eChapters

Abstract

Micronutrients and bioactive compounds must be part of the population's diet in sufficient amounts to meet the body's needs. The concentrations of micronutrients and bioactive compounds in plant foods at harvest are known to vary with such factors as the variety or cultivar, stage of maturity, geographic or climatic effects, etc. Most subclasses of polyphenols e.g., phenolics acids and flavonoids, the effects of processing on the contents were found negligible in comparison to the differences between varieties of plants but carotenoids are among the food components most affected by environmental and processing conditions. Thermal processing has long been known to cause significant losses of vitamins, carotenoids and anthocyanins. The heat treatment viz. blanching, pasteurization, sterilization etc. result in losses of thermally labile nutrients and bioactive compounds, but the inactivation of oxidative and other degradative enzymes (e.g., lipoxygenase for carotenoids, polyphenol oxidase for flavonoids, ascorbic acid oxidase for vitamin C). Nutrients in dehydrated products are more likely to undergo degradation during storage because of the greater surface area exposed to oxygen and light. Blanched products generally resist decomposition better than unblanched foods during storage. Compared to losses during processing, subsequent storage often has a small but significant effect on vitamin and bioactive compound contents. Reaction rates are relatively slow at ambient or reduced temperature. The processing method chosen, and storage condition applied finalise the retention of these compounds which decreases with longer processing time, higher processing temperatures and storage of the food.

Abstract

The aim is to review the potential health benefits of minor millet. There is in need to identify newer sources of nutraceuticals and other natural and nutritional materials with the desirable functional characteristics. They are an important staple food in India for people of low income groups. Minor millet is rich in several nutrients as well as non-nutrients such as phenols. Nutritionally, its importance is well recognised because of its high content of calcium (0.38%), dietary fiber (18%) and phenolic compounds (0.3-3%). Minor millets, one of the cereals are known for several health benefits including its polyphenol and dietary fiber contents. Health beneficial effects include anti-diabetic, anti-tumerogenic, atherosclerogenic effects, antioxidant and antimicrobial properties. The energy of minor millets is greater than other cereals and nearly equal to that of brown rice because the lipid content is generally higher (3 to 6%). This review deals with the nature of polyphenols and dietary fiber of minor millets and their role with respect to the health benefits associated with millet.

Abstract

The production of natural food colours through bio-processing is preferred now-a-days due to health related issues associated with their synthetic counterparts. Microorganisms are generally preferred sources as these have high production rate, high growth rate, ease of handling under controlled conditions and absence of seasonal variations. Biopigments can be produced from different genera of bacteria, yeast and mold. Different types and colours of pigments have been produced from microorganisms depending upon their origin, media components and process conditions. The biopigments have variety of applications in food industry such as food additives, food preservatives, biological control agents and nutritional supplements. These have also been associated with therapeutic, and antioxidant properties. Lycopene from B. trispora is used as a food ingredient in dietary supplement. Astaxanthin from X. dendrortious has also been reported to have beneficial effect on human health as it possesses strong antioxidant properties. Arpink red P. oxalicum is used as red colorant in meat products, non-alcoholic drinks, milk products and confectionary. 0- carotene is considered as leading food colorant in world and is applied to range of baked, dairy and canned foods to improve their appearance. The antioxidant andprecursory properties of0-carotene increase its applications in pet foods. Zeaxanthin is used as additives in poultry fed to intensify the colour of the egg yolk. Monascus pigments are utilized for coloration of sausages, ham, marine products and tomato ketchup. Monascus extract is also marketed as dietetic supplement in Japan. Thus, the biopigments can serve as a chromophore for colorant production with broad spectrum of colours and wide applications.

Abstract

Research has demonstrated that nutrition plays a crucial role in the prevention of chronic diseases as most of them can be related to diet. Functional food enters the concept of considering food not only necessary for living but also as a source of mental and physical well-being contributing to the prevention and reduction of risk factors for several diseases or enhancing certain physiological functions. One of the most clear objectives of the study of functional foods is to identify and validate biological markers in order to understand the interaction mechanisms between the food component and a body function. Epidemiologic and laboratory data from previous studies suggests that diets rich in fruits and vegetables are associated with a reduced risk of various types of cancers. The reduction in cancer risk may be attributed to the abundance of a family of specific compounds referred to as anthocyanins, which are found in various berries. Anthocyanins are water soluble pigments responsible for the blue, purple, and red color in many plant tissues Strawberry is one of “super fruits”, since they can form a significant component of the diet and are a potential resource of functional foods and nutraceuticals due to their antioxidant capacity and nutritional quality. Strawberries contain high levels of anthocyanins and they are also well liked by consumers. Popularity of strawberries in the consumer market makes them an ideal focus for chemoprevention studies. Strawberries are a rich source of phytochemicals (anthocyanins, catechins, the flavonols quercetin and kaempferol, and ellagic acid) and an important source of essential nutrients (ascorbic acid, potassium, folic acid, carotenoids, B-vitamins). Strawberries are consistently ranked among the top food sources of polyphenols and antioxidant capacity; the preventive and therapeutic health benefits of strawberries may be attributed to the synergistic effects of these bioactives and the nutrients contained in the fruit. These bioactive photochemical contribute the major health-promoting function. Strawberries have shown a remarkably high scavenging activity toward chemically generated radicals, thus making them effective in inhibiting oxidation of human low-density lipoproteins. Antioxidant activity of strawberries could contribute to the prevention of cancer, cardiovascular and other chronic diseases. Hence strawberry can be used as a vital and indispensible functional ingredient for the development offunctional foods and nutraceuticals.

