eChapters

Tamarind (Tamarindus Indica)

Introduction

The fruit of tamarind a pod 5 to 15 cm long, 3 to 10 seeds surrounded with edible pulp which is principal souring agent for sauces, chutney, in beverages and in general cooking. Pulp is carminative, laxative, given as infusion in biliousness and febrile conditions. It is also used in dyring and tanning and for polishing and cleaning metal ware. The tartaric acid is extracted from unripe fruits. The polysaccharide (jellose) is extracted from seeds, which is used as a sizing material in the cotton and jute industries. Besides, polyose obtained from the seed is good substitute for fruit pectin in the preparation of jam, jelly or marmalade. The bark and leaves are used for tanning. Tamarind balls are prepared after taking out seeds from the fruit. Tamarind paste and tamarind juice concentrate are the other commercial products.

The fruits, flattish, bean-like, irregulary curved and bulged pods, are born in great abundance along the new branches and usually vary from 2 to 7 in long and from 3/4 to 1 1/4 in (2-3.2 cm) in diameter. Exceptionally large tamarinds have been found on individual trees. The pods may be cinnamon-brown or grayish-brown externally and, at first, are tender-skinned with green, highly acid flesh and soft, whitish, under-developed seeds. As they mature, the pods fill out somewhat and the juicy, acidulous pulp turns brown or reddish-brown.

    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

1.    Introduction
    
2.    Resources
    2.1    Crustacea
    2.2    Zooplankton
    2.3     Mollusca
    2.4     Insecta
    2.5     Thallophyta
    
3.    Biosynthesis
    
4.    Structure
    
5.    Detection and Estimation of Chitosan
    
6.    Specification of Chitin and Chitosan
    
7.    Economics of Chitin Recovery and Production
    
8.    Social and Economic Value of Chitosan
    
9.    Production of  Chitosan from Chitin
    
10.    Production of Glucosamine Hydrochloride
    
11.    Recent Advances in Applications of Chitin and Chitosan
    11.1    Applications of chitin, chitosan and glucosamine hydrochloride
    
12.    Advantages of Chitosan
    12.1    Cholesterol and overweight lowering
    12.2    Cholesterol lowering in Human
    12.3    Osteoarthritis prevention and Treatment
    12.4    Carrier for nasal application of drugs
    
13.    Conclusion
    
References and Further Reading

Abstract

Plantbreeding is an ancientart practiced throughselection ofplants fordesirable traits. Over a period of time it has evolved into scientific discipline with various methodologiesbasedon theories and principles ofgenetics. Since the rediscovery of Mendel’s law, there has been accelerated increase in yield of various crop plants due to development of high yielding varieties. Conventional approaches of following phenotypic selection from a variable population in early generation followed by yield testing in later generations have been highly successful in most of the crop species. This coupled with hybrid varieties led to significant increase in food-grain production during later half of the 20^th century. At present manycrops are facing yield plateau asthey have reached their maximum genetic potential. The growing condition is also deteriorating due to changing climate. There is an urgent need among breeders to utilize full arsenal of techniques available to them to sustain crop productivity. Molecular markers and marker assisted selection has come as a boon to the breeders to increase the efficiency ofselection in early generation breeding especially for traits whose phenotypic evaluation is difficult. Further, transgenic technology has the potential to incorporate genes from diverse sources, thus enriching the gene pool from which breeders can search for specific traits. Although at present there is skepticism about transgenic crops among public but this may become a viable strategy in future.

Abstract

Sustainable agriculture or farming is one that contributes to the overall objective ofsustainable developmenti.e. to meetthe present needs withoutcompromising the ability of the future generations to fulfill their own food needs and related demands from the land. A farming system is a complex, interrelated matrix of soils, plants, animals, power, implements, labour, capital and other inputs controlled by farming families and influenced to varying degrees by political, economical, institutional and social forces that operate at any levels. Research witha farmingsystems perspective has variousobjectivesranging fromincreasing the body of knowledge about farming system. The whole farming rather than the individual crops/enterprises need to be considered in the decision making under the farming systems approach. This is a multidisciplinary whole-farm approach and very effective in solving the problems of small and marginal farmers. Farming systems approach in analyzing the problems of agriculture is gaining lot of importance in recent years. Such a study would throw light on the problems associatedwith different farmingsystems and enable theacademicians and policy makers to formulate and implement appropriate policies for a balanced and integrated agricultural development.

