eChapters

Wafer: A thin crisp cake, candy, cracker or chips is known as wafer.

Waffle: A crisp cake of batter baked in a waffle iron is called waffle

Warner-Bartzler Shear: It is one of the oldest but commonly used devices used to measure the tenderness of meat. It is used to test the quality in the cooked meat (Plate 648).

Wastage: Wastage is a term that cannot be precisely defined by even moral value / judgment and defined on the context / situation on which it is used.

Waste water: Water that has been used in a manufacturing process and goes waste is called waste water.

Water: Water (H2 O) is a clear transparent, colourless, odourless and tasteless liquid; neutral in reaction; boils at 100oC, freezes at 0oC and has maximum density (1 g/cm3) at 4oC. It exists as snow, ponds, lake, rivers, seas, oceans etc., also occur as rain and is there in the form of moisture in atmosphere. Pure water is bad conductor of heat and electricity. Water is an essential part of the body structure as a carrier of nutrients and regulator of a number of body functions. Fruit and vegetables contain > 80% water and sometime upto 95% water e.g. cucumber, lettuce, marrow, lettuce, melon. The starchy tubers and seeds, for example yam, cassava and cork, contain less water, but even > 50%. So water content must be optimum at the harvesting time. The human body comprises of about 65 % water, while that of fruits and vegetables 80-90% water.

Introduction

A variety of glassware, plasticware, and other apparatus are used for experimental purposes in a laboratory. They need to be washed, cleaned, dried, and sometimes sterilized before they can be used in the next set of experiments. Glassware needs special care of handling during washing, drying, sterilization, etc. because even a minor mistake in handling of glassware may result in its cracking/breakage and it may become unserviceable. All of these may result in a delay in experimentation if spare piece of the glassware is not available or it may affect serviceability of the associated apparatus.

A large number of glassware such as beaker, flask, measuring cylinder, burette, test tube, etc. are regularly used in a laboratory, which requires careful handling during the different stages of experiment as well as after completion of the experiment while preparing them for another set of experimentation.

Glass being a complex silicate, its properties depends on the type of silicate anions in the structure and the cations formed. Thermal properties of glass changes by the addition of boron oxide (B2 O3 ); hence, borosilicate glass is extensively used in the laboratories. With this brief background information, let us discuss about the necessity, procedures, and precautions during washing, cleaning, drying and sterilization of laboratory-wares. Figure 3.1 shows various advantages of using borosilicate glass in a laboratory.

Good laboratory practices require clean glassware, because an experiment may give erroneous result if dirty glassware is used at any step of the experiment. Hence, the glassware must be physically and chemically clean; and in many cases, it must be microbiologically clean or sterile. The commonly used glassware in a laboratory include test tube, measuring cylinder, pipettes, beakers, flasks, microscopic slides, etc.

Introduction

Wastes produced during fish processing operations can be solid or liquid. Solid wastes consist of skin, viscera, fish heads, fish bones, and scraps of f lesh. Liquid wastes are the blood water and brine from drained storage tanks, water discharges from washing and cleaning, blood and soluble substances from entrails, and detergents and other cleaning agents. The effluent from the processing of fatty fish contains very high levels of oil. Overall, the wastewater from fish processing operation contains an undefined mixture of substances, mostly organic in nature.

13.1. Physicochemical Parameters of the Wastewater

13.1.1. pH

The pH is an important parameter that reveals contamination level before biological treatment. The effluents from fish processing plants are usually close to 7 or alkaline, due to decomposition of the proteinaceous matter and emission of ammonia compounds.

13.1.2. Solids Content

Solids may be present either in dissolved or suspended form. Suspended solids are objectionable as they settle in the wastewater ducts reducing their capacity or settle in the waterbody affecting bottom - dwelling flora or sometimes float reducing the light entering from the surface or remain suspended reducing the amount of light that enters the water. The settling solids are measured using an Imhoff cone. If the wastewaters contain solids that settle after 10 min, their discharge is usually not permitted. The suspended solids are measured by passing a sample through a fiberglass filter; and determining the quantity by gravimetry, after evaporation of a known volume of the filtrate.

Waste is defined as anything that doesn’t add value to their operations. To the average person, waste is simply stuff that’s unwanted or useless. But from a scientific perspective, there’s really no such thing as waste. Nearly all the things we throw away can be transformed or processed in ways that make them useful again.

Waste comes in various forms, ranging from household trash to industrial byproducts. These include domestic waste, factory waste, e-waste, construction waste, agricultural waste, and more. We can categorize waste into different types:

Solid waste: This includes organic materials like vegetable and kitchen waste, as well as general household waste.

