eChapters

Introduction

Digestion may be defined as the hydrolytic process carried out by various enzymes for breaking down complex food components such as proteins, fats and carbohydrates into simpler molecules like amino acids, fatty acids and monosaccharides, respectively. Whereas, absorption may be defined as the movement ofthese simple soluble digested food componentsalongwithvitamins, minerals and water from gastrointestinal track into the circulatory system.

The process of digestion starts from oral cavity (mouth) and ends at large intestineincluding tongue, teeth, jaws,secretions from salivaryglands (parotids, sub maxillary or submandibular and sublingual glands), pharynx, esophagus, stomach, small intestine and digestive enzymes secreted from pancreas and liver.

Food preservation is increasingly influenced by digital technologies associated with Industry 4.0. Ensuring food safety now requires not only microbial control but also authenticity, traceability, continuous quality monitoring and rapid decision-making. Artificial intelligence and machine learning can analyse complex datasets to predict shelf life, recognise spoilage patterns and assess risks arising during processing, storage and distribution. Internet of Things devices connect sensors across the cold chain, while blockchain supports transparent and secure traceability. Smart pH, temperature, humidity, optical and biosensors provide real-time information about product conditions. The chapter examines these technologies alongside automation while considering data quality, model validation, infrastructure, cost and industrial implementation challenges.

Digitalization is transforming ice cream operations by connecting procurement, production, quality, cold chain, sales, distribution, finance, and management through integrated information systems. This chapter examines the transition from traditional manual operations to ERP-, AI-, IoT-, and data-driven management. It explains the costs of limited digitalization and the department-wise benefits of integrated systems, including better traceability, demand forecasting, inventory management, energy monitoring, cold-chain control, predictive maintenance, and profitability analysis. The chapter also explores artificial intelligence, business intelligence, IoT monitoring, and evidence from industry research. It emphasizes that technology alone is insufficient: standardized processes, accurate master data, user training, governance, and management discipline are essential for achieving measurable digital transformation.

4a. Intestinal Disorders
 
History of health claims
 
According to Bottazzi (1983) it was in 76 BC that the Roman historian Plinius recommended the use of fermented milk for treating gastroenteritis. Metchnikoff claimed that the intake of fermented milk containing Lactobacilli reduces the toxin producing bacteria, thereby increasing the longetivity of the host (Metchnikoff, 1908). Tissier (1905) showed that there was an increase in the Bifidobacteria in breast fed-infants, thus claiming that the administration of Bifidobacteria to infants suffering from diarrhea was very beneficial as they supersede the putrefactive bacteria that causes the disease. Intestinal beneficial microfloras are responsible to resist the disease (Bohnhoff et al., 1954).

Pineapple (Ananas comosus) is an edible fruit bearing plant native to South America belonging to family Bromeliaceae. Pineapple is grown over an area of 1.06 million hectares with an annual production of 29.36 million metric tonnes (FAO, 2022). Pineapples are rich in vitamin C, minerals, fiber and low in calories. The enzyme bromelain present in pineapple is of considerable importance to the pharmaceutical and cosmetic industry (Varilla et al., 2021). The market for pineapples has been expanding significantly because of its appealing aroma compounds and nutritional benefits. The climate and distribution of rainfall in tropical and sub-tropical regions make these areas ideal for pineapple cultivation. Worldwide, Brazil is the leading producer of Pineapple followed by Philippines, Thailand, Costa Rica and India (FAO, 2022). In India the leading pineapple producing states are West Bengal, Northeastern region, Bihar, Kerala, Karnataka, Goa, and Maharashtra.This ‘Kew’ of Cayenne group and ‘Mauritius’ of the rough leaf Queen group are the two varieties dominating in India (Devi et al., 2013; Joy and Sindhu, 2012).

Botanically, Pineapple is a herbaceous perennial having short stem and tough waxy leaves. It produces a fleshy, edible, yellow fleshed which is a fusion of 100-200 berry like fruitlets. Most of the members of Bromeliaceae family are epiphytes i.e. grown on rocks and living trees though pineapples grow on the soil bearing sensitive adventitious root that cannot regenerate once damage and intolerant to poor soil aeration. The cultivated varieties of pineapple can be categorized into three groups namely, Cayenne, Queen, and Spanish. The Spanish and Cayenne groups can be cultivated for dual purposes viz. fresh fruit and canning. However, the Queen group are only cultivated for fresh fruit markets due to the presence of deep eyes making it unsuitable for canning (Devi et al., 2013).

