eChapters

Introduction

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

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

Quality control plays a vital role in ensuring food safety and freshness. Inspecting, testing, and grading fruits and vegetables is essential to confirm that food products meet safety standards. In today’s globalized food industry, quality control tests are conducted at various stages throughout the supply chain, from cultivation and harvesting to processing, packaging, transportation, and distribution.
In agriculture, the quality of grain is determined by its intended use. In ethanol production, factors such as starch content are crucial, while in food and feed manufacturing, properties like protein, oil, and sugar are of primary importance. In the milling industry, the soundness of grain is the most significant factor in determining its quality. For grain farmers, high germination percentages and seed dormancy are essential characteristics to monitor. For consumers, visual qualities such as color and flavor are key indicators of quality. Quality control ensures that the grain meets the needs of both producers and consumers while maintaining food safety.
RESOURCES FOR QUALITY CONTROL
PRE-HARVEST TESTING
Pre-harvest tests are essential tools that help growers assess the needs of their crops. These tests assist in making informed decisions regarding nutrition or pesticide applications, determining the optimal harvest windows, and supporting various farm management decisions. By conducting pre-harvest testing, farmers can enhance crop health, improve yields, and ensure that their crops are ready for harvesting at the best possible time.
Starch Iodine Test
Starch is a carbohydrate present in various plants, including apples. As apples ripen, the starch gradually converts into sugar. The amount of starch in an apple

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

Objective

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

1.1. Importance of Seafood

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

1. INTRODUCTION

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

Abstract

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

Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is one of the major cereal consumed globally in various form as food. The powder of wheat flour is prepared by grinding of wheat seeds. Soft wheat flour has low gluten content that causes its crumbly texture. However, hard wheat flour has high gluten content of about 12-14% and has elastic toughness due to which it has good shape once its baked. Wheat flour is a basic ingredient in India’s famous flatbreads, and it can also be a key ingredient in addressing major health concerns in India.

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

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

Maturity Standards and Harvesting Indices

Harvesting : Harvesting is detaching a commodity from the point of its origin. This point of origin may be an above ground plant part i.e. shoot eg. apple, tomato etc. or an underground plant part eg potato, carrot, etc. or in water i.e. harvesting of fish from a pond (not to be covered in this book).

Abstract

India has become not only self sufficient in food grains but has also emerged as net exporter of wheat and rice. Acute famines in India have practically been eliminated, thanks to increased food availability at the national level, improved early warning systems and expanding infrastructure for more rapid transport of food grains and other products to needy areas. However, the existing post management system, strategies and policies don’t seem to match new challenges. Despite government intervention in pricing and procurement of food grains, primarily wheat and paddy, India continues to suffer heavily on account of losses and wastages incurred during the post harvest stages, which are more manmade than natural. Some losses have already occurred before the arrival of food grains in the regulated and wholesale markets and continue till food grains reach their destination. What contribute to continuing losses and wastages are improper post harvest handling, government policies and their implementation, which even stifle growth and modernisation of grain markets and processors.

Introduction

Food grains have been the key component of the human diet for thousands of years and have played a vital role in framing human civilization. Rice, wheat, and maize, and to a lesser extent, coarse grains are major staples, crucial to the daily endurance of billions of people around the world. Cereal grains are consumed by more than 50% of world population to meet daily calorie requirements. Most grains undergo a milling process that ideally removes the outer bran (pericarp) and germ layers; catering to consumer market requirements. To a farmer, yield is the most prominent aspect. As the grain moves along the supply chain, and as the product reaches the market, quality becomes the key determinant of its sale-ability and economic value. Grain quality is defined by a range of physical and compositional properties where threshold necessities are set according to end consumer use requirements. Most industries and consumer markets have become habituated over the years to demand grain with specific attributes. Where consumers are close to the source of grain production (e.g. in local markets), their own preferences and the laws of supply and demand control the grain quality. However, where grain is traded over large distances, particularly internationally, consumers almost have no direct influence on quality, requiring regulatory standards to be established and imposed to protect consumer rights. Therefore in the grain supply chain, all points have effects with respect to grain quality.