Abstract

Molecular markers play key role in crop improvement. There are severalmarkers such as RAPD, SSR, AFLP, SNP, DArT and many more are available for their practical uses. From the past markers like RAPD, AFLP, and SSR have been used extensively in the crop breeding. Recently new markers such as SNP and DArT have become popular among the researchers of molecular biology for use in genomics-assisted crop breeding. These markers have been applied for study of genetic diversity, germplasm management, cultivar identification, genetic mapping, gene tagging and genomics etc. Though the conventional method of breeding willcontinue to play a primary role in the crop improvement, molecular marker technology is becoming one of its integral components. Agarose-based DNA markers like ISSR, CAPS, RAPD, SCAR and AS (allele specific) have the potential for faster and accurate breeding for target traits through MAS.

1.    The predominant form of fat within fat (adipose) tissue is stored in humans in the form of

(a) Glycogen

(b) Triglycerides

(c) Diglycerides

(d) Monoglycerides

2.    The Thermic Effect of food refers to

(a) The ‘heat’ one feels from eating a chili pepper

(b) The amounts of energy the body spents to process, use and store

(c) The benefits of eating warm foods in cold weather

(d) All of the above

1.    Heat transfer by conduction is given by

(a) Boyle’s law

(b) Stefan’s law

(c) Fourier’s law

(d) Charles’ law

2.    Heat flow per hour is proportional to change in

(a) Area

(b) Vapour pressure

(c) Mass

(d) Temperature

1.    UV irradiation is considered better than other irradiation methods in terms of

(a) Physical structure maintenance

(b) Chemical structure

(c) Sensory quality

(d) Microbial quality

2.    Irradiation with UV light is considered as

(a) Sterilization method

(b) Disinfection method

(c) Pasteurization method

(d) Cooking method

3.    UV treatment kills bacteria, viruses, fungi due to its effect on

(a) Metabolic pathway

(b) DNA

(c) Signaling pathway

(d) ATP generation

4.    Effectiveness of UV radiation on micro organisms depends on

(a) Species and strain

(b) Spore formation

(c) Culture and growth

(d) Both (a) and (c)

The various unit operations of food process engineering applied to solve the problem of changing the compositions of solutions, mixture and solids. Often these operations must be conducted on large scale to meet the demands of a large manufacturing plant. In food processes engineering these operations are often referred to as separation / concentration / extraction / purification process. Usually these operations are directed towards separating substances into its component parts or concentrating a particular substance from another.

Abstract

Functional foods and nutraceuticals are one of the fastest-growing segments of the food industry. The demand for these foods is driven by health conscious consumer and the growing awareness of the close connection between diet and health, particularly in relation to chronic diseases. Over the past five years (20082012), the Indian Nutraceuticals Market has been growing at a rapid pace and is expected to rise to US $ 5 billion by 2015. The rapid growth and development of this new industry combined with the need to protect consumer health and interests, has led to the evolution of a myriad of different regulatory frameworks and policies across multiple markets. Japan was one of the first countries to recognize a different category of healthier food products. The Japanese government formally accepted this category in the 1980s. Other developed countries viz. The EU, The US, Canada etc also regulated this sector during 1990s. In India, the Food Safety and Standards Act 2006 (FSSA) was enacted in 2006 in response to pressure from stakeholders and the food industry, transforming the regulation of food in India. Punjab state, with abundance of food grains and increasing trends in fruits and vegetables, provides options for both the producer and growth promotion in the nutraceuticals sector through partenship between research centers, private entrepreneurs and indigenous communities. Regulatory frameworks should focus on the protection of consumers, promotion of fair trade and innovation in the sector. This paper discusses functional foods and nutraceuticals as per food regulations prevalent in various countries and highlights how these regulatory frameworks play a major role in transforming the food sector.