Introduction

Whey is the serum or watery part of the milk that remains after separation of curd that result from the acid or proteolytic enzyme mediated co-agulation of milk. It is major by product of dairy industries manufacturing products like channa, paneer, cheese and chakka (Sharma and Bhatia, 1999).The current world production of whey is estimated at about 165 million tones, in that cheese whey accounts for nearly 95 % of total whey. In India near about one million tonne of whey is annually derived, in that major source of whey is from the production of channa, paneer and shrikhand production. This is mostly thrown away as a waste which creates environmental pollution, also in that way about 70, 000 tonnes of Nutritious solids are lost (Puranik, 1999).

Abstract

Designer foods are known by various names like medical foods, fortified foods, nutritional foods, nutraceutical foods, pharma foods etc. These foods are nutritious, maintain health and prevent diseases. Such foods must possess characteristics like modified composition; limit the presence of certain potentially harmful components and include certain desirable ingredients either naturally or by intentional addition. The term designer food emerged some years ago to describe foods tailored to specific concentration and proportion of nutrients that are important to health. These are designed and produced by using different approaches. The term ‘designer foods’ is subjected to change based on nutritional labelling regulations, new developments, consumer perceptions and expectations. Grain improvement through biotechnology emphasizes crop upgrading with a specific challenge to manipulate the endosperm composition in order to improve its intrinsic properties for diet and health. Breeding fruits with higher bioactive compounds for disease resistance and improved composition have stimulated interest in the nutraceutical and processing aspects of the fruits Nutritive and genetic interventions to alter milk composition for specific health and processing opportunities are gaining importance in dairy biotechnology. Designer eggs having modified fat provide choices with different nutritional benefits. The options suggested for designer meat and meat products are through production practices, post-harvest procedures and reformulation techniques. All these features of designer foods will be presented with suitable examples.

Abstract

Food is basic need of human for its existence. Food is a source of nutrients needed for growth, energy and protection. There are number of chemical compounds not considered as nutrients but has positive effect on health. There is a need to look into the health benefits of the food components. Many lifestyle diseases are caused by the unhealthy food habits. Developments in science have led to establish the link between food intake and healthy living. Non-nutrient compounds of food are also called phyto-chemicals. Functional foods are prepared by increasing a particular nutrient or phyto-chemical to get health benefits. The increased cost of health care and drugs trigger the developments in this area. The approximate global market size is 30 billion US$ while Japan, United States, and Europe are the leaders in functional foods. FICCI has reported that functional food market in India is worth Rs 4,400 crore with growth rate of 21%per annum.

Introduction

The food has been considered as source of nutrients in the past but increasing evidences has proved that particular types of food can help in preventing the diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has reported that deaths due to Non-Communicable diseases are increasing in South East Asian counties; where as CMPN (Communicable, Maternity, Prenatal, and Nutrition) are

Production: According to Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of United Nation, the global production of fruits and vegetables including melons was 638 and 1090 million metric tons while India produced 75 and 106 million metric tons in 2011. In addition to this, the world production of roots and tuber was 810 million metric tons whereas India produced 51 million metric tons in 2011. It indicates that fruits and vegetables form an important part of the diet in the world including India. There is an ample opportunity to manufacture various health promoting products based on fruits and vegetables. A number of Fruits and Vegetable based functional food that can be prepared and presented in (Table 1) indicates the role of fruits and vegetables in the nutraceutical production for their health benefits.

10.1 Introduction

Milk is a unique substance in that it is both consumed, as fluid milk with minimal processing and it is the raw material used to manufacture a wide variety of products. From the nutrition point of view, milk is an almost ideal food and considered to be perfect food. The human body needs more than thirty distinct materials in its food supply. No single food stuff supplies all of them but milk supplies nearly all. Since milk by its nature is perishable and an ideal product for bacterial growth, so it must be carefully handled, both during production and while processing. This chapter focuses on the technological (processing) aspects of the transformation of milk into its various consumer products, including beverages, fermented products, concentrated and dried products, butter and ice cream.