The distribution systems are designed to ensure that processed fluid milk is stored and transported under optimal conditions, maintaining its quality and freshness until it reaches consumers. An effective distribution system for processed fluid milk involves careful planning and execution to guarantee timely delivery, quality preservation, and customer satisfaction. Given that milk is a highly perishable product, it requires meticulous handling and strict temperature control. Technology plays a crucial role in preserving its integrity throughout the supply chain. The use of technology reduces human error, increase the efficiency of distribution operations, and lower operational costs by preventing idle resources through coordinated logistics for both outbound and inbound trips.
To address the specific demands of manufacturing, packaging, distribution, and transportation, integrated business process automation solutions are implemented. These solutions include following features:
• Identify and define the most efficient delivery routes, reducing transportation costs and ensuring timely delivery.
• Scheduling and monitoring of delivery routes to maintain optimal delivery speeds, and manage loading and unloading processes so as to minimize exposure to adverse conditions. Automated solutions and tools help maintain the required temperature conditions throughout the entire supply chain.
• Verify and document supplier practices to ensure that all partners in the supply chain adhere to the agreed-upon temperature standards. Store the temperature-related data to help in auditing and analysis, and continuous improvement of the cold chain process.
• Shelf life and expiration date management is a critical component in  the storage and transport of dairy products. Proper management ensures that dairy products remain safe for consumption and retain their quality throughout the distribution chain.

Introduction

Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are characterized as Gram-positive cocci or rods, non-aerobic but aerotolerant, able to ferment carbohydrates for production of energy and lactic acid. Lactic acid bacteria includes different major genera: Lactococcus, Enterococcus, Lactosphaera, euconostoc, Melissococcus, Oenococcus, Pediococcus, Streptococcus, Tetragenococcus, Vagococcus and Weissella. Other genera are Aerococcus, Microbacterium, Propionibacterium and Bifidobacterium. Through carbohydrate fermentation along with lactic acid, various organic acids are produced due to which there is a fall in pH level and creates unfavorable environment or inhibits growth of some undesired microorganisms. The low pH makes organic acids lipo -soluble, allowing them to invade into cytoplasm of pathogens by rupturing cell membrane. LAB are generally regarded as safe (GRAS), and have a significant role in the preservation of foods and fermented products. Under controlled conditions they can be used as natural competitive microbiota or as specific starter cultures. Antagonistic substance like bacteriocins are produced from lactic acid bacteria that inhibits the activity and growth of other bacteria and these bacteriocins are active against various pathogens in minimum concentration. These are antimicrobial peptides modified by post -translational mechanisms and exported to the extracellular medium. Till date about 239 bacteriocin producing LAB genome and 789 putative bacteriocin producing genes cluster are stored in the public databases. Many gram positive and gram negative bacteria in the environment produce bacteriocins.

A laboratory is essential for research work in science and development. Most of the research institutes have dedicated laboratories for researchers and students to conduct experiments, perform research work, as well as to provide hands-on learning/training to students. There are certain rules and regulations laid down by the laboratory in-charge which need to be followed strictly for safety purposes. Some of the laboratories keep ‘safety manual’ for researchers to read before entering into the laboratory to conduct experiments. Whenever safety is compromised in a laboratory, there is increase in risk of unwanted incidents in the laboratory. Storing food/beverages in the same refrigerator where laboratory chemicals are kept may lead to disastrous effects on health. This chapter aims to provide instructions in brief on the things to be performed (Do’s) before and after entering onto a laboratory as well as the things never to be done (Don’ts) in a laboratory for the safety reasons.