2.1 Introduction

Perfumery, the art of making perfumes, began in ancient Egypt but was developed and further refined by the Romans and the Arabs. The history of perfume began in antiquity. The word perfume is used today to describe scented mixtures and is derived from the Latin word, “per fumum”, meaning through smoke. Although perfume and perfumery also existed in East Asia, much of its fragrances are incense based. The world’s first recorded perfume maker Tapputi was mentioned in a Cuneiform tablet from the 2nd millennium BC in Mesopotamia. Perfume and perfumery also existed in India. The earliest distillation of Attar was mentioned in the Hindu Ayurvedic Charaka Samhita. The Bible describes a sacred perfume, consisting of liquid myrrh, fragrant cinnamon and cassia. In Islamic culture, perfume usage has been documented as far back as the 6^th century and its usage is considered a religious duty. Al-Kindi in the 9^th century wrote a book on perfumes entitled ‘Book of the Chemistry of Perfume and Distillations’ that has more than hundred recipes for fragrant oils, salves, aromatic waters and substitutes or imitations of costly drugs.

1. FRUIT CROPS

1.1 Physiological Disorders

A wide variety of physiological disorders are found in apple fruit, but the susceptibility varies with variety, pre-harvest factors and post harvest conditions. Disorders can be considered in three categories:

1. Disorders that develop only on the tree: Most important is watercore in which intercellular air spaces in the core and cortical tissues become filled with liquid, Presence of watercore in fruit at harvest creates problems in certain varieties such as ‘Delicious’ because fruit with moderate or severe watercore can develop breakdown during storage.
2. Disorders that develop on the tree and during storage: Bitter pit is a disorder characterized by development of discrete pitting of the cortical flesh. Rapid cooling, CA storage and application of postharvest calcium drenches may be able to reduce its occurrence.
3. Disorders that develop during storage: Senescent breakdown disorders, chilling disorders and disorders associated with inappropriate atmospheres during storage are common disorders. The most common disorders associated with temperature and atmospheres are superficial scald, soft scald, low temperature breakdown, brown core, internal browning, low O2 injury, and high CO2 injury.

2.0. Introduction

Before dealing with the various processes involved in the processing of fruit and vegetables or any food commodity on commercial scale, it is necessary to consider certain important factors such as investment, site, building, water supply, staff, labour etc. which are essential for the successful running of the food processing plant. Processing plant is the premises, buildings, structure and equipment used in the preparation, processing, handling, transportation and storage of any food commodity / fruits and vegetables / the processed products. The design and layout of the food processing plant is of great importance, besides other important factors. The food processing plant may be single storeyed or multi-storeyed depending upon capacity of production and viability of the plant e.g. if the production of the plant is assumed to be small and processing plant have to run only for short duration during the year then single storeyed processing plant can serve the purpose. Plant layout, product layout and process layout are the most important components for setting up of food processing industry and can determine the working efficiency of unit. Sanitary requirements in food processing plant are also important for marketing of the prepared product in national and international market. Sanitary requirement is as important in food processing plant as is the treatment of the effluent waste. For setting up of the food processing plant certain guidelines have been laid out by FPO, 1955.

Introduction

Food is an important contributor to human well being and is essential for sustaining life. From this point of view food is expected to contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, protein fat, vitamins and other essential minerals which support life. The food production initially started for individual sustenance which slowly developed in to a community requirement necessitating the involvement of man and machinery for various activities concerned with food. The progress from famine in many parts of the world to the level of self-sufficiency and the role of science and agriculture have been absolutely significant in many parts of the world. India is no exception and the green revolution during the post 1960s and the succeeding blue and white revolution ensured the self-sufficiency in India.