The various unit operations of food process engineering applied to solve the problem of changing the compositions of solutions, mixture and solids. Often these operations must be conducted on large scale to meet the demands of a large manufacturing plant. In food processes engineering these operations are often referred to as separation / concentration / extraction / purification process. Usually these operations are directed towards separating substances into its component parts or concentrating a particular substance from another.

It is well known that lowering the temperature of food stuffs reduces microbiological and biochemical spoilage and thus extending the shelf life of the product. In addition, it is generally agreed upon that the reaction rate is reduced by half by lowering the temperature by 10°C. Though low temperature preservation process has been recognized as a preservation technique for several hundred years, the major developments in its utilization have occurred only in the last century.

7.1 Introduction

Evaporation is an unit operation which converts a liquid into a vapour, leaving behind a concentrated solution or a higher boiling liquid. In other words, the goal of evaporation is to vaporize most of the water from a solution containing a desired product. Heat is the main tool in evaporation, and the process occurs more readily at high temperature and low pressures. Removal of water from foods provides microbiological stability, reduces deteriorative chemical reactions, and reduces transportation and storage costs. Evaporation can be distinguished from some other drying methods in that the final product of evaporation is a concentrated liquid, not a solid. It also differs from distillation, since the vapours produced in the evaporator are not further divided into fractions.

6.1 Introduction

In general, the terms drying and dehydration are interpreted as the removal of moisture from a food product. Removal of moisture from a food product offers an excellent protection against most common causes of food spoilage. The drying or dehydration process achieves such protection by reducing the moisture content of the food product to levels which are adequate to limit microbial growth or other adverse chemical reactions. During drying, heat and mass transfer occur simultaneously (Figure 6.1). Heat is transferred from the bulk gas phase (i.e. hot air used for drying) to the solid phase (i.e. food product to be dried), where part of it is utilized for vaporization and the remainder is taken up by the solid phase as sensible heat. Mass (i.e. moisture of food product) is transferred in the form of vapour through various resistances, first from the interior of the solid to the surface, then through vaporization at or near the surface and finally in transport of the vapour into bulk gas phase. Dehydration is the removal of moisture close to bone dry condition.

5.1 Introduction

The medium used in various unit operations of food process engineering such as heating, cooling, drying, mixing and transport processes, is moist air, which is a mixture of two substances. One of these is dry air which itself is a mixture of number of gases and the other is water vapour which may exist in a saturated or superheated state. The properties of moist air are called psychrometric properties and the subject, which involves determination of thermodynamic properties of moist air, is known as psychrometry. Thus, psychrometry is that branch of engineering science, which deals with the study of moist air i.e. dry air mixed with water vapour or humidity. Knowledge of properties of moist air is imperative in design of systems such as air- conditioning equipment for storage of fresh produce, dryers for drying of cereal grains, and cooling towers in food processing plants. In this chapter, important thermodynamic properties used in psychrometric computations are defined. Psychrometric charts useful in determining such properties are presented. In addition, various psychrometric process used in food process engineering are discussed.

4.1 Introduction

The food preservation may be define as the state in which the food may retained over a period of time without being contaminated by pathogenic organism or chemicals and without losing its colour, texture, flavour and nutritional value. All the methods of food preservation must provide such an environment in and around the preserved food so that it produces one or more unfavourable conditions to the continued activity of the spoilage agents. The various methods used for food preservations are:

3.1 Introduction

The subject of heat transfer is firmly grounded in the sciences of thermodynamics and fluid mechanics. It has become exceedingly important for engineers to possess a clear understanding of the principles of heat transfer and its application to a large number of problems. In view of process engineering, the knowledge of heat transfer and its application is most important, because heat transfer is one of the basic unit operations in the agricultural processing activities. The design of process equipments, refrigerators, boilers or type of heat exchangers, thermal treatment of food grains, cooling of perishables, pasteurizations, sterilizations, freezing of milk and fruit juices and a large number of similar applications involve consideration of heat transfer rates. There may be other situations where heat is being generated during a certain operation, and may be detrimental to the equipment and the food product. In such cases we are often faced with the task of removing the undesirable amount of heat as far as possible.

2.1 Introduction

Many complicated engineering principles are to be analyzed and applied, before any food processing operations takes shape of a commercially viable enterprise. The size and type of the required equipments have to be specified and their sequences have to be arranged. Further, the process analysis consists of understanding of material and energy balances. This chapter provides the application of steady state conservation of mass and energy equations to analyze food-processing operations.

