eChapters

Selection fresh fruits/frozen stored fruits/chilled fruits/fruit pulp/sulphited fruit. Wash them to remove the dairt, dust, stems, leaves, stalks, undesirable portions.

Pickling is the process of preserving or extending the shelf life of food by either anaerobic fermentation in brine or immersion in vinegar. The pickling procedure typically affects the food’s texture and flavor. The resulting food is called a pickle, or, to prevent ambiguity, prefaced with pickled. Foods that are pickled include vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, dairy and eggs.

Physical Methods of Food Preservation

Conditions too stressful for microbial growth can damage cells. Food environments can be manipulated to inhibit or kill microbes. Physical manipulation of foods can inhibit microbial growth, kill cells, or mechanically remove them from the food. Dehydration, refrigeration, and freezing inhibit microbial growth. Microbes can be killed by heating or ultraviolet (UV) or ionizing radiation. Non thermal energy is also lethal. Membrane filtration removes microbes from liquid foods. This chapter discusses all these physical preservation methods

Physical Dehydration Processes

Drying

When foods are being dried, hot air evaporates the water and carries it away. Both the drying temperature and the decreased water activity (a_w) affect the microbes.

During the initial period of drying, the temperature is still low and the relative humidity is high. The size and composition of the food particle determine the length of this phase. If this particle size is large and the material is dense, this phase can be long, allowing microbes to grow. During later phases of drying, the temperature is high but the relative humidity is low. This provides no opportunity for growth but is not very lethal either. The higher temperatures result in lower moisture content, and dry heat is less lethal than wet heat. If the drying lasts long enough (at least 30 min.), there are time-temperature combinations that kill microbial cells. With certain drying methods, the surface temperature may reach 100°C, while internal temperature remains lower. This kills surface microbes, but not those in the food’s interior.

    1.    Fortification of common salt is done with 
        a)    Potassium iodide    b)    Potassium iodate
        c)    Both a & b    d)    None
    2.    Vinegar is a 
        a)    Class-I preservative    b)    Class-II preservative
        c)    Natural preservative    d)    a & c
    3.    As per FSSAI regulations, the permitted level of Sulphur dioxide in RTS beverages is not more than ______ ppm
        a)    100    b)    70
        c)    150    d)    80
    4.    Sodium nitrite is a
        a)    Preservative    b)    Buffering agent
        c)    Curing agent    d)    Flavour enhancer

Agricultural food production is increased by adopting scientific farming methods and another way to increase the availability of food is preventing the food spoilage by adopting food preservation methods. The global agricultural and fish production accounts for 50% of perishable food, which requires preservation. Only half of the perishable foods are properly protected. Application of innovative technologies to promote the production of food is indispensable to meet the demand of emerging populations. It is equally important to protect the stored food from the invasion of pests and diseases. A food saved is a food produced.

Food Processing and Preservation, branch of manufacturing that transforms raw animal, vegetable, or marine materials into tasty, nutritious, and safe food products. The industry has its roots in ancient times, as humans have always needed to obtain food and store a portion for later use. Prehistoric humans may have dried fruits in the sun and stored meat in cold areas, such as ice caves. The modern food processing and preservation industry was born in 1809, when French chef and inventor Nicolas Appert, searching for a better way to provide food for Napoleon’s army, devised a method for sterilizing food in tightly sealed glass bottles.

Today a wide variety of methods are available to maintain and enhance the appearance and taste of food. Food processing and preservation methods also create products that are convenient for consumers, such as products that are ready to eat or require minimal preparation and cooking. Combining these methods with modern distribution networks makes seasonal crops available year-round in grocery stores all over the world.

Introduction

India is the second largest producer of fruits and vegetables in the world. Fruits and vegetables are the reservoir of vital nutrients. Being highly perishable, 20-40% of the total production of fruits and vegetables goes waste from the time of harvesting till they reach the consumers. It is, therefore, necessary to make them available for consumption throughout the year in processed or preserved form and to save the sizeable amount of losses. At present, about 2% of the total produce is processed in India mainly for domestic consumption. The most alarming situation is the post harvest losses of fruits and vegetables worth approximately Rs. 18,500 crores per annum. Fruits and vegetables have great potential for value addition and diversification to give a boost to food industry, create employment opportunities and give better returns to the farmers.

Post harvest management of fruits and vegetables plays a significant role in achieving the target of nutritional security to the ever-growing population as well as to meet the requirement of processing industry and export trade.  With the advent and development of food consciousness amongst the consumers, to elaborate food standards, codes of hygienic practice, are necessary to maintain the quality of the food products.

Most traditional food processing techniques like boiling, cooling, freezing, and blanching are used in a home kitchen. But now-a-days, food processing and preservation industries combine these techniques with other processing operations by using different technical prospects. As a subset of traditional processing technologies, modern processing technologies include hot air sterilization, vacuum cooking and pulsed electric-field technology as well as high pressure treatment, extrusion, microwave processing, and pulsed electric field technology.