E-waste: Discarded electronic devices such as computers, TVs, and music systems fall into this category.

Liquid waste: This comprises water used in various industries, as well as waste from tanneries, distilleries, and thermal power plants.

Plastic waste: Items like plastic bags, bottles, and containers make up this category.

Diverse categories of Food Products such as canning, preservation of fruits and vegetables, processing of poultry products, dairy goods and many more present different challenges for wastewater disposal and regular use of water. A significant source of environmental pollution is the dissipated water generated from food product development and other agricultural tasks. This waste is being considered the most strenuous and requires a high amount of capital to convert this waste into reusable waste and the main reason behind this is different nutritional components such as inorganic and organic carbon compounds, nitrogenous elements, suspended and dissolved solids, high amount of biochemical and chemical oxygen demands (BOD & COD).

Abstract

Pulses being nutritionally vital, is an important constituent of diet for a very large number of peoples. A part from being a relatively cheaper source of dietary protein, it is also an important source of calories, certain essential amino acid, minerals and vitamins. Post harvest scenario of pulse shows that 75 per cent of production was milled in pulses with as dehusked split i.e. dal. Traditionally green gram and black gram dal is dehulled manually after soaking in water. Present investigation was carried out to develop the wet type dehuller and study was carried out on water absorption characteristics of green gram and black gram. The result reveals that the dehulling efficiency of abrasion type mechanism was about 95 per cent and 92 per cent in case of shearing type mechanism. It has been observed that rate of water absorption was initially high and then gradually decreases i.e. 0.54 to 0.18 and 0.48 to 0.18 for black and green gram, respectively. 

    1.    Water activity (a_w) affects food chemistry and can be controlled by removal (dehydration or drying) or by chemically binding the water, reducing its activity. Water activity in foods ranges from 0.95 to 1.00 in fresh meats and vegetables to 0.20 in dried milk.

    2.    Water activity (a_w) may be defined in a number of ways, qualitatively, aw is a measure of unbound, free water in a system available to support biological and chemical reactions.

    3.    Water activity, not absolute water content, is what bacteria, enzymes, and chemical reactants encounter and is affected by at the micro environmental level in food materials.

    4.    Two foods with the same water content can have very different aw values depending upon the degree to which the water is free or otherwise bound to food constituents.

    5.    The term “water activity” is related to relative humidity. Relative humidity is defined as the ratio of the partial pressure of water vapour in the air to the vapour pressure of pure water at the same temperature.

    6.    Water activity or aw is a property of solutions and is the ratio of vapour pressure of the solution compared with the vapour pressure of pure water at the same temperature. Under equilibrium conditions water activity equals:

1. Natural Mineral Water- Food Safety & Standard Regulations - 2011 and IS 13428:2005 Reaff. 2009 requirements
2. Packaged Drinking Water other than Natural Mineral Water- Food Safety & Standard Regulations - 2011 and IS 14543:2004 Reaff. 2009 requirements
3. Water for processed Food Industry- IS 4251 : 1967 Reaff. 1992 requirements
4. Drinking water- IS 10500 : 2012

Introduction

Water is not only a vital environmental factor to all forms of life, but it has also a great role to play in socio-economic development of human population. Since antiquity humans have valued the importance of clean water and have used various techniques to improve its quality. In modern times, the safe drinking water became first a public health issue and then a human rights issue. The access to safe drinkin gwater now considered as a basic human right which is an essential component of effective policy for health protection. Improving access to safe drinking-water can result in tangible as well as intangible benefits to health. It has been shown that investments in water supply and sanitation can yield a net economic benefit, because the reductions in adverse health effects and healthcare costs outweigh the costs of undertaking the interventions (WHO, 2017). Past experiences have also proved that interventions in improving access to safe water favour the poor in particular, whether in rural or urban areas, and can be an effective part of poverty alleviation strategies. The disparity in water availability, reliability, and quality between the developed world and developing countries is enormous. Unfortunately, in many developing countries people lack access to safe water and therefore waterborne diseases are still a major cause of death, especially among children under age of 5. According to a joint report by World Health Organization (WHO) and United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) (WHO/UNICEF report 2017), around 2.1 billion people worldwide lack access to safe and readily available water at home, and around 4.5 billion, lack safely managed sanitation facilities. Moreover, many of these countries that have set drinking water standards often lack the resources to implement or enforce them.

Water is an essential component of all living things. Although once believed as a resource with a never-ending supply, it has now been understood that water is becoming increasingly scarce and therefore a proper management is necessary to keep a sustainable food production (Kannan & Anandhi, 2020). A continuous and safe supply of water is indispensable for the food industry where it has numerous applications along the agriculture and food production processes.

