eChapters

7.1. Challenges in Milk Quality

Demand for milk and milk products in India is growing very rapidly, owing to urbanization, customer convenience, and the change from loose to packaged milk products. At present, the dairy sector is rising at about 10-12 per cent annually. Based on population growth projections and an increase in urbanization over the next four decades, India is projected to need approximately 600 million tonnes of milk per year to meet the demand for milk and milk products. This means that India’s milk production needs to grow at around 3.2 per cent CAGR for the next 40 years (FICCI, 2020).

Main reason of poor quantity of milk is due to unhygienic and poor condition of animal farms and dairies. Even due to high demand in foreign country we cannot export such poor quality of milk product. Many times, Indian milk products get rejected in foreign nations due to unhygienic milking milk contains high number of microbial counts. Reasons behind the quality affected in India are due to poor health of animal, polluted water and food and Unclean surrounding in farm. So, it is necessary to consider all this challenges in improving milk production. Currently most of the milking animals are not screened on regular interval of time. So, there is lots of chances that some diseases can transmitted to human beings. Farmers use antibiotics and chemical drugs to increase the production of milk this will also affect the quality of milk. These issues can be avoided by regular screening of animals in animal husbandry and also maintaining history records of health, feed etc. Quality of feed should be checked regularly. There must be pollution control in the feed and water used in cattle farms (Bhagyalaxmi, 2020).

The major challenges to any developing society are poverty and economic deprivation of its ruralpopulation.Eradication of poverty, the focus of all developmental efforts has remained a very complicated and serious concern among developing countries. Poverty is abysmal rooted covering several interlocked aspects such as lack of asset, under employment, uncertain and relatively unproductive employment, low remuneration, economic vulnerability, illiteracy, social disadvantage etc.

The rural areas were found to be more prone to poverty, even if it exists in urban areas also. The rural poor are perpetuating poverty and are the victims of the “vicious cycle of poverty”. Fishing communities in the coastal belts all over the world are also not an exception to this. Poverty in fishing communities is very common and is characterized by high population density, poor living conditions, lack of proper education and poor access to education and health care. Due to poor attention paid by the state, the infrastructure support like roads, electricity, good drinking water, markets etc also are be poor. Though efforts for reducing fishing pressure is taken by Government, scope for alternative employment opportunities are less. Thus those sector that are in engaged inthe world’s most dangerous occupations, are considered on par with SC/ST communities as far as India is concerned. The loss of a boat, gear or an active fisherman in the family can be tragic and lead to total financial deprivation of the family. Hence poverty and vulnerability in fishing communities is widely known but poorly addressed issue. As in rural farming sector, dependence of fishing communities on private moneylenders continues in many areas, especially for meeting emergent requirements. For various reasons, credit to these sections of the population has not been institutionalized.

The emergence of microfinance as an alternative financial delivery mechanism was a response to the failure of past efforts by government and international agencies effectively to provide financial services to the poor. But while considering micro finance programmes for fisheries sector, there should be special considerations that are unique to fishing communities and need special consideration. Instead of random payment of loans to target sectors and populations, efforts were taken for setting up and building local institutions that cater for the poor. This resulted in the materialization of microfinance institutions (MFIs) that serve the rural poor. MFIs initially started providing microcredit but have now extended their services to savings, insurance etc.

Introduction

Protected cultivation or greenhouse cultivation is the most common technique to grow vegetable crops qualitatively and quantitatively, and has spread widely all over the world in recent decades. Greenhouse agriculture is also known as environmentally controlled planting. The technology involves the cultivation of vegetable crops in a regulated environment in which factors such as tem perature, soil, light, humidity, irrigation, fertilizers, etc. are controlled in order to achieve optimum production and ensure a steady supply even in off-season conditions. In India, the total area under protected cultivation or green house is currently approximately 25 000 ha whereas the protected vegetable area is approximately 2000 ha which has been challenged by land ownership limita tions, decreasing crop production, rapid urbanization, ever increasing popu lation and decreasing biodiversity. Food demand, especially vegetables, has increased growing of different crop varieties as protected crops, or greenhouse has opened up a new dimension to extra production within a limited crop area.

