eChapters

Introduction

India is one among the progressive countries in the world in maintaining food and nutrition database efficiently. The country has been in the fore front in signing the resolution on ‘Transforming the World: the agenda for Sustainable Development-2030’. India outstood among the developing countries in food self-sufficiency since seventies with low household hunger rates and low infant mortality rate. In the meanwhile, the country faced double burden of food and nutrition with inadequate dietary intake and under nutrition in one hand and overweight due to low physical activities on the other hand. Rapid increase in population with diminishing food production led to food insufficiency and malnutrition whereas, rapid economic growth and increasing mechanization led to the increasing prevalence of overweight and obesity. Both the under- and over nutrition are associated with health hazards, hence, use of normal body mass index (BMI)would be considered as an indicator for food security (FAO, 2013)

Mushrooms is known for its delicious and nutritious food with highly digestible lysine rich protein, vitamins and minerals, Mushroom serves as a low calorie food which lacks fats and are low in carbohydrate. They are rich in folic acid, phosphorus, potassium, calcium, copper and iron and vitamin-B complex. In place of starch, mushroom contains sorbitol and linolenic acid. They are excellent sources of thiamine, riboflavin, niacin, pantothenic acid, biotin, folic acid and vitamin B-12. Further, mushrooms are also reported to have high medicinal attributes. A large number of mushrooms contain biological active polysaccharide protein complex having anti-tumor, immune-modulating and antioxidant properties.

Ice cream has evolved from simple frozen preparations into a sophisticated food industry combining dairy science, food chemistry, refrigeration, microbiology, processing technology, packaging, and cold-chain management. This chapter introduces the historical development of ice cream and explains its transformation from a luxury product into a widely consumed frozen food. It examines the characteristics of the industry, major categories of ice cream and related frozen products, flavour classifications, composition, and quality characteristics. The chapter also presents the basic manufacturing process, important quality-control parameters, common manufacturing challenges, and emerging industry trends, providing a foundation for understanding ice cream as both a technical product and a commercial business.

Abstract

‘Made in India’ is no more a sign of poor quality. However, in the field of food grain exports, India is still lacking the required determination. The Indian food grains get rejected in the International market because of its out-dated post harvest technology (PHT). The Food Corporation of India (FCI) is the nodal national agency for the procurement, storage, processing and transporting of food grains, and their further distribution through the Public Distribution System (PDS). The government fixes the procurement price as well as the distribution price of the food grains, and the FCI has to accept it. The government compensates the resulting loss through subsidy. The government, through FCI, must encourage cultivation and marketing of premium quality food grains, by offering suitable incentives to farmers. The cost of marketing, storage and transporting of food grains can be considerably reduced with simultaneous improvement in quality of the end product, if the prevailing bag handling is replaced by bulk handling, storage, and transportation. However this needs closer coordination between various departments of the Ministry of Food and Ministry of Railways. The President of India revealed his vision to make India a developed country by the year 2020. To achieve this, the current post harvest losses to the tune of 10 percent must be reduced to 2 percent. This is possible if the government takes bold political decision supported by equally firm and time-bound necessary

Abstract

India ranks in the world’s five largest producers of over 80% of agricultural produce items. Processing of agricultural produce generates substantial amount of crop residues which can have tremendous value to farmers. However, a large portion of the residues is burned on farm primarily to clear the field from straw and stubble; which affects the environment, soil health and crop yield.The conversion of crop residues to eco-friendly and valuable product like biochar is need of the hour. Biochar is an organic amendment which slowly releases C in the soil, and is stable over the years. Various applications of biochar like reduction in greenhouse gases emission, sequestering C in the soil, increasing crop yield, used as combusting fuel and livestock feedmakes it a promising candidate for sustainable agriculture and environment.

Abstract

Nutrition and genetics both have very crucial role in human health and in development of chronic diseases such as cancer, osteoporosis, diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. Difference between individuals in response to dietary intervention is a well-known phenomenon in nutrition research (Ordovas, 2008).The effect of dietary changes on phenotypes such as blood cholesterol, body weight and blood pressure can differ significantly between individuals (Ordovas et al., 2007). Various bioprocess i.e. ingestion, absorption, digestion, transport, metabolism and excretion of nutrients and food bioactive components in human body is carried out through proteins such as enzymes, receptors, transporters, ion channels and hormones. Genetic variation leads to altered production and affect functional properties of these proteins. Furthermore nutritional efficacy is also different among different individuals which might be affected by nutritional status. Thus diet and gene expression are interrelated and have a mutual effect on physiology of human body.