1. Introduction
Quality makes the product what it is. Quality is how well a product or service satisfies the needs of the customer. Quality can be interpreted in several ways, such as conformance to the standards, meeting customers’ preference/ satisfaction for desired quality attributes, degree of excellence, zero-defect products, etc.
The quality standard of fresh and processed fruit or vegetable products varies with their intended use. For marketing purposes, size, attractiveness, maturity, organoleptic quality and freedom from defects are to be kept in mind in fresh and processed fruit or vegetable products. During the processing of fruit or vegetables into value-added products, colour, flavour and texture also become important. Therefore, Quality is defined in different ways, such as:
i. Quality is a measure of the degree of excellence or degree of acceptability by the consumer.
ii. Quality is also defined as the combination of attributes or characteristics of the products that have significance in determining the degree of acceptability of the product to a user.

Quality is an increasingly important factor in the production and marketing of biological products. Consumers are becoming more discerning as their affluence increases, and would be suppliers of products must meet these demands if they are to maintain or increase market share. The term ‘quality’ is one of the most defined terms in use in food industry today. Quality may be defined as ‘The totality of features and characteristics of a product that bear on its ability to satisfy a given need’. The first part, ‘The totality of features and characteristics of a product…..’ concerns objective factors related to the product.  The second part, ‘…… to satisfy a given need’, concerns subjective factors related to user or consumer of goods.

Food is a major determinant of health, nutritional status and productivity of the population. It is, therefore, essential that the food we consume is wholesome and safe. Unsafe food can lead to a large number of food-borne diseases. It is necessary that the food available is safe, hygienic, wholesome and its quality must be assured. Quality of foods can be defined as the ‘composite’ of those ‘characteristics’ that differentiate individuals units of a product and have significance in determining the degree of acceptability of that unit by the buyer. In general, the quality control is the maintenance of quality at levels and tolerance acceptable to the buyer, minimizing the cost for the vender. But, from the scientific angle the overall quality refer to technical, physical, chemical, microbiological, nutritional and sensory parameters to achieve the wholesome food. These quality factors depend on the specific attributes such as sensory properties, based on flavour, colour, aroma, taste, texture, quantitative properties viz. percentage of sugar, protein, fibre etc and hidden attributes like peroxide, free fatty acids, enzymes etc. Though quality attributes are many, not all need to be considered for a particular product. It is imported to determine how far relatively the factor is in relation to the total quality of the product.

Hence, the quality attributes of a particular is based on the composition of the product, expected deteriorate reaction, packaging used, shelf required and the type of the consumer i.e., deployed in terrain conditions or in peaceful situation. With the ultimate goal of protecting the consumer, quality standardization systems have come into force for regulating the gamut of operations in food manufacture. In a broader sense, food laws and Regulation cover the related acts affecting the marketing, production, labeling, food additives used, dietary supplements, enforcement of General Manufacturing Practice (GMP), Hazard analysis and critical Control Point (HACCP), federal laws and regulations, factory inspections and important-export inspections.

Introduction The onion (Allium cepa) is one of the world's oldest cultivated crops, with a history dating back over 5,000 years (Gorrepati et al., 2014). At present, India is one of the world's largest producers and exporters of onions. At the time, India ranked second in onion production with a yearly production of around 23262 TMT and an average yield of 18.10 MT/ha (Prajapati and Saini, 2019; Horticulture Statistics at a Glance, 2018; Tripathi and Lawande, 2016). Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka, Gujarat, Rajasthan, Bihar, Andhra Pradesh, Haryana, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Odisha, Tamil Nadu, Jharkhand and Telangana are the major onion producing states in India. Maharashtra alone covers 55-60% of countries total production. Solapur, Satara, Dhule, Jalgoan, Osmanabad, Beed, Latur, Aurangabad are the major onion producing districts in Maharashtra (Tripathi et al., 2005). Unfortunately, India witnessed around 40-50% post-harvest losses of onions every year (Prajapati and Saini, 2019).

Abstract

Fertilizer inputs are increasing the cost of production in inputintensive crops, so nutrient efficientcultivar is need oftoday. More demands for food by increasing world populations further enhance the importance of nutrient efficient crop cultivars that are higher producers. Breedingtechniques havebeenimplemented significantlyto breed highnutrientefficient crop cultivars to achieve the targets. However, molecular mechanism of nutrient metabolism has been understood to some extent in many crops through quantitative genetic approaches. This minireview outlines an update on recent progress on the genetic approaches of QTL/candidate genes controlling nutrient metabolism pathways in the crop plants.