Of late food acts as a vehicle for inclusion of hazard in food meant for human consumption. According to Grunert (2005), factors responsible for the alarmingly higher rate of concern by public include significantly higher number of food scares in public domain, critical understanding of production and processing of certain food products sold in the market as well as the diversified food choices of the consumers in different parts of the world. Besides, the increased awareness of the consumers on food related health issues also have its share in the increased concern on food at large.

Presently food is considered as a commodity which crosses international border concurrent with the human movement and hence quality has become a major concern. The traditional food is getting replaced with value added products, particularly ready to cook, ready to eat, partially cooked products, etc. consequent to life style changes. In order to meet the demand of the trade, the conventional processing is getting replaced by community processing or industrial processing with increased number of players in the primary production, processing, transportation and other value chain activities prompting larger product control. In the process, consumers are exposed to a variety of products produced as business ventures in modern food production systems needing efficient quality control and quality assurance to tackle the issues of quality. The increased incidence of hazards in both raw materials and final products consequent to the absence or inappropriate production schedule calls for increased food safety concerns. Besides the shelf-life of the products, addition of chemicals during the production also add to the concern.

During the latter part of the 20^th century, rapid economic development in most countries coupled with population growth propelled the inevitable demand for more food and manufactured goods. However, requirement of more food is placing unprecedented demands on agriculture and natural resources. Humans have made agriculture the dominant environmental threat by clearing forests, cultivating marginal lands, and intensifying farming in sensitive landscapes and watersheds. Most of the land use systems in the tropics are characterized by a rapid decline in productivity and high rates of soil and environmental degradation which need to be addressed in a proper way.

Agriculture has changed radically since the end of World War II. Productivity of most crops has scaled to new levels because of the adoption of new technologies, machines, increased chemical inputs, and government policies. However, continuing agricultural production without harming the environment is a challenge, which must be tackled along with economic growth. Some of the environmental issues related to agriculture are top soil loss, groundwater contamination, air pollution, greenhouse gas emission, decline of family farms neglect of the working conditions of farm labourers, new threats to human health and safety by the spread of new pathogens, economic concentration in food and agricultural industries, and disintegration of rural communities (Brodt et al, 2011). This situation prompted world nations, political leaders, scientists and planners to pay more attention to the concept of sustainable development. As a concept, sustainability is concerned with the continuity of environmental economic, and social aspects of human society.

Introduction

The green revolution which initiated in India during 1960’s to 1980’s was an attempt to overcome the then prevailing threats of food scarcity and lack of foreign exchange. The food scarcity was a result of severe drought which engulfed the country as well as the political situation it had to face after its short period of gaining independence (Reddy, 2010). The only way out to overcome the acute food scarcity was intensive agriculture, with the use of high yielding varieties, chemical fertilisers and pesticides which heavily boosted agriculture production in India. The remarkable increase in production and productivity resulted in non-judicious use of chemical inputs to extract the maximum from the degrading soil. This marked the era of soil, water and air pollution and extreme health hazards to all life forms.

Rachel Carson’s “Silent spring” in 1962 was an insight into the path of DDT the then prevalent pesticide through its effect on the food chain as well as the environment. She was one among the scientists to raise her voice against the indiscriminate use of pesticides. The evident impacts raised concerns over the continued use of chemical inputs (Lairon, 2010). The situation warranted the reduced or limited use of chemicals in agriculture which resulted in an “organic movement”. This caused a slow, but evident shift in the interest of growers and consumers towards organic agriculture for health security, food safety, quality and better returns (Niggli et al., 2007).

This review is an attempt to analyse the various factors affecting the safety and quality of organic food products in comparison with conventional food. Drawing a proper conclusion was a difficult task due to the limited availability of scientific papers published in this aspect, indication of only trends rather than solid proofs and non-revelation of non-significant data regarding related experiments. However, this review could evaluate the positive and negative aspects of organic cultivation and food production from the available data, so as to suggest measures for improving the quality and safety of organic food products.