Abstract

We are very fortunate to be born in a nation which is blessed with awesome decent variety of natural products, fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses and so forth. The population of India expanded consistentlythat cause a genuine sustenance and shelter problem. The supply of food is not adequate to fulfill the demand of the consumers. This shortage of food is the root for adulteration of foodstuffs by the traders. Food adulteration is a procedure in which the nature of sustenance is brought down either by the addition of inferior quality material or by extraction of valuable ingredient. An adulterant is a chemical substance which should not be contained within other substances (food, beverages) for legal or other reasons. The addition of adulterants is called adulteration. Food is adulterated to increase the quantity and make more profit. The food is sucked of its nutrients and the place where the food is grown is often contaminated. For instance: milkis mixed with water. Vanaspati is utilized as an adulterant for ghee. Adulteration of food is unsafe as it may be toxic and causes serious health hazards to the consumer. To evade this issue government has passed an act which is known as preservation of Food Adulteration Act. It covers security from risks involved due to contamination of poisonous elements. Instead of government efforts the informed and aware consumers will have the capacity to dispense with this issue. So, here in the chapter adulterants their types, effect on human health, laws and control measurement were reviewed and discussed.

Abstract

Agriculture is the major sector for the livelihood of the billions of people worldwide. Increasing population and decreasing arable lands are the major concern for the fulfillment of the desired food production. After green revolution more production in the crop is obtained by worldwide. Several insects and pests are responsible for the inhibition of desired production in agriculture. Therefore, pesticides play a major role in the control of destructive insects and pests. After ban of organochlorine pesticides, organophosphorus pesticides has been used vigorously. Beside the effective pest management in agriculture, residual organophosphorus pesticides are more lethal for human and other living creature. Monitoring of these compounds is very much essential in the food and agricultural samples. Chromatographic techniques are well adopted techniques for the hundreds of residual pesticides. Introduction of various analyzers in chromatographic techniques improve the monitoring of the residual pesticides from different samples. Therefore, recent advancement in residual pesticides isolation and chromatographic techniques has been discussed in this book chapter.

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.

Importance

The dairy products, which have originated in India, are called indigenous dairy products. The products can be broadly classified in to khoa based and channa based. The importance of the dairy products were known to Indians since time immemorial or it could be roughly estimated to be around five thousand years ago and the development could be considered as an art.

Flowers are highly perishable unlike other horticultural or agricultural crops. Owing to poor keeping quality the post harvest losses in floriculture are significantly higher than any other sector. Although there has been significant increase in the area, production and productivity of flower crops in the last two decades, there is an urgent need to minimize the huge post harvest losses in terms of the value of the produce which are estimated to be 30-40 per cent of farm value. The post harvest behavior of flowers is an outcome of the physiological processes, occurring in leave, stem, flower bud, leafless peduncle or scape connecting bud to the stem. Some of these processes may act independently to affect the senescence and vase life of cut flowers but most of them are inter-related. The nature and extent of post harvest damage is typical for each crop or cultivar. The post harvest losses become important especially when dealing with the export of fresh flowers to distant and foreign market. Therefore, patient, soft and expert handling of flowers is of utmost importance after harvest.

1. Introduction

Thermal energy is transferred in the form heat from one body to another through conduction, convection and radiation or in combination of these modes. Some of the examples of heat transfer that occur during various agricultural processing is drying and dehydration, sterilization, pasteurization, evaporation, distillation, to name a few.

The basic equation of conservation of heat can be written as:

Rate of heat in + rate of heat generation= rate of heat out+ rate of accumulation of heat

1. Introduction

The materials widely used for food contact applications include paper and coated-paper products, cellulose products, cellophane, metals, ceramics, glass, rubber, plastics, and miscellaneous materials such as wood, fabric, etc. Most of these materials have been in vogue for several years. Among them plastics are widely used in the food industry as they offer many advantages due to their high cost-to-benefit ratio. However, food safety issues in terms of migration of additives is a cause of concern. Plastics contain a number of additives either deliberately added during their manufacture or inevitable due to technical requirement.

Preservation means just protect the foods against the spoilage, but scientifically it may be defined as a science which deals with the process for prevention of decay or spoilage of the food is called preservation.

In other words, just controlling the physical, chemical or microbial changes in the foods is called preservation.

Physical Changes: Colour, flavour, texture and taste etc.

Chemical Changes: Carbohydrate, fats, proteins, vitamins and minerals.

Microbial Changes: Mould, yeasts and bacteria

Objectives of Seed Grading

Minimization of heterogeneity to the lowest level and enhancement of the homogeneity to the highest level in the seed lots received by the processing unit.

Principle

Separation of seed lots based on differences in the physical properties of the seeds.

Post harvest activities include threshing/ seed extraction, drying, pre-cleaning and conditioning, cleaning, fine-cleaning or grading, seed treatment, weighing and bagging/ packaging, sealing and labelling, storing, and transportation for marketing. Except for transportation and marketing, all these activities collectively known as seed processing. However, for most of the crop, threshing or seed extraction, basic cleaning even drying is done in the farm itself and in the processing unit, the threshed seed is received.

The objective of the seed processing is to prepare the harvested seed in such a way that seed of highest purity and quality would be available for marketing, also for planting. The cleaning and the grading are the foremost activity of the seed processing. The seed, which is received in the processing unit, contains many undesirable particles, which as such cannot be used for marketing, hence cleaning and grading become necessary.

