eChapters

Abstract

Ghee means the pure clarified fat derived solely from milk or curd or from desi (cooking) butter or from cream to which no coloring matter or preservative has been added. It is the second largest dairy product prepared from milk and it is almost 35% of total milk production. Unfortunately, the producers or the middle- men involved in the ghee trade, tend to adulterate ghee with cheaper oils and fats like vegetable oils, animal body fats, hydrogenated fats and sometimes even the non-edible mineral oils, especially during lean season to earn more money. Recently, the problem of adulteration has assumed a very serious dimension. Such a situation has tarnished the image of dairy industry. Methods presently adopted by food law enforcing agencies to ensure the quality of ghee are mainly based on the physico- chemical constants, but all these methods have some limitations. So researchers are always in search of different innovative methods to check the quality of ghee.

Food technologies now have more sweeteners from which to choose than ever before. With the obesity epidemic and the public attention it currently receives, plus the increasing interest in foods with added benefits sweeteners that allow for consumer appealing labeling are of particular interest. These sweeteners fall into basic categories, those that are essentially calories free, often referred to as low-calories or intense sweeteners, and those, which are significantly reduced in calories, which may be referred to as reduced calories-sweeteners, bulk sweeteners, or sugar replaces. These sweeteners when used alone or in combination may permit such labeling as ‘low-calories’, ‘reduced-calories’, ‘light’ ‘sugar-free’ and ‘dose not promote tooth decay’.

The ideal sweeteners does not exist, it would be at least as sweet as sucrose and provide the same properties to a product as sucrose, with processing parameters similar to those of sucrose so that existing equipment can be used. It would be colourless, odourless and noncariogenic, with a clean, pleasant taste and have immediate onset and not much lingering. Solubility and stability are important. The ideal sweetener must be compatible with a wide range of food ingredients because sweetness is but one element of a complex food flavour system. Even sucrose is not perfect, being unsuitable for some applications.

Abstract

Probiosis has emerged in the early 20^th century after Ellie Metchnikoff proposed his hypothesis that organisms were reponsible for longivity of ethnic people of Balkan region of Russia and ever since it has grow into a major scientific field which has its applications extending into farming, aquaculture and prophylactics in humans. Vast research was carried out on this topic and Lactobacillus sp. and Bifidobacterium sp, are the two important genus that are highly studied and widely recognized universally as conventional probiotics. Apart from these two genus there exists many other bacterial species which have shown promising probiotic potential. Such non conventional probiotics are widely used in some parts of world as commercial food products with health beneficial effects, pharmaceutical products or being tested for their safe utilization in human beings. The present chapter tries to covers some genera and their potential and application in prophylactics.

1. Introduction

Vegetables and fruits are the next in demand for human consumption after rice and wheat, in all parts of the globe. Fresh fruits & vegetables and their value added products are increasing in popularity day by day almost in all the countries, because of their richness in dietary fibre, minerals & vitamin contents and for their medicinal properties. Maintaining agricultural produce quality and its evaluation are thus naturally important. Decisions concerning maturity and ripeness of fruits and vegetables are based mostly on visual inspections, which are subjective in nature. The quality of fruits and vegetables is mostly decided on the basis of size, shape, colour, gloss, flavour, firmness, texture, taste and freedom from external as well as internal defects. Internal quality factors such as maturity, sugar content, acidity, oil content and internal defects, however, are difficult to evaluate non-destructively. Methods are needed to better predict the internal quality of fruits and vegetables without their destruction. Recently, there has been an increasing interest in non-destructive methods of quality evaluation, and a considerable amount of effort is being made in this direction. But the real problem is how these methods are to be exploited practically on commercial scales and what are the constraints faced in implementing them.

1. INTRODUCTION

Fruits and vegetables are increasing in popularity in the daily diet of people of both the developed and developing countries. Product quality and quality evaluation methods are extremely important. The decisions concerning harvesting, maturity, ripeness and quality are based mostly on subjective and visual inspection of the external appearance of the fruits. The quality of fruits and vegetable is mostly based on size, shape, colour, gloss, flavour, firmness, texture, taste and freedom from external and internal defect. Many techniques for evaluating the external quality parameters are now available commercially. Internal quality parameters such as sugar content, acidity, oil content and internal defects however, are difficult to evaluate. Methods are needed to predict the internal quality of fruits and vegetable better without destroying them. Recently, there have been an increasing interest in non-destructive method of quality evaluation and a considerable amount of efforts has been made in this direction. The development of science and technology, especially of information technology has made available many non-destructive methods of analysis of materials which can also be applied to fruits and vegetables. The fruit industry needs non-destructive techniques for online sorting and certifying high quality fruit.

Non-destructive method can be classified according to the principle used to detect fruit properties; mechanical, acoustic, optical and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (MRI) Techniques.

INTRODUCTION

Food processing as a technological regime is undergoing a revolutionary change in terms of conception, product and process design and energetics. The conventional approach of a food processor is to develop products with a long shelf-life in user friendly packaging systems. Food processors are usually bothered about sensory attributes and microbiological profiles without much emphasis on the fate of heat labile nutritional and nutraceutical components. The changing consumer perception is slowly but steadily leading towards emergence of novel technologies without depending upon conventional thermal processing. A few years before, non-thermal techniques have emerged for food processing and preservation, but these techniques were restricted to framing of fundamentals with regard to the inactivation of vegetative and reproductive bodies of microbes and the deteriorative enzymes.

Non-thermal preservation technologies inhibit microorganisms and enzymes without relying primarily on high temperatures. They are designed to preserve freshness, colour, flavour, texture and heat-sensitive nutrients more effectively than conventional thermal treatments. These methods employ hydrostatic pressure, electrical energy, electromagnetic radiation, reactive species or mechanical forces to damage microbial cells and disrupt essential biological functions. The chapter examines high-pressure processing, pulsed electric fields, cold plasma, ultrasound, irradiation, pulsed light and edible coatings. It explains their operating principles, mechanisms, applications and nutritional implications. These technologies offer promising alternatives for producing safe, minimally processed foods, although equipment costs, process optimisation and industrial scalability remain important considerations.

Food processing involves the transformation of raw materials into consumer-ready products, with the objective of stabilizing them to prevent negative changes in quality and ensure food safety. To consumers, the most important attributes of a food product are its sensory characteristics like texture, flavour, aroma, shape and colour. The aim of food manufacturers is to develop and employ processing technologies that retain or create desirable sensory qualities or reduce undesirable changes which take place during processing. Alternative or novel food processing technologies are being explored and implemented to provide safe, fresher-tasting, nutritive foods without the use of heat or chemical preservatives. The major non thermal technologies gaining importance are High-pressure processing, Pulsed light technology, Pulsed electric field, Irradiation etc.

High pressure processing

The application of very high pressures (upto 87,000 psi, 6000 bar or 600 MPa) for preservation of food substances in combination with or without heat is known as high pressure processing (HPP). This process is also known as high hydrostatic pressure processing (HHP) or ultra-high pressure processing (UHP). When compared to thermal processing, pressure treated foods have a fresher taste, better appearance, texture and nutritional value. High pressure processing can be conducted at ambient or refrigerated temperatures, thereby eliminating thermal effects and cooked off-flavors. The technology is highly beneficial for heat sensitive products. The first high pressure processing line was introduced in Japan for jam manufacture in 1990’s and has since been upgraded to several food products. A number of HPP products have been commercialized in North America, Europe and in China. Machines are now available with operating pressures in the range 400-700 MPa and capacities ranging up to 900 kg per batch. Since HP processing affect mainly the non-covalent bonds of the food, the quality characteristics of foods such as color, flavor and nutrients generally remain unaffected (Knorr, 1993).

Introduction

For the year 2016-17, as per the FAO global estimate, the food grain production has crossed over 2.6 trillion metric tons, while the steadily increasing the demand is anticipated to be approximately 3.3 trillion metric tons for 2016-17. Similarly,the global production of all horticultural commodities has crossed over 1.8 trillion metric tons. The global trade of these commodities is purely based on their quality, the demand for good quality produces increases day by day. The term “quality” is a broad terminology used to explain many parameters and differs from commodity to commodity. Usually, the term ‘quality’ is classified into internal and external quality. The external quality refers the external colour, size, shape appearance, uniformity, external damage, cracks and bruishness etc. These parameters may be common for both perishables and durables.

But, in case of internal quality, each and every parameter vary from commodity to commodity, product to product. For food grains, the internal quality refers to moisture content and other nutritional parameters like carbohydrate, protein content etc. But in fruits, the internal quality refers to internal pulp colour, TSS, pH, acidity, juice content, ripeness, other biochemical and nutritional quality parameters. 

Milk fermentation is process by which a change is produced in milk through the activity of microorganism. As milk leaves the udder it serves as a medium for the growth of many species and accordingly undergoes a series of changes, the processes producing these changes constitute the milk fermentation.

Fermentation of organic compounds, especially in the lack of oxygen leads to the rapid break-down of ‘biopolymers’ to produce ‘anaerobic food chains’.

Drying

Drying is one of the age-old techniques for preservation and value addition of food products. Generally, it means removal of moisture from the food products by evaporation. It is aimed at lowering the water content of food stuff, thereby arresting the growth of microbes, action of enzymes and other autolytic chemical reactions (Naidu et al., 2016). This preservation technique is predominately used for food materials which are regarded as “highly perishable”. The benefits of drying includes extended shelf-life, lower storage space, reduced packaging requirements, lower handling and transportation costs, off-seasonal availability and importantly diversified product for the ultimate consumers (Bonaui et al., 1996).

Fish drying

Open sun drying as a method of fish preservation is recorded in history by the primitive societies. However, open sun drying of fish has few draw backs which includes poor product quality, higher microbial contamination and complete dependence of weather conditions for drying (Bala & Mondol, 2001). In the later stages, drying developed into completely a controlled process in which drying air temperature, relative humidity and air velocity were precisely maintained at optimum level. The fish drying process is slightly different from other food materials mainly due to its gel like behaviour until considerable reduction of moisture. Moreover, significant amount of shrinkage takes place in fish during drying in addition to the other irreversible changes.

With the increasing health consciousness of consumers, there has been an increasing concern over the use of thermal processing methods like blanching, pasteurization, sterilization etc. for enhancing the shelf life of foods as these methods fail to preserve the fresh like nutritional, therapeutical and sensory qualities of the food. With the increased consumer demand for fresh and fresh-like foods, interest in minimal processing of foods is increasing. The trend is also shifting from the traditional heat processing to those technologies that employ no or minimum heat application, thereby retaining the quality to a maximum level. One of the ways to accomplish this is via use of non-thermal processes. Over the past few years a number of non-thermal processes or cold preservation methods have been invented and developed. These methods are being evaluated in pasteurization and sterilization of various foods or in the extension of shelf life of various packaged foods. Some of such novel technologies and the products prepared, have been discussed here under.

1. Extrusion

Extrusion is a size enlargement process wherein small granular food or powdered particles are re-formed into larger pieces with different shapes, textures, colours and flavours from the basic ingredients. In extrusion food is compressed and forced to pass through a fine opening (die). As soon as it comes out of the opening, the outside pressure is very less as compared to the pressure inside the screw of extruder and the food expands instantaneously. If the food is heated the process is called as extrusion cooking. It is a process which combines several unit operations including cooking, mixing, kneading, shearing, compressing, shaping and forming. Extrusion adds a variety to the products by changing shape, size, texture and even some of the minor ingredients of the food and at a reduced cost than most of the other processing methods. Extrusion cooking (not extrusion) is a high temperature short time (HTST) process that reduces microbial contamination and inactivates enzymes.

Abstract

Sedentary lifestyle coupled with excess calorie intake is partially responsible for increased incidence of lifestyle related diseases like coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and hypertension. Non-nutritive sweeteners can offer consumers a way to enjoy the sweet taste with little or no energy. Further, functional beverages are the drinks which are altered in such a way to provide specific health benefits and disease preventing properties beyond general nutrition. In the present paper, authors have summarized various research works on development of different low calorie functional fruit and vegetable products by replacing sugar with non-nutritive sweeteners like saccharin, cyclamate, sorbitol and stevioside at different levels of sweetness (equivalent used to sucrose). The cyclamate sweetened spiced plum squash at 50 per cent sweetness proportion gave higher taste scores in comparison to saccharin sweetened beverage. In case of sorbitol sweetened beverages, with the increase in the proportion of sorbitol sweetness, the organoleptic score for colour, body and flavour increased compared to saccharin and cyclamate sweetened products. Whereas, the stevia sweetened beverages indicated highest sensory acceptability at 75% stevioside sweetness level. Further, sorbitol sweetened health products were found to have similar calculated energy value as that of sucrose sweetened products (100%), but sorbitol is absorbed slowly and does not raise the insulin levels. The development efforts had successfully reduced calorie value of plum squash up to 42% with cyclamate at 50% sweetness level. The calorie value of the sorbitol and stevioside sweetened products has been reduced by 70% and 60% per serving at 100% and 75% sweetness level, respectively. The developed products were found to have strong antimicrobial activity against E. coli as well as high antioxidant potential. Overall, it was concluded that, the developed products had better taste, palatability and storage stability beside reduced energy value, hence their availability in the market will definitely benefit the at risk group i.e. diabetics, obese and health conscious people.