1.1 Importance of Food Process Engineering

Food occupies the first position among the hierarchal needs of human beings. It is more important than shelter and clothing. After production and be forec on sumpti on, food commodities are subjected to nume rous unfavourable physical, chemical, microbial or parasitic factors which may cause their spoilage or disease when consumed. To prevent such spoilage, a process engineer has to understand these and provide remedial measures. The two primary goals of processing operation are first to minimize post harvest losses and second value addition of raw food commodities through preservation and processing.

Present level of production of different types of food commodities and their estimated post-harvest losses along with monetary values are given in Table 1.1. It shows that various food items get lost, to the tune of 65 million tonnes, worth Rs. 76,000 crores per annum, during post-harvest phase. A substantial amount of these losses could be prevented if appropriate agro processing centers, having backward linkage with farmers to ensure constant supply of quality raw food materials, are established and operated. Profit generated through value addition must also be shared with farmers, who are only people in the world to create wealth every year, in the form of food, fiber and other commodities necessary for human survival. It can bring sea change in rural areas, where 65-70% population live, in respect of economy, health and happiness.

It sounds simple, but the above process is fairly complex and requires lot of coordination in order to succeed. The major challenge is to minimize the losses during the various post harvest operations and keep the food as fresh as possible. In order to do so, one must first try to understand the various causes of post harvest losses of food commodities and the various factors that influence theses causes. Secondly, we must use those food processing operations that will not only extend the shelf life of the produce but also convert the raw food commodities to more acceptable product to the consumer.

14.1 Introduction

The increasing human population and changing life styles have resulted in a huge demand for processed and packaged foods. As a result of this demand, large amounts of water, air, electricity and fuel are consumed on a daily basis for food processing, transportation and preservation. Although not one of the most heavily polluting, the food industry does contribute to the increase in volume of waste produced [1]. There is an increasing pressure from regulatory bodies through incentives, legislation and financial penalties to minimize waste generation and encourage adoption of eco-friendly options for waste management. Nanotechnology is a panacea for food waste management.

13.1 Introduction

Hospitality industry is the second largest industry in the world. It is well diversified and can be chosen as per the interest. Hospitality management involves planning, organizing, directing and controlling human and other resources within the different segments of hospitality industry i.e. lodging, restaurant, travel and tourism, institutional management, recreational management, meeting and convention planning industries. Although, these all are separate but related segments of the hospitality industry and are interrelated to provide good and efficient services to the guests and users. Hospitality industry provides services which are need oriented and differ in various parts of the world as per regions and the traditional styles.

The first building created specifically for hotel was ‘City Hotel’ with 73 rooms at 115 Broadway, New York in 1794. Pallonjee Pestonjee established the very first western-style hotel in India, “The Bristol Hotel” in Mumbai in 1840. According to the report of the department of Tourism, Government of India, at the end of the year 2004, there were 167 Five star hotels with approx. 28,900 rooms, whereas 126 Four star hotels, with 8,831 rooms [2]. To expedite the ongoing process of classification/re-classification of functioning hotels in one to three star categories, five Regional Committees have also been set up in Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Guwahati and Chennai to conduct inspection [3].

12.1 Introduction

Man is the most beautiful of all God’s creations and like man, his environment too is beautiful with rivers to quench his thirst with sweet water, atmosphere to provide him oxygen, land and fire to provide him food. Primitive man ate uncooked food and lived in caves. Soon he learnt the use of firewood for cooking of raw meat and provided the first instance of ‘Pollution from food processing’ in history. As man shifted from one place to another, this sort of living never polluted the environment. But as the man ascended the ladder of civiliz ation, his needs grew in arithmeti c progression but corresponding pollution grew in geometric progression. With increase in agriculture produce, a need was felt to preserve the glut production in the form of processed foods giving rise to massive development of food processing industries all over the world. The rapid industrialization of agriculture and horticulture, increased the pollution load many folds especially the biodegradable waste from food industry [41].The wineries and distilleries (distill wine to make brandy) are no exception. Nevertheless, the waste is a precious source of several useful materials as such or after fermentation [1,31,46,86]. Thus, development and environment are two sides of the same coin.

From time immemorial, the biosphere is acting as a sink for all the waste products and recycles them to make good the loss so that every generation finds it the same as one before it. But, of late, this self-cleaning and equilibrium maintenance of biosphere is disastrously disturbed as the waste produced from man’s activities is continuously exceeding the capacity to purify herself. Consequently, our biosphere is becoming more and more poisonous and days are not far away when this planet will become inhabitable.