1. INTRODUCTION

Proteins are polymers of amino acids. Twenty different types of amino acids occur naturally in proteins. Proteins differ from each other according to the type, number and sequence of amino acids that make up the polypeptide backbone. Proteins are the important constituents of foods for a number of reasons. They are a major source of energy, as well as containing essential amino-acids, like lysine, tryptophan, methionine, leucine, isoleucine and valine which are essential to human health, but which the body cannot synthesize. Proteins are also the major structural components of many natural foods, often determining their overall texture, e.g., tenderness of meat or fish products. Isolated proteins are often used in foods as ingredients because of their unique functional properties, i.e., their ability to provide desirable appearance, texture or stability.

Proteins are complex organic molecules made up of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen, and nitrogen. Most proteins also contain sulphur and phosphorus and also play an important role in food preparation. The final quality of many food products are influenced by how the proteins are treated while food is being prepared.

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.

Abstract

Pulse combustors provide an advantageous superposition of unsteady gas flow and high intensity sound waves. Such a combination does not only accelerate drying rates because of increased heat and mass transfer but also allows processing of liquids, pastes and agglomerated solids in a dispersed state due to aerodynamic impact from the high intensity sound wave. Over last decades, applications of pulse combustion in drying have been exploited continuously and different pulse combustion dryers have been designed and fabricated. In pilot tests and technical reports on these dryers, short drying time, high energy efficiency and product quality are generally reported, which cause that pulse combustion drying is regarded as a technology of the future in convective drying.

This chapter attempt to introduce basic knowledge and state-of the art about this emerging technology and summarizes some recent studies in pulse combustion drying and equipment design. Following a concise description of pulse combustion and pulse combustor, the basic types of pulse-combustion dryers are presented, including spray dryers, fluidized bed dryers, impinging dryers, and dryers of special design. The existing commercial applications and pilot test projects are described and potential applications are identified.

Abstract

Consumers increased response to new products with high sensory, organoleptic and nutritional potentials has impelled a search for new substitutes to processing methods. For several years, thermal processing was the main technology for producing safe products with long shelf lives, although in most cases losses of fresh flavors, vitamins, and some physicochemical characteristics were the price of safety and long-term stability. Pulsed electric field (PEF) processing as a non- thermal technique has been proven to inactivate microorganisms with minimal losses of flavor and food quality, possibly making it the answer to present-day consumer demands. In addition, the low processing temperatures used in this non- thermal technology allow the process to be nutrient preserving, energy efficient, which translates into lower costs and fewer environmental impacts. In this chapter, the the configuration of various PEF equipment, their electric configuration and recent application of this technique in processing of foods have been discussed in detail.

6.1 Introduction

Consumer demand, regulatory guidelines and economic power of the consumer as well as ascertained profitability stimulated the need of novel food processing techniques. The concept of “fresh”, “natural”, or “organic” food also led to the development of environmentally sound and resource efficient food processing technologies. Thermal processes have been used for food preservation since a long time. These are not very energy efficient and can change the phase of food from fresh to cooked as well as it can alter the nutritional and sensory qualities. Thus, the quest for energy conservation by the manufacturers to reduce carbon footprint of the processes involved in food processing and preservation as well as to fulfill consumers’ requirement for fresh-like quality food have given rise to the development of innovative non-thermal food processing technologies i.e. ionizing radiation, high-intensity light pulses, high isobaric pressure, electric or oscillating magnetic fields, as well as pulsed electric fields (PEF).

Application of electric energy in food processing started in the early 1900s. In the beginning, electrical pasteurization inactivated microorganisms by increasing the temperature of samples by means of an electrical resistance (ohmic heating). Milk was the first electrically pasteurized product. In the late 1940s, electric fields were used to increase the permeability of fruits to facilitate the subsequent extraction of juices. The PEF technology as a non-thermal process is very effective for inactivation of microorganisms, increasing the pressing efficiency, enhancing the juice extraction, and for intensification of the food dehydration and drying process. The main effect of PEF technology is based on the phenomena that biological membranes are punctured under the influence of external electrical impulses. This process is often referred as non-thermal, since the structural damage to membranes is implemented at very low temperature compared to the conventional heating process. The PEF process is considered to be energy efficient because the electric energy is released in short pulses, thus total energy requirement is much lower than other continuous preservation technologies. The microbial inactivation can be achieved at ambient or moderately elevated temperatures by the application of short-bursts of high intensity electric fields to liquid foods flowing between two electrodes or to semi-solid/ solid food between some specialized electrode and treatment systems. Due to chemical/physical properties and presence of electrical charge, the liquid foods (e.g. milk or fruit juices) had different conductivity, which results in variable flux of electrical current through the food systems.

