Food processing is necessary for the conversion of raw food products in to finished products with desired textural, sensory and nutritional attributes. This is required to be done mainly due to seasonal production and facilitating non-seasonal availability of different commodities. Stages of processing are primary and secondary. In primary processing raw material is converted into food commodities, while in secondary processing commodities are converted into edible products. Processing is mainly done to convert the products into edible forms, to extend shelf life, availability, accessibility and also to provide variety into the form of value added products. Processing of products destroys inhibitors, microorganisms, retards physico-chemical and biochemical deterioration, maintains good sensory properties, preserves and enhances the nutritive value. Unit operations involve phase changes and sometimes chemical reactions also, which are undesirable as they cause inferior quality of the product (Gekas 1992). Different processes like separation, assembly, preservation and packaging are broader classification for unit operations in food processing (Saravacos and Kostaropoulos 2002).

Introduction: Food processing involves different steps from receiving raw material, preparing for product manufacture, and packaging to storage. All these steps are called unit operations. They are broadly categorized as raw
material preparation (receiving, sorting, grading, washing, peeling, blanching, slicing, cutting, dicing etc), processing (canning, drying, pulping, juicing, product manufacture like jam, jelly, preserves, candies, pickling, sauce making, etc.) and post-production handling including packaging and storage. A brief detail about each unit operation is discussed as under:
1. Raw Material Handling
Material handling includes varied operations such as hand or mechanical harvesting on the farm, transportation in trucks or refrigerated vehicles of perishable produce to the market or to the processing plant or to store/godowns. For conveying, a wide variety of mechanical conveyors is used depending on the type of material. Common conveyors used in the processing plant include screw conveyors, bucket conveyors, belt conveyors and vibratory conveyors. Throughout these operations, care is taken to maintain sanitary conditions, minimize bruises and product loss, maintain raw material quality like physical appearance, and vitamin contents, minimize microbial growth and minimize other detrimental changes to the product quality during handling etc. It also includes other unit operations like receiving, cleaning/washing, sorting, grading, peeling, halving, slicing, blanching etc for preparation of fruit and vegetables for processing.

1. Fundamental Concepts of Unit Operations

    1.    Process is the set of activities or industrial operations that modify the properties of raw materials with the purpose of obtaining products to satisfy the needs of a society.

    2.    Food process engineering includes the part of human activity in which the knowledge of physical, natural, and economic sciences is applied to agricultural products as related to their composition, energetic content, or physical state.

    3.    Food process engineering can also be defined as “the science of conceiving, calculating, designing, building, and running the facilities where the transformation processes of agricultural products, at the industrial level and as economically as possible, are carried out.

    4.    In a discontinuous operation the raw material is loaded in the equipment; after performing the required transformation, the obtained products are unloaded. These operations, also called “batch” or “intermittent,” are carried out in steps: