eChapters

Baking is no different from any other area of cooking, and as in other sectors only the best and the freshest raw material can guarantee good results. So selection of right kind of ingredients is of utmost importance. Another basic need of a professional baker and confectioner is to purchase the equipment required. The design and size depends upon the volume of sale expected. So in this chapter we are going to learn about the ingredients required for running a bakery.

Technology transfer (TT) is entering a transformative phase shaped by globalization, digitization, and the growing role of start-ups in the innovation ecosystem. Traditional linear models of TT where inventions flowed from academic laboratories to industry through licensing are being replaced by dynamic, multi-directional, and collaborative frameworks. This chapter explores emerging trends that will define TT in the coming decades, including open innovation platforms, digital TT ecosystems powered by artificial intelligence (AI) and blockchain, the rise of entrepreneurial start-ups and spin-offs, internationalization of TT through cross-border collaborations, and sector-specific shifts driven by 5G, biotechnology, drones, and green energy. Drawing from global and Indian contexts, the chapter highlights how universities, governments, and industries can leverage these trends to build inclusive, resilient, and sustainable innovation ecosystems.
Three global shifts which will redefine TT
1. Digitization of knowledge: With AI, big data, and blockchain, knowledge and IP can be shared, tracked, and commercialized faster and more transparently.
2. Entrepreneurial ecosystems: Start-ups, incubators, and accelerators are replacing traditional firms as vehicles of commercialization, particularly in deep-tech and frontier technologies.
3. Globalization of innovation: Challenges such as pandemics, climate change, and food security require cross-border TT collaborations, making TT an instrument of both economic and geopolitical significance.

2.1. Introduction

The word ‘plastic’ is derived from the Greek word ‘plastikos’, which means easily shaped or molded. Plastics is defined as a random set of materials based on synthetic or modified natural polymers which can be formed by thermal and pressure treatment. It comprises of wide range of macromolecular organic compounds obtained either from alteration of natural macromolecules or polymerization of molecules of lower molecular weight.

4.1. Introduction

Packaging of materials protects, surrounds, and contains food products. It is necessary from processing and manufacturing stage till the final consumption through storage and handling. In 1804, Nicolas Appert, a French confectioner, discovered a method of “conserving all kinds of food substances in containers.” In 1810, the Ministry of the Interior’s Bureau of Arts and Manufactures paid Appert an ex-gratia payment of 12,000 francs on the condition that he publish the details of his process. Appert avoided the use of tinplate in his study. However, in the early nineteenth century (1810), Phillipe de Girard, a French inventor, filed a patent referring to the replacement of glass jars and bottles with tin cases. The official confirmation in the New York Evening Post on July 18, 1822 by Daggett and Kensett is thought to be America’s first offering of preserved provisions in tin cans (Bishop, 1978). Table 1 shows the evolution of metal packaging materials at various stages.

7.1. Introduction

In the modem lifestyle, people are extremely busy in their work and lack the time to cook their own foods. They mainly depend upon processed and packaged food for their nutritional intake. So it becomes essential that the packaged products should be safe, hygienic and shelf stable. To preserve the food for long duration, thermal processing is most suitable method. Aseptic packaging is a form of thermal food processing. Aseptic packaging can be defined as the filling of sterile containers with a commercially sterile product under sterile conditions and then sealing the containers so that reinfection is prevented; that is, they are hermetically sealed. 

Introduction

The conventional thermal processing technologies are dependent on high temperature to control the growth of pathogenic and spoilage causing microorganisms. However, the exposure to high temperature for prolonged time results in several biological, chemical and physical modifications leading to their sensory, nutritional and textural changes. Currently, consumers are more interested in minimally processed food products with improved safety and shelf life. In order to fulfill the market demand, innovative non-thermal food processing techniques to inactivate the microorganisms have been developed. These techniques retain freshness, nutritional value and sensory characteristics of food items without any significant thermal degradation.

Non-thermal technologies are used in interdisciplinary sciences, and in many other applied areas. The three main pillars related to the use of novel food technologies are food safety, quality and environmental impacts. Besides the food safety and quality dimensions, these non-thermal processing technologies have the possibility to shorten treatment time, lower energy consumption, and lower carbon footprint. Depending on the source of energy transfer, non-thermal technologies have different types of action. It includes inactivation of microorganisms in radical formation (plasma, ultrasound, ozonation, UV light, etc.); mechanical action through hydrodynamic effects, shock waves (ultrasound and plasma), electric and magnetic fields; or extremely high pressures that are causing disruption of the cell organelle.

The novel non-thermal technologies destroy the pathogens at room temperature as well as utilize less energy compared to conventional ones and have the potential of developing new food products having distinctive functionality. For optimizing the product quality, time for processing and also to inactivate the enzymes and bacteria, each of these techniques can be used either alone or in combination. The adverse effect of some technologies on the sensory, texture, and nutritional values of food could be overcome by using hurdle technology. Combination strategies are more efficient for improving the food quality and have the potential to ensure the microbial safety of foods. An overview of the effect of novel process technologies on the quality and safety of food is elaborated in this chapter.

Introduction

Millets, which are small-seeded grasses belonging to the Poaceae family, have a rich historical and cultural significance as they have been cultivated for thousands of years (Goron and Raizada, 2015; Wen et al., 2014; Cheng, 2018). They remain an important crop in various regions worldwide, particularly in developing countries where they serve as a staple food for millions, especially in rural areas. Millets offer several advantages as they are gluten free and provide valuable protein, fiber, and minerals, making them highly nutritious for both human consumption and animal feed. The diverse range of millets includes pearl millet (Cenchrus americanus (L.) Morrone), foxtail millet (Setaria italica (L.) P.Beauv.), proso millet (Panicum dichotomiflorum Michx.; syn. Panicum miliaceum Walter), finger millet (Eleusine coracana (L.) Gaertn.), barnyard millet (Echinochloa frumentacea Link), kodo millet (Paspalum scrobiculatum L.), little millet (Panicum sumatrense Roth), and more (Ahmad et al., 2018; Bora et al., 2019). These grains have a significant historical presence globally, with evidence of cultivation in ancient China, Greece, and Rome (Li et al., 2020a; Huan et al., 2022). In India, millets have maintained their importance as a vital crop for thousands of years and continue to be an integral part of the diet in many regions of the country today (Padulosi et al., 2015; Li et al., 2020b).

Introduction

A food safety system revolves around different aspects, beginning right from the farm, where the food is created and transported to where the customers purchase, eat and dispose. This includes production, processing, distribution, preparation, marketing, access, consumption, and disposal. These processes need to have numerous resources like people, business, farms, communities, interventions, policies, and politics. All steps ought to be coordinated for an organisation to make progress. In today’s world of processed foods and industrial farming practices, ingredients and preparation procedures are typically uncertain. In order to reduce the confusion of consumers and to provide quick, straightforward identification of the commodities they’re searching for, many items are now “certified” by revered organizations.

Food safety certification is a third-party verification, to ensure that commodities, processes or systems in the food supply chain meet accepted food safety standards. It is distinct from different systems like supplier declarations, laboratory test reports or inspection body reports. Food certification is predicated on the results of tests, inspections and audits and provides confidence to the buyer as a result of an organization’s commodities or system are being completely evaluated against accepted national and international business standards by a competent third body.

Introduction

Consumers are nowadays very much concerned about the food they purchase and consume. Consumer wants the food containing antioxidant properties or can say functional food in safe and stable forms, so that the availability of daily requirements of functional food ingredient must be ensured for normal growth and development of the body. The functional food that can provide a health benefit such as increased dietary fibre, vitamins or minerals to the body. The incorporation of antioxidant compounds acts as an efficient way to fight against reactive oxygen species (ROS) generated in our body. As it is already known that the ROS causes oxidative stress and acts as a main trigger for different life threatening chronic diseases like cancer, diabetes, cardiovascular disease, aging etc. Therefore, seeing the consumers’ demand for value added products with bioactive ingredients, all small and large scale food industries are taking initiatives to process different types of food (fruits, vegetables, dairy, sea food, animal, microbial products etc.) to extract and purify its active fraction of functional ingredients to valorize different value added products. Functional ingredients may also be derived from different food wastes generated during processing of food. This practice provides additional economic benefits to food businesses. Food industries are also giving importance to different processing methods to extract high quality of functional food ingredients in large quantity because processing method affects the concentration of extracted bioactive compounds. The simple addition of functional ingredients may cause an unwanted and negative change of sensory and texture of food. Therefore, using novel processing technologies such as microencapsulation, the negative changes could be minimized or avoided because these technologies could prevent the inactivation of bioactive ingredients.

Introduction

Pulses are annually grown leguminous crops that yield one to twelve grains/ seeds within a pod, and are often promoted in diet owing to their low cost and many beneficial nutritional effects (Craig 2009). The United Nations general assembly has declared 2016 as the international year of pulses (Oyeyinka et al. 2016). The Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) describes pulses as the crops that are harvested only for dry grain. This definition excludes crops that are harvested green as food sources (such as green beans and green peas), crops that are used only for sowing purposes (such as alfalfa and clover) and crops used primarily for oil extraction (such as peanuts and soybean). India is the largest producer (around 25%) of pulses in the world and the Indian subcontinent covers the leading area in terms of consumption of pulses. It was also suggested that India can also increase the production output by 30%, considering a rise in government support prices for stimulating the growth of pulses and in case of a normal monsoon season (FAOSTAT 2008). The mainly grown pulses in India include mungbean (green gram), chickpea (Bengal gram), urd bean (black gram), lentil (masur), pigeon pea (arhar), cowpea, horse gram and peas (Tiwari and Singh 2012). In the western countries, nowadays pulses are one of the preferred food sources of the population, owing to ideological reasons and interest in vegetarian diet.

Stabilizers and emulsifiers are used in small quantities but have major effects on the structure and quality of ice cream. This chapter explains the differences between these two functional ingredient groups and describes their roles in controlling water mobility, fat destabilization, air-cell stability, texture, meltdown, and heat-shock resistance. It discusses commonly used stabilizers and emulsifiers, their individual characteristics, and the advantages of using blended systems. Particular attention is given to formulation balance and the defects that may arise from incorrect selection or dosage, including gummy texture, weak body, poor meltdown, and structural instability. Practical guidelines help manufacturers select and use these ingredients effectively for consistent product quality.

Abstract

In biocatalysis, isolated enzymes, enzyme mixtures, immobilized enzymes or microbes (enzymes that are still present within the living cells) are used to perform chemical transformation of organic compounds into novel compounds. Both in academia and across chemical and pharmaceutical industry, biocatalysts are used as isolated preparations or in whole cell format or as recombinant proteins produced in alternate host cells. Biocatalysts catalyze novel small molecule transformations that are usually difficult or impossible using traditional synthetic organic chemistry. Biocatalysts exhibit high chemoselectivity, regioselectivity, diastereoselectivity and enantioselectivity towards their substrates. As a result, the use of biocatalysts during chemoenzymatic synthesis minimizes the issues of unwanted side-reactions such as decomposition, isomerization, racemization and rearrangement. The process of biocatalysis has become an important tool in the synthesis of active pharmaceutical ingredients (APIs) and enantiopure compounds. Biocatalysis offers a more sustainable, efficient, and less polluting methods for the production of APIs and advanced pharmaceutical intermediates. Biocatalysts have received tremendous attention in pharmaceutical industry because they typically catalyze reactions under mild conditions, so they do not consume much energy or emit much greenhouse gas. Biocatalysts are currently employed for the development of products in different fields, such as pharmaceuticals or intermediates of their production (e.g., antibiotics, statins, and enantiopure building blocks), fine chemicals (e.g., amino acids and vitamins), and food ingredients (e.g., sweeteners, lipids, and nutraceuticals). However, it would be helpful for the pharmaceutical industry to take advantage of developments in biochemistry, molecular cloning, random and site-directed mutagenesis, advanced tools for enzyme discovery, enzyme-directed evolution, high-throughput laboratory evolution techniques for biocatalyst optimization, immobilization, and fermentation technology to gain access to a new class of biocatalysts (enzymes), cells and other microbes.