Introduction

Advances in food preservation methods have supported the journey of food science from that of a cookery science to a fast growing industrial technology. Food preservation knowledge deals with the way to prevent spoilage and maintenance of quality in foods. Spoilage is the deterioration in quality brought about by inherent biochemical and chemical changes, as well as microbial metabolism during food storage. Basic principles of food preservation (Frazier et al., 2008) remains the same, but newer methods for achieving the goal is added through research fuelled by a consumer demand for fresh-like foods with convenience and safety. Scientific information on novel processing methods are beautifully compiled (Cullen et al., 2011; Da-Wen Sun, 2014; Tokuþoðlu and Swanson 2015; Doona, 2018).

In-depth knowledge of physiological activities of micro-organisms in presence of preservation agents is essential for preparation of safe foods with prolonged shelf life. Besides this, it is necessary to understand the effect of food constituents on microbial resistance against inactivation agents, to identify critical dose requirement. This profound knowledge would also help to understand kinetics of microbial inactivation and to develop mathematical models suitable for a realistic design of process parameters. For better appreciation of the following sections, readers are encouraged to have fundamental knowledge in microbiology and food processing. The sections in this chapter cover advanced microbiological knowledge pertaining to the preservation aspects of food.

Nano-technology refers to technology on a nano- meter scale, specifically less than 100 nano-meters. The novel nano-particles are tiny spheres (fullerenes) or tubes (nanotubes) made from carbon atoms. It facilitates the development of future inventions transversely a vast array of fields. New nano-particles are being made of silicon, ceramic, polymers or even natural ingredients that break down in the body. The characteristics that make these particles functional in the food industry include optical properties, reactivity to temperature, and biodegradability. They can be used as probes or filled with flavorings or nutrients for delivery. Highlights on the categorisation of agriculture with nano- food technology and nutrition are given in Fig 1.

There are three key elements in nano-technology. They are: (1) substances at nano-scale exhibit novel physical and chemical phenomena with novel functions (2) allowing to measure, control and operate material at the nano-scale that transform them to functions. (3) allowing the union of nano scales of materials for exceptional properties.

Drying of the Spices

Drying is an important mode of preservation and it ensures microbial safety of the spices.The main purpose of drying is to increase the shelf storage and make the seasonal spices available round the year with minute losses of nutrients, flavor, taste and color (Maroulis, 2003). During drying, there is a continuous transfer of heat and mass due to the heat application which eventually leads to moisture removal from the product (Akpinar, 2006) (Hashim, 2014). Since, the sensory, nutritional and functional attributes of spices are partially or totally affected by the drying process, the adequate choice of drying technique becomes requisite. There exists a number of conventional drying methods including solar drying (El-sebaii, 2012), freeze drying (Ciurzy nska 2011), vacuum drying (Nadi, 2012), osmotic dehydration,hot air drying and fluidized bed drying (Onwude, 2016). However, these drying techniques lead to poor quality of the spices because of the longer duration of treatment and high amount of energy. To combat with the issues of poor quality, there has been a significant development of the novel techniques, which includes- microwave, ohmic, infrared, pulse electric field, radio- frequency, ultraviolet, ultrasound, supercritical and heat pump heating, in the drying of the agricultural crops. These novel techniques are found to produce higher quality products as compared to the conventional drying techniques (Moses J. N., 2014). The microwave and radio frequency heating technologies are developed in such a manner that they are capable of partial or complete removal of the conventional methods of heating/ drying (Onwude, 2016). The use of these novel techniques has gained a keen attention for the drying purpose of spices. Some of the researchers have also proved that combination of conventional and novel drying techniques leads to better product output.

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).