11.1 Introduction

Fermented foods are the result of the activity of a few specialized types of micro-organisms among the thousands of species known to mankind. Success of such processes is depended upon the control of environmental conditions ensuring the growth of the desired microbial species and inhibition of others. The fermentation can be broadly defined as the process in which the carbohydrate or like compounds are broken down, under anaerobic or aerobic conditions [171]. The basic role of micro-organisms is to breakdown the organic compounds to get energy for their metabolic activities. From ancient times, people all over the world have developed traditional processes for production of alcoholic beverages (wine) either from natural sugar such as in wine or by degrading the starchy materials (beer). Fruit wines referred to as ‘Soma’ in our ancient scriptures have been part of food of man and were used as medicine, might have originated accidentally (transformation of fruit juice beverages having exhilarating or stimulating properties). Wines are made principally from fruits like grape or extract of other fruits of various types (table wine, sparkling wine, dessert, aperitif or vermouth and pop wines) while the beers are prepared from grains like barley, rice and corn. The principal carbohydrate in grain is starch which can not be fermented directly. This process is brought about by starch splitting enzymes by germinating the grains followed by drying and storage until needed. Distillation of beer produces a variety of liquors (whisky, rum, gin, vodka), while that of wine produces the brandy. Besides, the improvement in the raw material selection, fermentation conditions and techniques, a lot of waste material is generated during fermentation process in the industries. Nevertheless, the food based industries are significant contributors to the economy of the many countries of the world (Fig 1). The global market value of food fermentation based industries is estimated to be around 250 million US dollars. Interestingly, more than 10% of this accounts for alcoholic beverages (Fig 2) with projected increase of US$ 27 billions in 1989 to 40 billions in 1990 [93,123,123,129].

10.1 Introduction

Edible oil production is a separate sector of the food processing industry. There are several species of plants in the world whose oil can be utilized for human consumption for edible and non-edible uses. Though around 40 oilseeds are known, only around a dozen oilseed crops have become commercially important including ten seed crops and three tree crops. These oil seed crops (mostly annual) of commercial importance are groundnut, rapeseed-mustard, sesame, soybean, sunflower, cottonseed, safflower, niger, castor and linseed. The three major tree oil crops are palm, olive and coconut [63]. Besides these, the kernels of some other tree crops i.e. apricot, almond, walnut, hazelnut, olive (fruits are used), peach, can also be utilized for oil extraction purposes for edible and non-edible uses. Besides oil of the oilseed crops, the oils of tree fruits and kernels are also becoming popular very fast for various food, pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries.

Large scale requirement and local shortages of oils for various edible and non-edible uses have prompted the identification of many new sources of oil during the last few decades. They are ricebran, corn, sal, mahua, jatropha, kokum, melia, rubber, mango kernel, kusum, simarouba, neem, karanj, crambe, moringa, tumba, jojoba and tobacco seed etc. Most of these oilseeds and their products have wide utility in the specialty oils sector and are mostly used for non-edible purposes. Soaps and detergents, paint and varnish, lubricants, pesticides and medicines, cosmetics, bio-diesel fuel industry are the major consumers of these non-traditional oilseeds. All the oil crops will gain greater attention in future as they are renewable and biodegradable in nature [63]. List of oil crops have been given in Table 1.

9.1 Introduction

Depleting natural resources, regulations on synthetic material, growing environmental awareness and economic considerations today happens to be major driving force for utilization of wastes from the agricultural crops and their residues throughout world [1]. These challenges have led to the introduction of sustainable waste management practices via optimization of processing technologies for minimization and creative conversion of the plant and the processing industries biowastes the world over [2,3,4,5]. Although world prices for sugar and petroleum products have shown spectacular variations during the last few decades, the long term outlook is very likely to be a continuous increase in the price of all fossil fuels and stagnation, at best, for the price of sugar [6]. This gloomy prospect led to the renewed interest in the wastes of the sugarcane industry during the last 50 years and has proved that the optimal use of wastes can provide not only a non-negligible support to the sugarcane industry but will also be able to redress the difficult situation sugar is presently experiencing [7]. Reliable statistics are not available to show the detailed end uses of these wastes on a world basis, but from a very rough picture of their trade, we can say that the wastes from the sugar and jaggery industry serve to be amongst the richest bioresource in this era of recycling of biowastes for renewable wealth generation [8].

8.1 Introduction

Spices are appetizers and hence, esse ntially used in the culinary preparations. They also possess antioxidant, antimicrobial and antibiotic properties. Further, they possess medicinal properties and hence, play an important role in human health.