Onion is highly vulnerable to weed competition because of its slow early growth, shallow roots, narrow upright leaves and limited canopy development. Weeds compete for light, water, nutrients and space while also harbouring pests and pathogens. Severe infestation during the critical competition period can cause substantial yield reduction. This chapter describes major onion weeds and evaluates cultural, physical, mechanical, biological and chemical control methods. Timely planting, suitable spacing, mulching, raised beds, manual weeding, mechanical tools, herbicides and biological agents are discussed. Integrated Weed Management is recommended as a smart approach combining complementary methods to improve weed control, protect soil health and sustain onion productivity.

Introduction

In a research laboratory, we frequently need weigh chemicals and prepare different solutions of varying strength, as per the requirements. Accuracy in weighing and preparation of solution, with respect to weight/volume and strength, determines the success of experiment. In turn, the accuracy depends on weighing of solid chemical and/or measuring the volume of liquid chemical/making up the volume. In this Chapter, weighing of chemicals using appropriate weighing balance, preparation of solutions of different strength, their dilution, and precautions while preparing will be discuss in brief.

Weighing of Chemical

The primary method to determine the amount of chemicals to be used is weighing the chemical by using a balance.

In general, there are two types of balances to weigh chemicals in a laboratory:

1. Standard laboratory balance

2. Analytical balance

Standard Laboratory Balance

Generally, a standard laboratory balance is used for weighing a chemical when an error of ±0.02 g is acceptable. It is also used for pre-weighing, where approximate mass needs to be determined. Precise mass of the chemical is then determined using an analytical balance. Following are the steps in using a weighing balance in a laboratory.

Introduction

Bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the most widely cultivated and consumed crops in the world. Wheat is perhaps best known for its different end-use baking properties as determined by grain texture, protein content and quality. Wheat is generally traded by and classified into “hard” and “soft” market classes on the basis of grain hardness or texture of the wheat kernel (caryopsis). Soft wheats have softer endosperm texture that fractures easily, therefore requiring less energy to mill, yields smaller particles, and has less starch damage after milling when compared to hard wheats. Hard and soft are used with slightly different connotations in different parts of the world. In Western Europe, hard is applied primarily to durum wheats and the soft applied to bread wheat. Elsewhere the term is applied to different cultivars within the species Triticum aestivum. In general, hard wheats are used for bread baking, while soft wheats are used for cookies and cake making. Hard wheat requires more force to crack the kernel, maintains a larger particle size, passes through sieves more easily and has more damaged starch MacRitchie (1980). Higher starch damage is required for good bread making quality Tipples et al. (1994) but is detrimental to the biscuit making quality.

Abstract

Wheat is unique among cereals because of its ability to form viscoelastic dough. Variety of products such as leavened and unleavened breads, pasta, cookies, and breakfast cereals are prepared using wheat. The viscoelastic property of dough is mainly due to the presence of gluten proteins viz., gliadins and glutenins. Variations among these proteins play a significant role in determining the quality of wheat. Although considerable studies have been carried out on quantity and quality of protein and their relation to bread quality, very little work has been reported on their relation with quality of Indian traditional products like chapati and tandoori roti. Results indicate that ratio between gliadins and glutenins are important in determining the chapati quality. It has been found that varieties having 5+10 HMW glutenin subunits with IBL/ IRS chromosomes are more suitable for the preparation of chapati and roti. This article is focused on the relation between protein and its subunit composition and the quality of chapatti and roti quality.

Introduction

Carbohydrates constitute nearly 80% of the total dry matter of wheat kernel. Starch is the predominant form, with cellulose, hemicellulose and pentosans present in lesser amount. Starch is present in discrete granules within the cells of the endosperm. Starch content is available in the range of 65% to 75% and generally related negatively to the protein content. Starch structure is a crucial determinant of many end-product uses of wheat. While the amylose /amylopectin ratio is a useful descriptor of starch structure, a more complete analysis of the population of the molecules which constitute a particular starch is considerably more revealing. The molecules range from the high degree of polymerization (10⁷ – 109 glucose units) and heavily branched amylopectin population, to the lower degree of polymerization (103 -106 glucose units), and infrequently branched amylopectin population. Starches with widely differing structures are suited to particular end uses. For example, starches with no amylose, the so called waxy starches are particularly suited to use as thickeners or gel forming agents because they form a clear stable gel with little retrogradation. In contrast, starch with high amylose content form hydrogen bonded insoluble aggregations which are suited to use in adhesives, plastics and as a source of dietary-fibre starch. The size and branching pattern of starch are also important determinants of the suitability of starches for particular end-uses due to the effects these parameters have on gelatinization temperature, starch swelling and viscosity.