Good Laboratory Practices (Do’s)

• P Wear apron/labcoat while working in the laboratory.
• P Use gloves/respiratory mask/fumehood while handling toxic/volatile/inflammable chemicals/reagents.
• P Use pippet or pippetor for safety in transfer of solutions.
• P Protect eyes, face and naked parts of the body from UV radiations. Use safety goggles or face mask/apron.
• P Keep your eyes away from Liquid Nitrogen and use cryogloves while handling it.
• P Arrange all the necessary materials/solutions before starting the experiment.
• P Periodically fumigate/ozonize culture and inoculation rooms.
• P Autoclave all contaminated materials before discarding.
• P Pre-treat gel or solution containing Ethidium Bromide (EtBr) before discarding into laboratory waste-disposal bin, and use gloves while handling them.
• P Burn all the transgenic plant materials in an incinerator after taking necessary observations.
• P Make entry in the designated log-book and clean the instrument after using it properly.
• P Switch-off the instrument after use or when not in use.
• P Wash hands with soap and remove the labcoat before leaving/going out of the laboratory7.
• P Ensure that switches for fans/lights, and water taps are off while leaving the laboratory.
• P Follow the biosafety guidelines suggested for handling and disposal of the hazardous chemical.

As the flow properties of liquids play such an essential role in our daily lives, whether intentionally or unintentionally, no one is truly an absolute beginner when it comes to rheology. Consumers not only focus on new and improved products but also consider the texture of the products e.g thick and creamy

Introduction

Dough is a complex mixture of flour constituents, water, salt and other ingredients depending upon the requirements of end-products. It is the principal intermediate stage in the transformation of wheat into different end-use products. Rheological properties of dough determine the behaviour of dough during mixing, rounding and molding used in making different products and also effect on the quality of finished product. Therefore, understanding the various features of dough rheology and their relations with product quality is important. The importance is enhanced further because of mechanization and automation of baking industry. Dough is composed of continuous phase in which gas cells are dispersed. The continuous phase is called “dough phase”. It consists of starch granules embedded in protein matrix along with some lipids, cell remnants and yeast cells in fermented dough. Gas production and retention is the most comprehensive quality requirements of the dough for bread making. The ability of the wheat dough to retain gas during fermentation and oven rise is unique. This depends on the ability of the dough to be stretched into thin membranes because of protein phase.

13.1 Introduction
Drying is the process of evaporation separating a liquid from a substance or mixture of components. Either solid or solid–liquid phase describes the product to be dried. The separation follows a solid and a gas phase pattern. “Milk Product” is a product derived from milk processing that might include food additives and other substances functionally required for the milk product as approved in the laws (FSSAI Milk standards). Made to increase the storage life of the product, lower bulk so as to cut packaging and shipping costs, etc., dried milk products are created.
13.2 Dried milk
“Dried milk or milk powder is the product generated by the removal of water by heat or the equivalent means, to produce a solid containing five percent or less moisture. Dried whole milk or whole milk powder (WMP) from whole milk; and from skim milk is known as Dried Skim Milk or Skim Milk Powder (SMP), or Non-fat Dry Milk (NFDM); respectively
13.3 Whole Milk Powder
Dehydrating milk from cows, buffaloes, or a combination of both or from milk that has been standardized results in whole milk powder. Up to 0.3% of the weight of the product might be calcium chloride, citric acid, sodium citrate, and sodium salts of orthophosphoric and polyphosphoric acids; also included butylated hydroxy anisole up to 0.01% by weight. The label does not have to list these additions. Milk powder must to have a fat level at least 26.0 percent and a moisture level no more than 5.0 percent. Measured as lactic acid, its overall acidity should not be more than 1.2 percent. The Coliform count should not be more than 90 per gram; the normal plate count should be just 50,000 per gram. For roller-dried goods and spray-dried goods, the solubility index shouldn’t be higher than 15.0 or 2.0.

Therapeutic Aspects of Drug-nutrient Interactions
Drug-nutrient interactions are expressed as physical, chemical, and pathophysiological relationships between a drug and a nutrient. This reaction is multifactorial. The drug has the potential ability to interact with nutrients which may lead to a reduction or enhancement of therapeutic efficacy, nutritional risk, and drug toxicity. Even such interactions lead to the discontinuation of drug therapy. But these kinds of interactions vary from person to person. Infants and children are the most vulnerable group in this concern as they are in the developmental phase where there is a lack of proper drug-metabolizing enzymes and inefficient renal function. Generally, DNIs signify negative impacts on human health but sometimes these interactions work in a positive way by reducing irritation in the GI tract or by increasing the absorption of drugs. Proper updated knowledge about DNIs is important for the appliance of diet therapy simultaneously with drug therapy as both of these are important strategies to manage or treat public health issues (Table 10.1., Table 10.2.).