    1.    Food : defined as something which is eaten / drunk by human beings or something we eat and which can be utilized by our body.

    2.    Milk and milk products like Dahi, yoghurt, paneer, cheese, Khoa etc these foods are rich sources of Vitamin A, Riboflavin and Calcium.

    3.    Meat, fish, poultry etc besides proteins these foods also provide Iron and B- complex Vitamins.

    4.    Eggs and egg products are also rich in Iron, Vitamin A and Riboflavin (B1).

    5.    Pulses, nuts and oil seeds are also a good source of thiamin, niacin, and Iron.

    6.    Strategies and measures for alleviating the world food problem require.

Storage Systems

    1.    Low cost storage technology

        ·    In situ : Means delaying the harvest until the crop is required and employed 
    for the root crops.
        ·    Sand and Coir : Used for the Potatoes
        ·    Pits used for the Potatoes
        ·    Clamps used for the Potatoes
             Wind breaks used for the Onions – 6 months 1m height wooden stakes
        ·    Cellars : under ground / partly under ground. Ex: Apples, cabbage, 
    onions and potatoes during winter.
        ·    Barns : In Sudan onions are stored in palm leaf barns called “Rakubas”.
        ·    Evaporative Coolers
        ·    Zero energy cooling chambers
        ·    Night ventilation.

    2.    As a general rule, air circulation of storage room is designed to provide about 25m² / min / 3000 K cal of refrigeration predicated on a 5.5ºC

    3.    Frozen storage refers to storage at temperature where food is maintained in frozen conditions.

    4.    Good frozen storage generally means - 18ºC / below.

    5.    Below – 9.4ºC, there is no significant growth of microorganisms in food.

    1.    Microbial Risk Assessment (MRA) can be considered a tool for use in the management of the risks posed by food borne pathogens and in the elaboration of standards for food in international trade.

    2.    MRA comprises risk assessments of particular pathogen - commodity combinations

    3.    According to codex alimentarious commission (CAC) microbial risk assessment is defined as a scientifically based process consisting of 4 components.

        ·    Hazard identification
        ·    Exposure assessment
        ·    Hazard characterization
        ·    Risk characterization

Food Processing Technology

    1.    The transition from solid to fluid and back is known as a phase transition and this is important in many types of food processing (e.g. water to water vapour in evaporation and distillation and dehydration; water to ice in freezing and freeze drying or freeze concentration or crystallisation of fats.
 
    2.    Phase transition takes place isothermally at the phase transition temperature by release or absorption of latent heat, and can be represented by a phase diagram.

    3.    A second type of transition, known as glass transition, takes place without the release or absorption of latent heat and involves the transition of a food to an amorphous glass state at its glass transition temperature.

    4.    The transition is dependent on the temperature of the food, time, and the moisture content of the food.

    5.    The density of a material is equal to its mass divided by its volume and has units of kgm^-3

1.1 Introduction

Due to the ever increasing world population, the demand for food would also increase. India is one of the largest food producer countries of the world (first in milk production, second largest in fruit and vegetable production and third largest in grains production). It is the seventh-largest country in the world, with a total land area of 3,287,263 square kilometres. India has varied climates of snow covered Himalayas, desserts, oceans, fertile plains and areas receiving the highest rainfall in the world. Name any food item; it can be grown in one or the other part of the country. All these make the production of various types of foods of plant (fruits, vegetables, cereals, pulses, oilseeds, spices etc) as well as animal origin (fish, meat, milk etc.) possible in the country. The annual production of cereals, fruits and vegetables is 260, 57 and 77 million tonnes respectively, besides this, the production of cow and buffalo milk is about 102.1 million tonnes and that of sugarcane and spices are 355.52 and 1.1 million tonnes respectively [15]. Table 1 shows that the production of various food items has increased many folds during the last five decades. On one hand, we feel proud as we produce one of the largest quantities of foods in the world and there has been an enormous rise in the production of various foods in India during the last five decades, on the other hand we should be very much worried being a leading country as far as the wastage of food in the world is concerned. The postharvest losses are huge and only meagre quantity (2%) of the food is processed. Sharma [41] very rightly said that when we do not agree to throw away Rs 4000/-per month out of a salary of Rs 10,000/-per month then why do we accept 40% postproduction losses of food in the country. This would require immediate necessary action to save a major portion of the food that has already been produced.

Food processing techniques range from traditional household practices to sophisticated industrial operations designed to improve safety, quality, nutritional value and shelf life. This chapter presents traditional methods such as blanching, fermentation, soaking, germination and malting, highlighting their effects on nutrient bioavailability and food characteristics. It then introduces industrial processing and distinguishes between thermal and non-thermal technologies. Thermal methods such as pasteurization and dehydration are discussed alongside innovative approaches including pulsed electric fields, high-pressure processing and irradiation. The chapter emphasizes the principles, applications, benefits and limitations of these techniques and demonstrates how processing conditions influence microbial safety, nutritional quality and sensory attributes.

12.1 Introduction

Man is the most beautiful of all God’s creations and like man, his environment too is beautiful with rivers to quench his thirst with sweet water, atmosphere to provide him oxygen, land and fire to provide him food. Primitive man ate uncooked food and lived in caves. Soon he learnt the use of firewood for cooking of raw meat and provided the first instance of ‘Pollution from food processing’ in history. As man shifted from one place to another, this sort of living never polluted the environment. But as the man ascended the ladder of civiliz ation, his needs grew in arithmeti c progression but corresponding pollution grew in geometric progression. With increase in agriculture produce, a need was felt to preserve the glut production in the form of processed foods giving rise to massive development of food processing industries all over the world. The rapid industrialization of agriculture and horticulture, increased the pollution load many folds especially the biodegradable waste from food industry [41].The wineries and distilleries (distill wine to make brandy) are no exception. Nevertheless, the waste is a precious source of several useful materials as such or after fermentation [1,31,46,86]. Thus, development and environment are two sides of the same coin.

From time immemorial, the biosphere is acting as a sink for all the waste products and recycles them to make good the loss so that every generation finds it the same as one before it. But, of late, this self-cleaning and equilibrium maintenance of biosphere is disastrously disturbed as the waste produced from man’s activities is continuously exceeding the capacity to purify herself. Consequently, our biosphere is becoming more and more poisonous and days are not far away when this planet will become inhabitable.

1.     Which of the following micro-organism is the most heat-resistant in low acid canned foods and its destruction is considered the criteria for successful heat processing?

(a) B.subtilis

(b) C.botulinum

(c) C.sporogenes

(d) B.mycoides

2.    D value represents

(a) Doubling time

(b) Generation time

(c) Decimal reduction time

(d) Decimal reduction temperature

Developing a new food product involves multiple stages, from ideation to commercialization. Here's a detailed guide to the process:

1. Idea Generation

a. Brainstorming: Generate innovative ideas based on consumer trends, market gaps, and technological advancements.

b. Consumer Feedback: Use surveys, focus groups, and social media to gather consumer preferences and demands.

c. Competitive Analysis: Study existing products in the market to identify opportunities for differentiation.

2. Concept Development

a. Concept Screening: Evaluate initial ideas for feasibility, potential market success, and alignment with company goals.

b. Market Research: Conduct detailed market research to understand target demographics, market size, and potential demand.

    1.    Life blood of food companies are
        a)    Existing products    b)    New Products
        c)     New packaging material    d)     Food technologists
    2.    New Products are developed to meet
        a)    Health & Nutritional requirements
        b)    Environmental & Social requirements
        c)     Convenience & handling
        d)     All
    3.    What are the characteristics of a line extension in a variant of an established line of food products 
        a)    Little research    
        b)    Minimum manufacturing changes
        c)     No change in logistics and supply chain
        d)     All
    4.    The following one is not a characteristic of new product development through line extension
        a)    New purchasing skills
        b)    No change in logistics and supply chain
        c)     No change in storage of RM &PM
        d)     Minimum R&D

Previous Year Questions
1. How has food production, incuding  horticultural crops, changed in  India during the last one decade? Write down its impact on food and nutritional security (20 marks, CSE 2023)
2. What is the food production and consumption pattern of India in the last fifty years? (15M, CSE 2021) 
3. Describe food grain production and consumption trends in India (7.5M, CSE 2019) 
4. Food production and consumption trends in India (12.5M, CSE 2015)

Genetically modified organisms (GMOs) can be defined as organisms in which the genetic material (DNA) has been altered in a way that does not occur naturally. The technology is often called “modern biotechnology” or “gene technology”, sometimes also “recombinant DNA technology” or “genetic engineering”. It allows selected individual genes to be transferred from one organism into another, also between non-related species. Genetically modified (GM) foods are foods derived from genetically modified animals and marines. Genetically modified animals and marines are those in which specific changes introduced into their DNA by genetic engineering using a process of either Cisgenesis or Transgenesis. These techniques are much more precise than mutagenesis where animals and marines are exposed to radiation or chemicals to create a non-specific but stable change. Other techniques by which food animals can be modified are selective breeding and somaclonal variation. By this means desired quality of meat, egg and other animal products can be produced. But it is a common thinking that foods derived from genetically modified animals and marines are far from safe. They are likely to be contaminated by potent vaccines, immune regulators and growth hormones, as well as nucleic acids, viruses and bacteria that have the potential to create pathogens and to trigger cancer.