It has been found that at the household level the health of female members in any family suffers to a large extent. It could be encountered to low health care, poor housing or/and environmental conditions. Due to malnutrition it affects the health to such an extent that it gives rise to many diseases. For a sustainable nutritional status food and various aspects of health needs attention. Looking into that, nutrition is directly related to the health status. For food and nutrition security it is vital to see the availability, accessibility and utilization of food. The World Food Programme (WFP) developed the Vulnerability Analysis and Mapping (VAM) project to analyse the vulnerability to food insecurity of target populations. A prominent part of VAM is related to food access. The demographic and Health Survey (DHS), funded by USAID, provides health data for many countries to help them design their national policy. FAO has developed the Global Information Early Warning System (GIEWS), which collects data related to temporary food insecurity. Under the leadership of WHO, several health surveillance systems have been developed and implemented to monitor the epidemiology of various forms of malnutrition and of selected diseases. At the meso or sub-national level, food market surveys provide data on the availability of food. Agricultural production surveys, intra-household food frequency interviews, immunization surveys and anthropometric surveys of children under five can be used to assess the availability, accessibility and utilization of food and its stability at micro level. Most common Food and Nutrition Security (FNS) indicators at different social and administrative levels depends on the supply and demand. To determine the national situation of food availability data on the production of different food commodities, fertility rate and the trends in internal population needs to be seen. Food prices and per capita food consumption are indicators for national food accessibility. The rates of stunting, wasting and underweight in children, low Body Mass Index (BMI) in adults and low birth weight are FNS impact indicators that designate the extent to which food is adequately being used, utilized and converted into a satisfactory national nutrition situation. Fluctuations and shortages of food availability or accessibility in food prices make the national FNS unstable. Sensitive indicators for accessibility of food are the prices in the market. The sewage disposal and diarrheal diseases (DD) rates affect food utilization.A temporal food and nutrition insecurity arises due to pre and post harvest food availability and accessibility along with low BMI.If the food is in shortage leading to the consumption of more wild foods indicates reduced food availability at household level. Also if the number of meals per day goes down and unemployment increases it indicates low food accessibility.Malnutrition indicators like wasting, goitre or anaemia among the household members show reduced food utilization at micro level. Finally, changes in pre-harvest food consumption practices are good indicators for temporal food insecurity.

Introduction

Fermented meat and fish products have been consumed all over the world since times immemorial and represent one of the most important groups of food. Meat offers its own natural microflora. Hence a wide variety of products have been prepared since ancient times by varying the mixture of meat and salt as well as by the addition of spices and seasonings. Thus, fermented meat products characterize a diversity of flavors and textures and are receiving increased interest from consumers all over the world. Most of these products still depend mainly on local, traditional manufacturing processes since little scientific information is available; but scientific knowledge is very important for consistent production of high quality and safe products.

Meat is an essential part of non-vegetarian diet. It is liked for its unique taste and is a rich source of nutrients like good quality animal proteins, essential amino acids and fatty acids, minerals, trace elements and particularly B-complex vitamins (Singh et al., 2013). The growing concern of consumers regarding health and safety issues has led to the development of functional meat products that promote health and well-being, beyond their nutritional benefits (Grasso, et al., 2014; Tyopponen et al., 2003). This has driven researches in the meat processing sector to increase their efforts in producing such functional meat products, which have incorporated functional ingredients, reduced salt, nitrates/nitrites, cholesterol and fat and modified product fatty acid profiles (Zhang et al., 2010). Fermentation of meat produces a wide range of physical, biochemical and microbial changes in the muscle-based product

ABSTRACT

Approximately 30 % of fruits and vegetables are getting wasted each year in country like India. Not only that, there is a huge loss of agro based commodity during industrial processing and will be considered as industry generated waste. Utilization of such unexplored nutrients from agro processing sectors for making a sustainable food system will be a healthy approach to bring food security and nutrition to all of us. With this aim the present work addresses the utilization of jackfruit seeds, an agro-waste, to value added products. Jackfruit seed flour has a great potential in new food formulation along with wheat flour. The 15% (w/w) blending of jackfruit seed flour with wheat flour could be used in bread and the substituted bread is protein and fibre enriched. This attempt in developing such bakery items with blended flours could address the scarcity problem of non-wheat producing countries. Present study also looks into the alternate source of starch from spice processing industries. The nutrient starch could be explored for isolation from a nonconventional source from turmeric processing sector. The isolated starch could also be modified to enhance some of its functional properties and may be utilized in preparing value added product with a better acceptability and nutrition.Thus, the isolation of nutrients and value-added products out of fruits and vegetables and spice-processing waste would be a stepping stone to an initiative to zero hunger.