Introduction

Pulses are a part of healthy and balanced diet and have special importance for vegetarians in fulfilling their daily requirements for body proteins. Low productivity in pulses is due to nutritional deficiency in soil and imbalanced external fertilization (Awomi et al., 2012). Nitrogen (N) is more important as it is essential component of amino acids and proteins. It fixes atmospheric N of about 35 kg ha-1 by the help of symbiotic Rhizobium, a soil bacterium (Movalia et al., 2020). Globally, Rhizobium and Bradyrhizobium can fix approximately 175 x 106tons of N every year which is higher than the annual total chemical N fertilizer production of 30 x 106tons (Hidayatullah et al., 2016). The element molybdenum (Mo) is crucial for functions of nitrogenase and nitrate reductase, the two important enzymes that act as catalyst for N fixation. These two enzymes work properly in presence of Mo as nitrogenase contains Fe-Mo and Fe-Fd proteins, and N fixation cannot take place without these proteins (Hidayatullah et al., 2016).

Drying/ Dehydration means the process of removal of water.

Drying : Removal of water (moisture) by using non conventional energy sources like Sun or wind.

Dehydration : Process of removal of moisture by the application of artificial heat under controlled conditions of temperature and / or humidity and air flow.

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.

Abstract

Cocoa and coffee are highly sought after commodity crops in the market owing to the distinct flavor and aroma characteristics. Cocoa beans are mostly used in the manufacturing of chocolates and various types of confectioneries while coffee is mainly consumed in the form of beverages. Both cocoa and coffee need to be dried and roasted in order to produce the flavor precursors which further develop into the desired flavor and aroma in the finished products. This chapter aims to provide an overview of cocoa and coffee processing with particular emphasis on drying and roasting aspects and its impact on product quality.

Drying is basically the unit operations which is used in many of the food industry nowadays. It can be desirably known as the process of removing moisture to relent a hard products. It is the transfer of energy source, mostly it derives heat from the outer environment to the dryer in which the food products is placed.

Introduction

While experimenting with chemicals, sometimes we need to dry the chemical/ solution (solid, liquid or gas) using a process like evaporation or distillation, mainly to remove water or different solvents. Drying is the process of evaporation or distillation to remove water/solvent from a solution, solid or even from gas. Generally, a drying agent (usually an anhydrous inorganic salt) is used for this process, which reacts with the water (present in the chemical/ solvent to be dried) to form a hydrate. For example, anhydrous MgSO4 is one of the drying agents. The drying agents are recognized by their capacity (the rate at which they absorb water) and their intensity (the amount of water left behind in the solvent at equilibrium). No chemical reaction or change in phase occurs during the drying process.

Type of Solvents

Apart from water (a universal solvent), there are three families of organic solvents used in laboratories.

1) Oxygenated solvents: Alcohols, Ketones, Glycol ethers, Glycol esters, etc.

2) Hydrocarbon solvents: Aliphatic and Aromatic hydrocarbons.

3) Halogenated solvents: Chlorinated hydrocarbons.

Dehydration (or drying) is defined as ‘the application of heat under controlled conditions to remove the majority of the water normally present in a food. The main purpose of dehydration is to extend the shelf life of foods by a reduction in water activity. This inhibits microbial growth and enzyme activity, but the processing temperature is usually insufficient to cause their inactivation. Therefore any increase in moisture content during storage, for example due to faulty packaging, will result in rapid spoilage.

Introduction
Drying is probably the oldest method of food preservation used for agricultural crops, including food grains, oilseeds, spices, as well as fruit and vegetables. Drying refers to the removal of moisture content from the food to a level at which the activities of food spoilage micro-organisms are inhibited. Therefore, the reduction in water activity of the food as a result of moisture removal is themain principle of preservation by drying. Two commonly used terms for dried foods include low-moisture foods and intermediate moisture foods (IMF). Dried foods or low-moisture foods generally do not contain more than 25% moisture and have a water activity (aw) in the range of 0 to 0.6. Intermediate moisture (IMF) foods on the other hand contain 15- 50% moisture with a water activity (aw) of 0.60 -0.85. Dried grapes (raisins and munacca), apricots, dates, Morchella (Guchhi), bael, chilli, figs, etc. are commercial products prepared by using drying. However, the temperature used for drying is usually insufficient to cause the killing of microorganisms and enzymes, therefore any increase in moisture content during storage due to faulty packaging can also spoil the product. Thus, greater care is required for the packaging and storage of dried products.