According to International Organization for Standards (ISO), there is no clear cut division between ‘Spices’ & ‘Condiments’ and as such they have been clubbed together. The term ‘Spices’ & ‘condiments’ applies to “such natural plants or vegetable products or mixtures there of, in whole or ground form, which are used for imparting flavour, aroma and piquancy and seasoning of foods”. Spices are divided into different groups based on their plant components such as floral, fruits, berries, seeds, rhizomes, roots, leaves, kernel, aril, bark, bulbs etc.

About 70 spices are grown in different parts of the world and a major portion of these are grown in India. Hence, India is called “The home of Spices”. It is well known that spices played a significant role in ancient times, in the development of civilization – the life of the people and trade among the nations of East and West. Spices like ginger, pepper and turmeric have an intense and immediate impact on sensory perceptions and exhibit strong physiological effects as food and medicinal constituents. Some spices and herbs like cardamom, saffron and vanilla, which have less intense but more delicate sensory effects, are well known for their contribution to fragrance and usage as food flavouring agents. The history of spices and their use in food and medicine in ancient India have been reviewed earlier [1-3].

7.1 Introduction

Fisheries are emerging as one of the fastest growing food production system all-over the world. The potential for fisheries development world over and especially in India is highly promising in view of physical and biological resources available coupled with technological development. The demand for fish fishery products is ever increasing as the awareness of health benefits are being made available to public at large. The world fish production has not kept pace with demand which means less and less fish is available. Nevertheless, a large fraction of this valuable commodity is wasted due to deterioration after landing or consumer preference. An estimate by FAO [1] indicates nearly 20-25% of the total catches are wasted as postharvest loss. Better utilization of aquatic resources should therefore, aim primarily at reducing this enormous loss by improving preservation of fish and fishery products and upgrading the discarded low value fish to high value fishery products. The processing of fish into different types of products generates considerable waste. Commercially, fish is being processed into fillets, steaks, mince, canned products and a variety of ready-to-eat products. Fish processing plants contributes substantial wastes in the form of skins, bones, offal, exoskeletons from shrimps and nutrients in wash water from surimi plants.

Fish processing waste utilization is an important issue for the seafood industry both from a regulatory standpoint as well as one that has potential economic impacts. It is estimated that only 25-50% of the raw material is utilized for primary products (fillets, canned and stabilized mince production). The remaining 50-75% of the raw material is considered processing waste and is utilized for low-value products or disposed-off at sea. A large volume of solid waste is currently processed into fish meal, fish protein hydrolysates, and fertilizers. A small percentage is processed into higher valued items, such as, seafood flavourants, colourants, chitosan, enzymes, etc.

6.1 Introduction

The food industry produces large volumes of waste both solid and liquid, starting from the initial step of raw material to the final consumption of processed food. Apart from a loss of valuable biomass and nutrients, the generated waste poses increased disposal and potentially severe pollution problems. Meat and meat industry is no exception where slaughter houses, meat processors, wholesalers and rendering plant generates huge amount of waste [1, 2].

Meat and meat processing industry, is among the least profitable industries despite its immense size and large gross sales. Effective recovery and utilization of by-products and wastes is the lifeline of meat and poultry processing industry. Thus, it becomes imperative that an effort be made to reduce expenses by employing the use of new or modified processing methods and through in-plant treatment, where waste effluents and by-products could be recovered and often upgraded to useful products of higher value. Meat processing wastes have a potential for recycling raw materials or for conversion into useful products of higher value as by-product or even as raw material for other industries or for use as food or feed after biological treatment.

5.1 Introduction

Waste from the dairy processing industry is generated through production of milk products at different stages. With diversification of dairy products, by-products have also gained some importance. Utilization of dairy by- products improves economical and nutritional aspects of milk production and reduces environmental pollution originating from dairy waste. Important dairy by-products include butter milk, ghee residues and whey, the major waste arising from production of cheese, casein, paneer and chhana. Whey arises as a result of protein coagulation/precipitation in the preparation of these products. It is used for manufacture of whey powder, whey drinks and lactose (milk sugar). Whey protein concentrates can be prepared by modern technological methods like ultra-filtration and reverse osmosis. Desi buttermilk is an important domestic beverage since olden days. Ghee residue can be utilized for manufacture of chocolate burfi, samosa filling etc. Hence, utilization of dairy waste particularly whey, butter milk and ghee residues obtained during manufacturing of various main products, has not only increased the availability of nutritional milk foods but has also indicated the profitable method of by products utilization and helped in minimizing the problems of pollution. This chapter focuses on utilization of these dairy industry wastes.

4.1 Introduction

A huge amount of waste in the form of liquid and solid is produced in the fruit and vegetable processing industry which causes pollution problem if not utilized or disposed off properly. Generally solid waste is dumped in local landfills, eaten and scattered by stray animals, which has now become a major cause of environmental pollution. The waste obtained from fruit processing industry is extremely diverse due to the use of wide variety of fruits and vegetables, the broad range of processes and the multiplicity of the product [79]. The solid waste from fruits and vegetables includes peel, stone, rag, seed, core etc is of economic value and can be used for manufacturing of various by-products [21]. The extent of the waste produced from processing industries of some of the important fruits and vegetables, is given in Table 1.