1. INTRODUCTION

Wine is the alcoholic product obtained by fermentation of fruits like grape, plum, peach, pear, apple and apricot (see chapter 25). Different types of wine which can be made from various fruits are:

• Table wines
• Fortified wines
• Sparkling wines

In preparation of table, fortified and sparkling wine many steps are common. It is out of scope of this text to discuss these specialized wines. But the general steps involved to in wine making are described here.

Introduction

Wheat is an important cereal crop and is widely cultivated across the world. Wheat is consumed in different forms and major products are chapati, bread, biscuit, noodles and pasta products. Wheat has three groups of cultivated species namely bread, durum and dicoccum wheats. The common or bread wheats account for approximately 95% of world production. Nearly all of the remaining 5% cultivated varieties are durum wheats used for pasta products and couscous and dicoccums represent very little of the total wheat production. The bread wheat is divided into two broad classes based on grain texture; hard and soft. Hard wheats with high protein content and strong gluten are used for making bread and some noodles while soft wheats with lower protein content and weak gluten for biscuit, cakes and pretzels. Semi-hard wheats having some combinations of the above characteristics are utilized for making unleavened breads such as chapati, Asian steamed bread and some noodles. There can be large disparity within wheats of various classes; therefore to provide consistent quality, it is divided into grades. The grading is determined by the test weight, protein content, moisture and foreign material. The major wheat exporting countries have distinct grading patterns designed to provide wheat for specific purposes and consistent quality.

Xanthan gum: It is a polysaccharide that is produced by fermentation of carbohydrates by a gram-negative bacterium (Xanthomonas campestris) and is a thickening and suspending agent used in pharmaceuticals and prepared foods. It is also called xanthan. Xanthan is a stabilizer produced by Xanthomonas compestris (Plate 671). Xanthan is not hydrolysed or degraded by humans.

Xanthones: It is a group of yellow pigments e.g. mangiferin in mango,

Xanthophyll: Yellow hydroxyl carotene derivative which is present in all green leaves together with chlorophyll and carotene. Xanthophyll is a pigment containing O2 derived from carotene (Plate 672).

Xerophilous: An organism which is thriving in or tolerant to a xeric environment is called xerophilous.

Yabby: It is one of the burrowing Australian crayfishes (Cherax destructor) that are used for food.

Yakitori: A bite-size marinated pieces of beef, seafood, or chicken on skewers is called yakitori.

Yam: It is edible starchy tuberous root of plants (genus Dioscorea of the family Dioscoreaceae) used as a staple food in tropical areas (Plate 676).

Yautia: It is one of the aroid plants (Xanthosoma sagittifolium) chiefly of tropical America with starchy edible shaggy brown tubers that are cooked and eaten like yams or potatoes (Plate 677).

Yearling mutton: Meat obtained from 12-20 month aged sheep. It is also called Earling mutton.

Yeast: Unicellular plant body, very minute in size containing cell wall, cytoplasm with one or more vacuoles and a single nucleus, cause alcoholic fermentation (Plate 678). Yeast usually has little or no mycelium, and reproduces by budding. It results in production of yellowish surface froth or sediment that occurs in saccharine liquids (fruit juices) in which it promotes alcoholic fermentation, consists largely of cells of a fungus (as the saccharomyces, Saccharomyces cerevisiae), and is used in the making of alcoholic liquors and as a leaven in baking.

Zeatin: Zeatin is a cytokinin C10 H13 N5 O first isolated from the endosperm of Indian corn.

Zeaxanthin: Zeaxanthin is an isomer of lutein occurring in fruits and vegetables (spinach and corn) (Plate 682, 683 and 684).

Zein: Zein is a protein from Indian corn that lacks lysine and tryptophan and is used in making textile fibers, plastics, printing inks, edible coatings, adhesives and sizes.

Zeolite: It is clay embedded in the plastic film to adsorb ethylene. It is used in Japan. Zeolite is anhydrous silicates that is analogous in composition to the feldspars and used in water softening, adsorbents and catalysts. Or Zeolite is one of various hydrous silicates that are analogous in composition to the feldspars, occur as secondary minerals in cavities of lavas, and can act as ion-exchangers. These are used especially in water softening and as adsorbents and catalysts (Plate 685).

Zero 2: It is Australian oxygen scavenging plastic packaging materials.