Abstract

Fruits like orange (citrus sinensis), mango (mangifera indica), banana (musa paradisiaca), guava (psidium guajava) and pomegranate (punica granatum) contain numerous vitamins, minerals, fibre. These fruits also contain phytochemicals, antioxidant and bioactive compounds including alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponin, terpenoids, which enhance the nutritional value and reduce the free radicals and oxidative stress in human body. These fruits also show the anti-cancer, anti-bacterial, anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory, anti-arthritic, anti-obesity, anti- diabetic, anti-proliferative, anti-hypertensive properties and are very effective against the pathogenic bacteria, which causes the harmful disease in human body. The chapter provides the production data of these fruits in different countries, their bioactive compounds and their utilization in the pharmaceutical, cosmetic and food industries.

Abstracts

To ensure safe food and adequate sanitation programs, the equipment used for processing of food products must be designed, fabricated, constructed, and installed according to sound hygienic design principles. This ensures the equipment can be adequately cleaned and sanitized, and that surfaces are resistant to daily exposure to corrosive food products and cleaning/sanitizing chemicals. This chapter focuses primarily on fundamental principles of hygienic design, which protect the product from microbial, chemical, and foreign-body contamination. This is followed by a discussion of general aspects of hygienic construction and design of food equipments, the selection of materials of construction and specification of surface finishes, fabrication, installation and cleaning and sanitization. Quality of raw materials or foods ingredients, proper processing, packaging and storage of finished products decides the quality of the food products. Planning for plant and equipment layout, its design, services (water, air, refrigeration, steam), waste disposal etc. are some of the critical factors, which contributes to quality. In addition, the food processing equipment must comply with strict standards and regulations, which are necessary for securing the quality and safety of the food products to the consumers.

Preservation of raw milk is essential to maintain its quality during storage and transportation before processing. One of the primary methods for extending its storage life is refrigeration, where milk is cooled to 2°C to 4°C immediately after milking. This significantly slows down the microbial growth and enzymatic activity. Bulk milk coolers (BMCs) are vital in achieving rapid cooling, especially in collection centres or dairy farms, where they ensure that milk remains fresh during storage and transportation. BMCs are particularly essential for regions with inadequate cold chain infrastructure, as they help maintain milk quality until it reaches processing facilities.
In addition to refrigeration, thermisation is another method used to preserve raw milk. Thermisation, a mild heat treatment, is widely used to extend the shelf life of raw milk, particularly when it needs to be transported over long distances. This process involves heating the milk to 57–68°C for 15 seconds, effectively reducing the microbial load while preserving the milk’s natural characteristics. Thermisation is typically followed by refrigerated storage, where milk is cooled to temperatures between 2° and 4°C to inhibit further microbial growth. The combination of thermisation and refrigeration ensures that milk retains its freshness and safety until it reaches processing facilities, even in regions with extended supply chains.
Raw milk also benefits from its natural inhibitors, such as lactoperoxidase, lactoferrin, and immunoglobulins, which exhibit antimicrobial properties and slow down bacterial growth. The lactoperoxidase system, for instance, can be activated by adding small amounts of hydrogen peroxide and thiocyanate to enhance milk’s preservation in the absence of refrigeration. The use of chemicals like hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) for milk preservation is not permitted in India due to safety and quality concerns. However, the FAO recommends its application under strict regulatory conditions in some countries as part of the lactoperoxidase system, particularly in regions where refrigeration is unavailable.