In India, utilization of fruits and vegetables for processing is hardly 1.8% of the total production. There were 5166 processing units till 1^st Jan, 2009 of fruits and vegetables products throughout the country. About 90% of these units are small scale units with annual production limit of 50-250 tonnes. These units have no organized methods of waste disposal. In certain places this waste is taken away by farmers for their disposal as cattle feed or field manure.

1.1 Introduction

Due to the ever increasing world population, the demand for food would also increase. India is one of the largest food producer countries of the world (first in milk production, second largest in fruit and vegetable production and third largest in grains production). It is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total land area of 3,287,263 square kilometres. India has varied climates of snow covered Himalayas, desserts, oceans, fertile plains and areas receiving the highest rainfall in the world. Name any food item; it can be grown in one or the other part of the country. All these make the production of various types of foods of plant (fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, spices etc) as well as animal origin (fish, meat, milk etc.) possible in the country. The annual production of cereals, fruits and vegetables is 260, 57 and 77 million tonnes respectively, besides this, the production of cow and buffalo milk is about 102.1 million tonnes and that of sugarcane and spices are 355.52 and 1.1 million tonnes respectively [15]. Table 1 shows that the production of various food items has increased many folds during the last five decades. On one hand, we feel proud as we produce one of the largest quantities of foods in the world and there has been an enormous rise in the production of various foods in India during the last five decades, on the other hand we should be very much worried being a leading country as far as the wastage of food in the world is concerned. The postharvest losses are huge and only meagre quantity (2%) of the food is processed. Sharma [41] very rightly said that when we do not agree to throw away Rs 4000/-per month out of a salary of Rs 10,000/-per month then why do we accept 40% postproduction losses of food in the country. This would require immediate necessary action to save a major portion of the food that has already been produced.

3.1 Introduction

The production of food grains in India is around 200 million tonnes and most of the grains are converted to primary products after primary processing such as threshing, dehulling, de-branning. Some of the grains are converted to secondary products such as flour or grits. The yields of primary and secondary products range between 65-80% indicating a wastage of 20-35%. These wastes lead to unclean surroundings and air pollution due to fine dust. Hence, proper waste management/utilization of food grain processing industries has become a societal need for a clean environment.

The term ‘waste’ has different meanings to different people. It can be retractions from the main process or less utilizable by-products or undesirable waste material depending on the commodity. All food-processing industries generate wastes and create problems for its management. The best way the food processing industry can treat its waste is to avoid producing it. Much of the waste now being produced or generated in some food processing plants can become a managed resource for producing economic credits. In fact, waste utilization is one of the world’s prominent industries and its activities cut across the normal divisions into which industries are placed. Similarly, there will be wastes from agriculture, animal and meat industries, textile, rubber etc. Even the local governmental activities that collect and dispose the household wastes become apparent in terms of the huge size of it.

2.1 Introduction

Each step in the food industry system e.g. food production, processing, transportation, storage, distribution and marketing, has some impact on the environment and there is much concern about environmental pollution. Due to the highly diversified nature of the food industry, various food processing, handling and packaging operations create wastes of different quality and quantity, which, if not treated, could lead to increasing disposal problems and severe pollution problems [24]. The preservation of the natural environment from industrial pollution is currently receiving much attention. In food industry, the most important problem is treatment and disposal of large quantities of waste water, a by-product of various processing operations. It is one of the largest industry groups comprising the manufacturing sector of the U.S. economy [47]. Likewise, India is the world’s second largest producer of food next to China, and has the potential of being the largest food processor. The total food production in India is likely to double in the next ten years [22]. Flour and grain; soft drinks and carbonated water; breweries; starch and miscellaneous food products; meat, poultry and fish; tea, coffee and other beverages; fruit juices; animal feed; sugar; distilleries and blending of spirits; cocoa, chocolates and sugar confectioneries; agricultural and food chemicals and industrial packaging are important sub-sectors of the food processing industry. Food processing projects involve the processing and packaging of meat products, fish and shell fish, dairy products, fruit and vegetables, grains and beverages production. It includes refinement, preservation, improvement of product, storage, handling, packaging and canning (Fig. 1). The processing may involve receiving and storing raw or partially processed plant, animal or other food materials, processing the raw materials into finished products, packaging and storing the finished products.