1. Introduction

Thermal processing treatments are the conventional methods that have been broadly employed in the food industry to guarantee the microbiological safety of food materials at a minimal cost. However, these thermal treatments cause undesirable changes in flavor, nutritive value, texture, or color of the finished product that impact food quality (Pan et al., 2017). Growing the modern consumer’s demand towards the minimally processed and “fresh-like” taste foods has challenged the food industry to develop novel non-thermal preservation techniques as an alternative to thermal processing. 

INTRODUCTION

Pulses are edible fruits or seeds of food bearing plants belonging to the family of the leguminosae. The major pulses which find important place in our diet are redgram dhal, bengal gram dhal, black gram dhal, green gram dhal and masoor dhal. Some are used as whole grams cow pea, rajmah and dry peas also belong to leguminous family.

Legumes not only have dietary values but also play an important role in maintaining or even improving soil fertility through their ability to fix atomospheric nitrogen.

Introduction

Foods prepared by fermenting raw ingredients of plant or animal sources naturally or mixing it with the starter culture (s) containing functional micro flora is called fermented foods. The functional micro flora used in starter culture is responsible for biochemical and organoleptic alteration of the substrates into edible yields which are socially and culturally appropriate to consumers (Tamang et al., 2010a, Tamang et al., 2010b). Fermented food has its own characteristic microflora and this group of micro flora increases the nutritional value by increasing the levels of essential amino acids, vitamins, proteins, etc.

Fermented foods play a major role in meeting nutritional requirement and socio economic development of developing countries. They are important components of the diet as staples, adjuncts to staples, condiments and beverages. A wide variety of fermenting substrates are available such as cereals, pulses, soya beans, flowers, milk, fish, meat, etc. A wide majority of plants and their parts are often utilized in the preparation of starter culture (Deori et al., 2007, Deka and Sarma, 2010).

Q10 value: The number of times a reaction rate change with a 10oC change in temperature is called Q10 value. If reaction rate doubles with 10oC change in temperature, Q10 = 2. It is also called temperature quotient.

Q-enzyme: It is a branching enzyme responsible for formation of 1-6 bonds in amylopectin.

QHV process: It stands for Quality Has Value Process.

QO2 : It is a unit for measurement of respiration. Or It is the oxygen uptake in microlitres per milligram on dry weight per hour.

Quailing: In this practice the oranges are kept in the baskets in which they are harvested to allow the fruit to loose little moisture. It is done for a couple of hours before transport to packhouse. This practice would allow the fruit to lose a little moisture which is called quailing. This operation is done for oranges to prevent Oleocellosis.

Qualitative measurement: It is a subjective / objective measurement of the quality of the product for presence of certain compound. It gives the idea of the presence or absence of the particular compound. It deals with the nature of the substance and not its amount or quantity.

India has emerged as the largest producer of milk in the World. This has boosted the confidence of producers, planners, dairy entrepreneurs and scientist alike. India has poised to play a major role in global dairy market in coming decade. The rapid growth of science and technology has positive impact on our life style and with strong trend of urbanization several demographic changes are likely to occur. There going to be ever increasing demand on the role of milk and milk products for human health. Accordingly, the demand for higher standards of milk products in terms of hygiene and safety of dairy products is to be followed. The competitiveness for the export of milk products among different dairy industry has increased in recent times due to GATT agreement. The biggest challenge before Indian dairy industry is the quality and safety of milk products indented for human consumption. Legal standards are made to have control over quality of food offered for sale and to safe guard the consumer form health hazards. It is therefore, imperative to determine different parameters that define product quality and safety. The purpose is to ensure production and distribution of products within well defined and accepted standards. This chapter deals with various parameters of product testing in order to maintain requisite prescribed standards.