1. Introduction

Psyohrometrio is the study thermal and physical properties of gas-vapour mixtures. Ambient air is the mixture of dry air and water vapour and some pollutants. The moisture and pollutant content vary from place to place. The amount of pollutant and water vapour decrease with increase in the altitude. The air is completely dry above 10 km altitude. In many unit operations moist air is required and properties of air changes with temperature and pressure. The pollutants has to be removed before using moist air as a process air either by filtration or circulation. So it is necessary to determine the amount of water present in the air and effect of different unit operation on thermal properties and change in the heat and moisture content of mixture.The International Joint Committee of psychrometric data have fixed the composition of dry by mole fraction as: Oxygen: 0.2095, Nitrogen: 0.7803, Argon: 0.0093, Carbon dioxide: 0.0003. The following are the properties of the dry air

Molecular weight    28.966

Introduction

All the worldwide cuisines generally rely on plant-based edible oils as the main cooking ingredient due to their unique chemical composition, further presence of unsaturated fatty acids in plant-based oils makes it a healthy complement in the diet. Lipids are known to provide almost double calories than carbohydrates. For ages, vegetable oils have contributed maximally to our nutrition and economics, but their authenticity is still a considerable issue (Firestone and Reina, 1996) as for more profitability fraudulent blends lower grade oils to high-grade expensive oils.

Introduction

Coffee is a beverage made from the roasted and ground seeds of the African tropical evergreen coffee plant. Coffee is one of the world’s three most popular beverages (together with water and tea), as well as one of the most profitable international commodities, and it is the world’s second most marketed product after petroleum (Myhrvold, 2021).Coffee is a popular beverage that is enjoyed around the world for its taste, health benefits, and ability to enhance physical performance (Simkin, 2008).

4.1 Introduction
Human milk widely acknowledged as the optimal source of nutrition for infants, providing a rich array of components crucial for their growth, repair and development. However, the composition of human milk can vary
significantly within and between feeds, throughout the day, over the course of lactation, and among different mothers and also populations. While this variability is beneficial for infant health and survival, it presents challenges for the management of nutrition of high-risk infants who require precise oversight. The composition of human milk can be altered by factors such as the handling of expressed milk, including how it is stored and pasteurized. Thus, proper management of expressed milk is essential. The recommended practice for infant nutrition is exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, followed by continued breastfeeding for at least one to two years. Human milk is naturally suited to meet the nutritional needs of infants, providing both nourishment and bioactive compounds that support healthy growth and immunity.
Human milk contains a variety of bioactive components, such as immune cells, anti-infective and anti-inflammatory agents, growth factors, and prebiotics. In contrast to infant formula, which has a fixed nutritional profile, human milk is dynamic and can vary between and within feedings, influenced by maternal factors, environmental conditions, and the methods used for expressing and managing milk.
A thorough understanding of human milk’s composition is vital for effective infant feeding, especially for at-risk infants. It also allows for the assessment of how milk storage and pasteurization may impact its beneficial components. Additionally, some of the bioactive elements in human milk are being studied for their potential use in medical treatments, either as preventive or therapeutic agents.

Objective of Seed Storage

The primary goal of seed programs, which include storage, is to maintain the high standards of the seed from harvest until the crop is sown in the following or future seasons. Additionally, seeds are kept in storage for longer periods of time for a variety of reasons, including protection against crop failures during emergencies or natural disasters, maintaining active genetic stocks for breeding, germplasm preservation for long-term use, stock preservation for the domestic and international seed trade in response to market demands, and parental line seed preservation for the transnational seed industry during one or more growing seasons. The seeds of most major agricultural species can be classified as either orthodox or desiccation tolerant. A drop in storage temperature and relative humidity, commonly referred to as seed moisture content, shortens their shelf life. Seeds deteriorate even in dry storage because of alterations caused by pests and pathogens as well as physiological deterioration. This is accurate, even though the amount of time seeds takes to germinate and stay viable varies according to the makeup of the different plant species. A good seed program handles the seed with care, regulates the store’s temperature and relative humidity (or seed moisture in the case of hermetically sealed containers), and adheres to good sanitation practices to preserve the high planting value of the seed in terms of purity, germination, vigour, and seed health.