Introduction

The nucleic acids are the molecular depots that are responsible for continuity of life by transfer of hereditary information from one generation to next. The sequence of nitrogenous bases containing programmed instruction determines the structure of every cell constituent and eventually every protein. In 1869, Friedrich Miescher, Swiss chemist, isolated an unknown phosphate-rich substance from pus cells named as nuclein, which was quite different from other organic substances like carbohydrate, protein, and fat. Altmann in 1899 ascertained that the nuclein also had some acidic characteristics and changed its name to ‘nucleic acid’. Later, nucleic acid was also isolated from salmon sperm nuclei as DNA-protaminecomplex. In 1953, James D.Watson and Francis H.C. Crick constructed the model of three-dimensional double helix structure of the DNA molecule which could successfully explain DNA replication.

1.     A fruit juice at 20°C with 10% total solids is concentrated in a single effect evaporator that is operated at a vacuum to allow the product moisture to evaporate at 80°C and steam with 82% quality is supplied at 169.06kPa. The desired concentration of the final product is 45% total solids and the concentrated product exits the evaporator at a rate of 300kg/hr. Calculate the steam requirement for the process when condensate is released at 90°C. The specific heat of liquid feed is 4.05 kJ/kg°C and of concentrated product is 3.175 kJ/kg°C.

(a) 3.35 kg/s

(b) 3.25 kg/s

(c) 4.25kg/s

(d) 2.35kg/s

2.     A double effect evaporator is being used to concentrate fruit juice at 35000kg/hr. The juice has 10% total solids at 80°C and requires to be concentrated to 50% total solids. The saturated steam at 1.608 atm is available. What is mass flow rate of water vapors?

(a) 7.505 kg/s

(b) 8.505 kg/s

(c) 5.707kg/s

(d) 6.808.kg/s

Successful onion cultivation begins with vigorous, disease-free seedlings and their timely establishment in the field. Seed quality, nursery-bed preparation, growing medium, nutrition, irrigation, weed control and protection against pests and diseases determine seedling performance. This chapter explains conventional and modern nursery-management practices, including raised beds, plug trays, protected structures, soilless media, fertigation and climate-controlled production. It also discusses seedling selection, hardening, transplanting age, spacing and field establishment. Mechanized, robotic and precision transplanting systems are examined as solutions to labour shortages and uneven planting. Climate-resilient nurseries, sensors and automation can further improve transplant survival, resource efficiency, uniformity, productivity and sustainability.

1. INTRODUCTION

Nursery management is the backbone of fruit industry. The nurseries will have to play vital role in planned work for increasing the area under orchard. They are indeed the hub on which the success of an orchard depends. It provides continuous supply of healthy and certified planting material. So, one should give utmost attention while raising fruit plants.

The fruit plants are the foundation on which an orchard is built. If the plants are reliable and of guaranted performance, they will be high yielding and will produce quality fruits. There are many nurserymen in several fruit belts of the country who multiply thousands of fruit plants vegetatively for sale. It is desirable to raise only reliable, true-to-type, disease resistant and vigorous and precocious plants in order to have success in the fruit development programme in the country. At present there are several research stations and progeny- cum-demonstration orchards, Govt nurseries and also private registered nurseries engaged in the propagation of fruit plants.