Milk is a product of biological origin and is a suitable vehicle to accommodate any additive without apparent changes in its look. The quality of milk and its products depends upon quality of raw milk used in their manufacture, processing and handling conditions. It is therefore, necessary to check quality of raw milk to assess its suitability for processing, through various quick tests called “Platform Tests”

Raw milk quality assessment

(A) At collection center: - Milk from various suppliers is generally collected at dairy factory or privately owned collection centers located in marked area of milk sheds. The quantum of supply may vary from 2 – 100 Liters. As each supplier has to be paid in relation to quantity and quality of his produce, it is important to draw samples and ascertain its quality by performing quick tests for the purpose of acceptance or rejection.

Sampling procedures - The sampling procedure differs according to the nature of material and the purpose for which the sample is required. The sample collected for chemical analysis should be representative of the entire batch. Thorough mixing with proper instrument is essential to ensure representative sample. Samples for chemical analysis are to be delivered the same day for testing. If un-avoided, add small amount of preservative (Formaldehyde) to prevent deterioration and bear label to the effect.

Sample from single container – The procedure involved is thorough mixing of contents. If it is small container the contents should be poured from one vessel to another with swirling. In case of can the contents should be mixed with the help of plunger which should be moved up and down and sideways for about 10-15 times. The sample is then drawn with the help of dipper from different levels and collected in clean and dry sample bottles.

India has achieved a commendable position of being the highest milk producing country in the world. Nearly 110 million tons of milk per annum is contributed by small and marginal farmers having 2-3 milch animals which are scattered in lakhs of villages across the length and breath of India. The poor socio-economic conditions are serious constraints in producing raw milk of good quality. The quality of milk is further deteriorated during subsequent handling and transportation. Milk being a product of biological origin, is extremely vulnerable to attack by microbes. It is also a good vehicle for additives and adulterants without any apparent changes in its appearance. Thus, milk is susceptible to several post-secretion changes, some natural and some man-made.

Indian dairy industry faces a mammoth task to meet the world quality standards, particularly in the present context of globalization and increasing quality conscious consumers. In view of the highly perishable nature of milk soon after it is secreted, it is important to monitor its quality by having a firmly installed quality assurance programme along the entire production-to-supply chain. This can be possible with application of sensitive, accurate and rapid methodologies as a tool in quality assurance programmes.

Quality comprises of several attributes ranging from physical, chemical, technological and bacteriological through nutritional to aesthetic. All dairy plants have a quality assurance laboratory (Fig. 8.1) and usually follow chemical quality control with the intention of payments to contractors/producers, processing of milk and meeting mandatory requirements for end products. Quality is judged both by objective and subjective tests.

Introduction

Seafood undergoes rapid spoilage after capture or harvest due to their highly perishable nature. Spoilage refers to any change that renders seafood unacceptable for human consumption. Spoilage occurs as a consequence of various microbial, biochemical and chemical breakdown processes. Spoilage leads to quality changes in seafood. Quality change refers to any change that occur after harvest due to unpredictable catch, uncontrolled harvest, inadequate handling, processing and storage facilities. The initial quality loss is mainly due to the post-mortem autolytic activity (enzymatic process) and chemical degradation process (lipid oxidation); and later by microbial degradation. The quality problems occur as a result of poor-quality raw material, ice and water, microbiological contamination, presence of heavy metals and other storage aspects during processing.

Processing of fish means preparing raw fish into a marketable form. Pre processing is done prior to final processing. Pre-processing is often done on board fishing vessel or in a shore based plant. It includes operation such as washing, sorting, grading, butchering, etc of the harvested fish. The butchering involves removal of non-edible portions such as viscera, head, tails and fins from fish. The yield of fish meat varies from 30 to 70% depending on the butchering process. Butchering process includes beheading, gutting, filleting, peeling, deveining, shucking, etc. The discarded portion of fish meat are fish wastes, often used for animal feed or for conversion to bioactive functional foods. Final processing of fish includes processes such as heating, freezing, drying, salting, marinading, irradiation, or addition of chemicals. The processed seafood is categorized into five major groups – chilled, frozen, canned, cured and other value-added products in this chapter.