ABSTRACT

Green packaging is a technique used to develop sustainable and eco-friendly packaging materials. In this review paper we have examined the data currently available on the use of plant by-products and plant extract in the development of green packaging. The use of plant fibres is especially beneficial because they often contain a high concentration of bioactive compounds. These compounds lend a preservative effect to the packaging material. Further we have also discussed the degradability of such packaging and the additives which need to be added in order to enhance their utility. Lastly, we have examined the possible applications of green packaging in the food industry.

Keywords:GreenPackaging,Plantby-products,Fruitfibres,Biodegradability, Bioactive compounds, Nanocomposites, Renewable resources, Biopolymers

1. INTRODUCTION

The Green Revolution and subsequent efforts through the application of science and technology for increasing food production in India, have brought self-reliance in food. The imputs given by the Government, State Agricultural Universities, State Departments of Agriculture and other organizations through the evolution and introduction of numerous hybrid varieties of fruits and vegetables and improved management practices have resulted in increased food production. However, the nation still faces the problem of the use of improper methods for the storage of food stuffs and their preservation leading to great wastage of the food produced. So, there is a urgent need for the application of food preservation and processing methods.

Food preservation involves all the processes used to maintain foods with the desired properties or nature for longer time. The process is has moved from an art to a highly interdisciplinary science. Food safety now the first priority of the food production and preservation industry, incorporating innovations and sustainability. The preservation and processing of food however, is not as simple or straight forward as it was in the past. A number of new preservation techniques have been developed to satisfy the current demands of economic preservation and consumer satisfaction in nutritional and sensory aspects, convenience, and safety, absence of chemical preservatives, and environmental safety. Understanding the effects of each preservation method on food has therefore, become critical in all the aspects.

1. INTRODUCTION

Thermal processing means preservation by application of heat. It involves heating of foods in hermetically sealed containers for a specific time at a specific temperature to eliminate the microbial pathogens that endanger public health and that micro-organisms that deteriorate food during storage. The credit for invention of thermal processing (Canning) goes to a French Confectioner, Nichola Appert. The application of heat is an important method of preserving foods and is also a means of developing texture, flavour and colour in some foods.

1. INTRODUCTION

In recent years, fruit and vegetable consumption has grown rapidly. Today’s society is characterized by an increasing health consciousness and growing interest in the role of food for maintaining and improving human well-being and consumer health. Due to consumer’s profile being ‘‘rich in cash/poor in time’’, there is a demand for ready-to-eat products As a result of changes in consumer attitudes, the market of minimally processed (MP) fruits and vegetables has grown rapidly. In addition to their nutritional and sensory properties, foods are currently recognized as active and protective agents. Among the others, minimally processed products stand out as convenient novel foods that fit the many needs of a modern lifestyle as they combine technical content with an innovative food concept. Fresh fruits and vegetables are an essential component of a healthy diet, able to decrease the risk of cardiovascular diseases and cancer. Their consumption has continued to grow rapidly, linked to the increased public awareness of their health benefits.

Minimal Processing’ (MP) is a concept describing approaches to food safety and preservation that are designed to retain the natural and as-fresh properties of foods. Minimally processed fruits are new forms of product marketing, intended to meet the consumers’ desires for convenience and fresh-like quality. Minimally processed fruits and vegetables, also called ready-to-use, fresh-cut or pre-cut produce, are raw fruits and vegetables that have been washed, peeled, sliced, chopped or shredded into 100% usable product that is bagged or packaged to offer to the consumers high nutrition, convenience, and flavour while still maintaining its freshness.