Stone fruits like peaches, plums, apricots, almonds and cherries liked by one and all throughout the world for its colour, taste and nutritional value and grown in all part of the temperate zone and lower hill area of the country. The common procedure to raise nursery trees is to grow rootstocks from seeds or cuttings and then to bud known suitable varieties upon them. The stone fruits do not come true- to-type when raised from seed and therefore, nursery plants are generally raised through vegetative methods of propagation either on their own roots by cuttings or layering techniques or on the roots of other plants (rootstocks) by budding and grafting techniques. Rootstocks play an important role in quality fruit production. The stone fruits are generally propagated on rootstocks rather than on their own roots to have an advantage of rootstocks, like growth control, precocity, cropping and resistance to insect-pest and diseases.

1. INTRODUCTION

The demand for high quality planting material is steadily increasing due to interest in vegetable gardening. The need of setting up plant nurseries to meet the demands of the people has been felt by small and marginal farmers as well as by gardeners and farm house owners. In order to meet this demand, there is ample scope for introduction of small nurseries which will serve to augment the incomes of needy sections of rural society. Almost all vegetables crops are propagated by seeds, except sweet potatoes, asparagus, garlic, potato etc., which does better if propagated vegetatively. Among the vegetable crops which are propagated by seeds, cucurbits, beans, peas, radish, turnip, carrots and leafy vegetables seeds are sown directly in the fields. Other vegetables like cabbage, cauliflower, tomato, onion, chilli etc. are first sown in nursery beds where seedlings are raised and then transplanted.

Introduction

The health and wellness of human being is largely dictated by the consumption of nutritious foods. Understanding the role of foods in maintaining health and cure of diseases has its roots in the ancient Hippocratic and Vedic texts as well as in the canons of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Sharma et al., 2012). Presently, the transition from a traditional to modern lifestyle, consumption of diets rich in fat and calories combined with a high level of mental stress has been the major cause of lifestyle related diseases like coronary heart disease, obesity, diabetes, cancer and hypertension (Moczara et al., 2012; Sharma et al., 2018). Various studies have linked foods as helpful in combating a number of such degenerative diseases (Sharma, 2015).Therefore, the tenet "Let food be thy medicine and medicine be thy food", quoted by Hippocrates about 2,500 years ago is receiving overwhelming interest. There are number of scientific reports emphasizing the importance of consuming biologically active ingredients present in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and legumes to reduce the risk of chronic diseases (Hasler 2002; Das et al., 2011; Sharma and Sharma 2016). Such biologically active ingredients are now popularly known as neutraceuticals. Whereas, the functional foods are the foods that resemble traditional foods but possess demonstrated physiological benefits. In some countries, however, functional foods and nutraceuticals are used interchangeably. Regardless, the main focus of such products is to improve health and reduce disease risk through prevention. The main difference of this category with pharmaceuticals is that they are multi-targeted mixtures and present at low concentration while pharmaceuticals are uni-targeted pure compounds with high dose use. Hence, an overview on the concept of nutraceutical and functional foods, their classification, development and regulations is summarized in this article.

Abstract

Quinoa is a pseudo-cereal which belongs to family Chenopodiaceae. Quinoa can act as highly potential crop for areas where ecological conditions do not support other food crops because of its rusticity, tolerance to frost, salinity, drought and ability to grow in marginal soils. Recently, much attention is focused on quinoa for people with celiac disease and allergic to gluten. Quinoa contains high-quality protein, complete with all essential amino acids and is a good source of carbohydrates, lipids, vitamin C, vitamin E (natural antioxidants) and adequate amount of important micronutrients such as minerals. Carbohydrates of quinoa possess excellentfreeze-thaw stability and can be used as thickener in frozen foods.

Quinoa also consists of bioactive components such as phytosterols, squalene, fagopyritols and polyphenols which act as powerful anti-oxidants in-vitro and thus couldprevent degenerative diseases such as coronary heart disease, atherosclerosis and Alzheimer's disease. Fibre accounts for 6% of the grains total weight, and quinoa intake therefore promotes intestinal transit, regulates cholesterol, stimulates the development of beneficial bacterial flora and helps prevent colon cancer. The quinoa grain can be used to combat liver disease, angina and cystitis. The radical scavenging ability and Angiotensin I converting enzyme (ACE) inhibition activity of quinoa is higher than that of amaranth, rice and wheat. Recent studies have identified significant amounts of ecdysteroids, kaempferol, quercetin, two phytoestrogen - daidzein and cenistema in quinoa. Ethanolic extract of quinoa was observed to have Antioxidant and antihypertensive activity.