In this chapter, the importance of seafood in terms of their nutrition, and different methods of processing are dealt. Seafood quality and safety terminologies are explained briefly. The quality parameters affected by rigor mortis in raw, iced and cooked fish are given. Phenomenon of gaping described with reference to rigor mortis. Quality dimension of seafood is explained with intrinsic and extrinsic parameters. Various intrinsic factors affecting seafood quality such as f ish species, seasonal changes, parasite infestation and capture conditions are discussed in detail. The next part elucidates the sensory parameters affecting the seafood quality describing the objective and subjective method of quality assessments. Objective method covers both descriptive and discriminative tests. The final part mentions the Codex guidelines available for the conduction of seafood sensory assessment. At the end, the reader gains the knowledge on the basic information about seafood, role of rigor mortis in affecting seafood quality and the sensory quality assessment methods.

Objective

To learn the nutritional importance of seafood and their processing; rigor mortis and their role in seafood quality, intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting seafood quality and sensory quality assessment methods.

1.1. Importance of Seafood

Seafood has been traditionally a part of diet in many parts of the world. In some countries like India, it constitutes the main supply of animal protein among coastal population. Seafood is a low-calorie food and easily digestible compared to other protein-rich meat and poultry products and hence, it is a good choice for elderly persons to obtain their daily protein requirements. Seafood has high-quality quality enriched with all the essential amino acids required for human health. It provides about 1/3rd of the average recommended daily allowance (RDA) of protein.

1. INTRODUCTION

Quality, i.e. the degree of excellence or superiority, is a combination of attributes, properties, or characteristics that each commodity value in of human food. The relative importance of each quality component depends upon the commodity and its intended use (e.g. fresh or processed) and varies among producers, handlers, and consumers. Appearance of quality, firmness and shelf-life are important from the point of view of wholesale and retail marketers. Consumers judge quality of fresh fruits and vegetables on the basis of appearance and firmness, flavour (eating) quality of the product. Consumers are also concerned about the nutritional quality and safety of fresh fruit and vegetables.

Abstract

Determination of quality of wheat is very important because quality requirement of an individual product vary from one another. Flour quality can be defined as the ability of the flour to produce a uniformly good end product. Flour quality factors can be divided into two basic groups: those that are inherent in the wheat as a result of the genetic make up and the changes brought about by growing conditions; secondly those factors that might be altered during the process of converting wheat into flour Wheat flour constituents play an important role in determining the quality of flour. The flour quality for baking could be assessed by measuring the physical, chemical and rheological characteristics.

Fruits and vegetables are very important food commodities not only in developing country like India but all over the world. India, which is the most densely populated country in Asia continent, is still struggling to achieve self-sufficiency to feed about 135 crores people. For this purpose, fruits and vegetables have got their specific importance to provide a balance and healthy diet to the Indian people. Therefore, the reduction of post-harvest loss of fruit and vegetables is a complementary means for increasing production. It may not be necessary to considerably step up the production of fruits and vegetables with the growing demand if the post-harvest loss is reduced to a great extent. The cost of preventing losses after harvest in general is less than preventing a similar additional amount of fruit and vegetable crop of the same quality

Fruits are important source of Pro-vitamin A and vitamin C. In addition, vegetables also supply fair amount of carbohydrates, protein and energy and add colour, flavour and aroma to human diet. India is one of the largest producers of fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are an important supplement to the human balanced diet as they provide the essential minerals, vitamins and dietary fibre (roughage) for maintaining the tear and wear of the over body. Fresh fruit and vegetables have a short shelf life under ambient conditions of temperature and humidity due to their highly perishable nature. They soon lose their freshness and become subjected to mould and bacterial attack, and consequently decay and become useless as articles of human diet. Fresh fruits and vegetables are valued for their quick sources of available energy. Fresh fruits have high water content (70-96%), varying amount of carbohydrate (3-27%) and fibre (0.2-3.1%) and a low content of protein, fat and minerals. Ideal climatic conditions ensure round the year availability of broad range of fruit and vegetables in large quantities. The production of fruits and vegetables was 97.00 MT and 179.60 MT during the 2017-2018 in India