Meat is an animal flesh that is used as food. Most often, this means the skeletal muscle and associated fat but it may also describe other edible tissues such as organs, livers, skin, brains, bone marrow, kidneys or lungs. Meat is highly nutritious food because it contains protein, fat and carbohydrates in relative proportion, supply energy as required by the human body, posses ability to build or replace tissues and the substances present in meat are easily absorbed by the human body. Meat is also a good source of B-complex vitamins but fat soluble vitamins are low in meat. It is a good source of phosphorous, zinc and iron but low in calcium. Meat also contains significant amount of copper, sodium, potassium and magnesium but low in carbohydrate contents. Carbohydrate is found mainly in form of glycogen which disappears completely after completion of rigor mortis. In general lean red meat is particularly good source of protein, niacin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, phosphorus, zinc and iron. About 100g of meat can provide more than 25% RDI of these nutrients. It also provides more than 10% RDI of riboflavin, pantothenic acid and selenium. Of the four meats, mutton is particularly nutrient-dense and the richest source of thiamine.

Ageing of meat is also known as conditioning or tenderising or ripening or maturing and sometime resolution of rigor. It is a process of holding unprocessed meat above freezing point under controlled conditions. By this process we can make muscle soft and pliable thus meat becomes tender. When we keep the meat above freezing point at temperature between 0-3ºC then all those changes occurs which are normally occurs at higher temperature i.e. atmospheric oxidation and enzymatic action of fat, bacterial action etc. When this temperature range becomes below freezing point then it inhibits completely the enzymatic action in the muscles. Ageing is required for marked increase in flavour, juiciness and tenderness of meat. In this process action of enzymes in meat plays key role while bacterial action is not of any importance. Meat tenderness and taste are definitely improved if carcasses or vacuum packed cuts are conditioned after slaughter but paradoxically beef is quite tender just two hours after slaughter and several days of conditioning are required to recover this degree of tenderness.

During the contraction of muscles, thick and thin filaments sliding to each other and decreases the length of sarcomeres. In turn, this decreases the length of fibrils, fibres and the whole muscle. If these muscles remain in contracted length when rigor develops, it causes massive overlap of thick and thin filaments leading to severe meat toughness. It is also necessary to avoid the cooling of meat too rapidly after slaughter, otherwise it cold-shortens and gets tough. If we avoid cold-shortening of muscles during conditioning, it will increase meat tenderness. But with too much conditioning, weight loss, surface spoilage and the cost of refrigerated storage increases.

Ageing of carcasses with little or no fat cover is not recommended by meat specialists. Because these carcasses loose moisture rapidly, loose weight excessively and discolour the meat surface rapidly. In addition, lean meat is also susceptible to deterioration through microbial growth, slime formation by bacteria and mould growth etc. Ageing is important for beef and buffalo meat while pork and lamb do not require ageing because they are slaughtered in the age where they are young and inherently tender. Additionally, the unsaturated fats found in pork fat oxidize during ageing causes rancidity and off flavour. Veal has very little protective fat covering and is high in moisture; thus it does not lend itself to ageing.

Pre-harvest factors are responsible for the majority of post-harvest losses. Fruits which have already been infected with insects and pathogens, have been poorly irrigated and fertilized, or are of low quality before harvesting will never benefit with post-harvest cures. As a result, the process of accomplishing production quality, as well as harvesting, processing, and selling, must be taken into account.

Fermentation is one of the ancient techniques that been routinely used to maintain the quality of food products. This process involves the breakdown of complex substances like carbohydrates into smaller ones which assist in extending the shelf life of food products. Fermented foods and beverages shared the major portion of the human diet which positively affect the body. Beer is a low alcoholic drink in which malt, hops and other adjuncts like aromatic herbs, honey and others are fermented with yeast to obtain a product that offers unique flavour, taste and aroma (Sohrabvandi et al., 2012).

OVERVIEW OF CANNING MACHINERIES
Canning is a food preservation method where selected raw materials are prepared, packed into containers such as tin, glass, or plastic jars, and sealed airtight. The contents are then heated to a sufficient temperature to destroy spoilage and pathogenic agents within the container, followed by rapid cooling to prevent overcooking. Canning extends the shelf life of foods, ranging typically from one to five years, with some products like freeze-dried lentils lasting up to 30 years.
Can Manufacturing Machinery and Equipment
• Can Body Reformer: Can bodies are often supplied collapsed to save space and ease transportation. The can body reformer shapes them into cylindrical forms, preparing them for further processing.
• Flanger: The cylindrical can bodies are flanged by the flanger, which has two flanging dyes. These dyes form grooves at the edges, preparing the cans for sealing.
• Seaming Machine: The seaming machine is used to close the open end of the can. It features a base plate to hold the can and an upper plate that presses the lid onto the can. The machine uses two seaming rollers (first and second) to seal the can tightly.
• Can Leakage Tester: After sealing, the cans are tested for leakage by immersion in water. If any leakage is detected due to improper sealing, it indicates that the can is faulty.
• Flange Rectifier: Cans that have been bent, deformed, or crushed during the flanging process are rectified using the flange rectifier machine, ensuring the cans are in proper shape for sealing.
• Can Coding Machine (Embossing Machine): This machine embosses codes on the cans, which include the product name, manufacturer details, and production date. It ensures proper identification and traceability of the product.c