Microscope

A microscope can be defined as an optical instrument consisting of a lens or a combination of lenses for getting magnified images of minute objects. A simple microscope is essentially an ordinary magnifying lens held on an adjustable stand. It can give magnification up to 20 times the size of the object.

A compound microscope consists of two separate lens system, the objective and eye piece (ocular) mounted on a holder known as body tube and with adjustment for illuminating the objects. It gives much greater magnification (100 to 1500 times) when compared to a simple microscope.

Physical Methods of Food Preservation

Conditions too stressful for microbial growth can damage cells. Food environments can be manipulated to inhibit or kill microbes. Physical manipulation of foods can inhibit microbial growth, kill cells, or mechanically remove them from the food. Dehydration, refrigeration, and freezing inhibit microbial growth. Microbes can be killed by heating or ultraviolet (UV) or ionizing radiation. Non thermal energy is also lethal. Membrane filtration removes microbes from liquid foods. This chapter discusses all these physical preservation methods

Physical Dehydration Processes

Drying

When foods are being dried, hot air evaporates the water and carries it away. Both the drying temperature and the decreased water activity (a_w) affect the microbes.

During the initial period of drying, the temperature is still low and the relative humidity is high. The size and composition of the food particle determine the length of this phase. If this particle size is large and the material is dense, this phase can be long, allowing microbes to grow. During later phases of drying, the temperature is high but the relative humidity is low. This provides no opportunity for growth but is not very lethal either. The higher temperatures result in lower moisture content, and dry heat is less lethal than wet heat. If the drying lasts long enough (at least 30 min.), there are time-temperature combinations that kill microbial cells. With certain drying methods, the surface temperature may reach 100°C, while internal temperature remains lower. This kills surface microbes, but not those in the food’s interior.

Bacterial species vary greatly in the ability of their cultures to remain alive after the completion of growth. Some species such as Neisseria gonorrhoeae and Streptobacillus are poorly viable and their cultures usually die out within a few day, whether kept at 37°C at room temperature or at 4-5°C; thus, they must be sub cultivated every 2-4 days for maintenance in the laboratory. Other species are much hardier,. especially sporing species which may remain viable for many years. There are also many non - sporing species (enterobacteriaceae) whose cultures, under suitable conditions, commonly remain viable for many months and often for as much as 10-20 years.

Sterilization is defined as the process by which an article, surface or medium is freed of all living microorganisms either in the vegetative or spore state.

Disinfection means the destruction or removal of all pathogenic organisms, or organisms capable of giving rise to infection. Chemical disinfectants which can be safely applied to skin or mucous membrane and are used to prevent infection by inhibiting the growth of bacteria are called antiseptics.

Five main methods are used for sterilization. 1. Red heat (flaming) 2. Dry heat (hot air) 3. Moist heat 4. Filtration 5. Radiation.

The killing effect of dry heat is due to protein denaturation, oxidative damage and toxic effect of elevated levels of electrolytes. The lethal effect of moist heat is due to the denaturation and coagulation of protein. In the case of spore, steam condenses on it, increasing its water content with ultimate hydrolysis and breakdown of the bacterial protein.

When unwanted organism settle on objects, substances or pure culture is called contamination.

Infection

Invasion of the body of a man or an animal or a plant by disease producing organism. Infectious disease is a condition brought about by an infection of the body by an organisms which is responsible for the disease. Organism that are capable of bringing about infectious diseases are called pathogens while those organism without this capacity are said to be non pathogenic.

Commensals

Organisms on skin and mucous membrane which multiply without causing damage to the tissue.

Subclinical infection / latent infection

When organism enters the tissue and lead to immunity without the appearance of any definite clinical symptoms.

A five-kingdom classification system fails to classify viruses because they are not considered to be living. They neither reproduce independently nor utilize energy

General properties of virus

Viruses differ fundamentally from other classes of microorganism in that:

1.They are ultramicroscopic disease-producing entities.

2.They are simple in structure, basically composed of nucleic acid wrapped up in a protein coat.

3.The genome nucleic acid is either DNA or RNA , either single stranded or double stranded, but never both

4.Viruses have no metabolic activity of their own and lack enzyme systems and other constituents fundamental for independent growth and multiplication.

5.They do not posses ribosomes, nor transfer RNA and enzymes required for synthesis of nucleic acids and proteins.

6.Viruses are incapable of growth and division.

Culture methods employed depend on the purpose for which they are intended. In the laboratory the indications for culture are mainly to

1.Isolate bacteria in pure culture.

2.Demonstrate their properties

3.Obtain sufficient growth for preparation of antigens and for other tests.

4.Type isolates by methods such as bacteriophages and bacteriocin susceptibility.

5.Determine sensitivity to antibiotics

6.Estimate viable counts

7.Maintain stock solution