‘Prunes’ is prepared from peach.

Arrak” liquor is prepared from date palm.

Hayane” variety of date palm suitable for juice making.

Kanji” is made from black carrot.

Kirschwascer” a wine prepared from cherry.

Shahi” variety of Litchi suitable for canning.

Quinoa (Chenopodium quinoa Willd.) is a part of “Chenopodiaceae” family. Up to 250 species of Chenopodium have been identified to date. Quinoa is a South American grain that has been farmed in the Andes for thousands of years, particularly in Peru and Bolivia. It is considered as a sacred plant because of its abundance in protein and essential amino acids (Jancurova et al., 2009). Quinoa is distinguished by its excellent adaptability to a diverse variety of land and environmental variables. Both leaves as well as the grains are considered as the edible parts. However, the quinoa grains have been extensively studied and economically explored (Rocha, 2008).

R - Enamel can: The acid resistant, gold coloured enamel treated can are called R enamel cans. It is used for canning of acidic food which have soluble colouring pigments.

R value: R value is a measure of resistance to the flow of heat through a given thickness of a material (insulation) with higher numbers indicating better insulating properties. R-Value is a measure of insulation’s ability to resist heat traveling through it. The higher the R-Value the better the thermal performance of the insulation.

Rabbitto and putridity: The surface taint of the milk caused by Pseudomonas putrefaciens is called rabbitto and putridity.

Racking: An important operation for the wine production in which wine is siphoned off and is transferred to a fresh vat with the help of a false bottom. Racking is repeated decanting to remove the slowly setting cloud of the freshly fermented young wine. It is also called clarification. It is synonym to siphoning.

1. Introduction

Food is processed for its preservation, hygienization or value addition. To date, the food preservation technologies such as canning, dehydration, freezing, pasteurization and controlled atmosphere and modified atmosphere packaging have been the main processes employed to preserve foods, with the use of antimicrobials and microwaves also being employed more recently. In future, however, technologies such as exposure to ionizing radiation, high pressure processing, ohmic heating and pulsed electric field processing, could potentially be the new alternatives to the above food preservation technologies.

Irradiation of food involves the exposing of food, either in prepacked form or as such to controlled doses of ionizing radiation being generated either by electrically driven machines such as electron beam accelerators, x-rays or gamma rays produced by radioactive isotopes such as CS-137,CO-60, to achieve certain desirable objectives. The process of exposing a range of food stuffs to specific doses of ionizing radiation is being used to extend the shelf life of food stuffs, to improve their overall safety and quality by eliminating pathogenic bacteria, by reducing number of food spoilage organisms, to reduce the bacterial load on herbs and spices and thereby making them safe to incorporate into food stuffs, to inhibit sprouting in stored tuber and bulb crops such as potatoes, onions and garlic, to disinfest grains, grain products and tropical fruits to prevent damage to the commodity and to meet the quarantine regulations(Arun Sharma, 2004, Farkas, 2006).

Need to Preserve Food

Food is vital for human existence. Conservation and preservation of food is a prerequisite for food security and it provides economic stability and self reliance to a nation. The need to preserve food has been felt by mankind since time immemorial. The seasonal nature of production, long distances between production and consumption centers and rising gap between demand and supply have made this need even more relevant today. The hot and humid climate of a country like India is quite favorable for the growth of numerous insects and microorganisms that destroy stored crops and cause spoilage of food every year. Spoilage can also occur due to chemical and physiological changes in stored foods. Sea-foods, meat and poultry may carry harmful microbes and parasitic organisms that cause illnesses associated with their consumption. As in other parts of the world, India has also practiced various methods of food preservation such as sun drying, pickling and fermentation which were supplemented with more energy consuming techniques such as refrigeration, freezing and canning. Each of these methods has its merits and limitations. Man has always been on the search for newer methods to preserve foods with least change in sensory qualities. Radiation processing of food is one of the latest methods developed for this purpose.