1. INTRODUCTION

Admitably except for water and milk, no other beverage has earned such universal acceptance and esteem throughout the ages as wine. The aesthetic postures of wine can be gauged by the quotations like ‘wine is the most healthful and the most hygienic beverage (Louis Pasteur)’, ‘wine is a chemical symphony (Amerine). Man has been preparing and consuming since time immemorial a large variety of alcoholic beverages, ranging from mild stimulants to highly intoxicants liquors. Amongst the mild stimulants are the wines which have long association with human artistic, cultural and religious activities.

Grapes and wines are of immense importance to us and their sheer magnitude of production and associated investment, employment, enjoyment, tax revenue collected and the economic contribution is a justifiable. These play a major role in economics of major wine producing countries like Italy and France. Wine and brandy refer to the fermented by-products of grapes, member of genus Vitis notably the cultivars of V.vinifera L. as per the European definition. However, here these terms may also refer to the fermented by-products from any fleshy fruit or flower. Compared to the grapes, industry producing wine from other fruits is very small. Do these have any role to play especially in nutrition, health and economy of the horticulturally developed countries or are simply mild intoxicants consumed? Such queries at one or the other time may baffle the thinking of an inquisive reader. An attempt has been made here to discuss briefly the historical aspects, role of wine in the context of nutritive and therapeutic value, present status of Indian Wine Industry, research status and future strategies. Emphasis on its role in developing the horticultural industry would also be laid.

1. INTRODUCTION AND IMPORTANCE

Sensory evaluation is one of the important methods of evaluation of the quality of food. Without the sensory evaluation of a product whether it is fresh or processed, it cannot be launched in the market. All the other methods like physical, chemical and microbiological fails for the product development if sensory evaluation is ignored as the final acceptance can come from the sensory evaluation only. So sensory evaluation has got an upper edge as compared to the other methods of food quality evaluation. However, a collective approach of quality evaluation of a product that includes the physical, chemical, microbiological and sensory evaluation is the most acceptable approach today.

In the past, human sensory perception had been the only mean of assessment of product quality as illustrated by the classical examples of cooks who knew how to mask the off-notes long before the microbial assessment of quality came into existence. Everybody relied on the sensory evaluation of food as a criterion of quality assessment. In the past, even the kings depended upon “tasters” to assure that the food was suitable for their consumption in the past. The role of sensory organs in sensory evaluation of food is shown in Table 1. But later on, with the development of instrumentation, sensory analysis was overlooked and the instrumental methods were preferred as they were supposed to provide absolute measures of quality. Consequently, the product quality was traditionally determined by physical, chemical and microbiological criteria with the assumption that the products meeting the prescribed specifications in the above parameters would automatically meet the desired sensory quality. However, soon it was realized that without sensory evaluation, the acceptability of a product cannot be determined.

1. INTRODUCTION

Food is any substance consumed to provide nutritional support for the body. It is usually of plant or animal origin, and contains essential nutrients, such as carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, or minerals. The substance is ingested by an organism and assimilated by the organism’s cells in an effort to produce energy, maintain life, or stimulate growth. A food contains some non-nutrients, some of which may even have a detrimental influence on the consumers, while some may be inert and have no effect. Nature has endowed many plants with the capacity to synthesize a wide variety of chemical substances that are known to exert a deleterious effect when ingested by animals and are called as antimetabolites. These substances are also referred to as antinutritional factors when they are present in food/feedstuffs and influence a metabolic pathway when introduced into and/or eaten by an organism.

There is a wide distribution of biologically-active constituents throughout the plant kingdom, particularly in plants, used as animal feed stuff and as human food. The knowledge that these compounds elicit both toxic and advantageous biological responses has given rise to several investigations in recent times as to their possible physiological implications in various biological systems. It is well known that plants generally, contain antinutrients acquired from fertilizer and pesticides and several naturally-occurring chemicals. Some of these chemicals are known as ‘‘secondary metabolites’’ and they have been shown to be highly biologically active. They include saponins, tannins, flavonoids, alkaloids, trypsin (protease) inhibitors, oxalates, phytates, haemagluttinins (lectins), cyanogenic glycosides, cardiac glycosides, coumarins and gossypol and the list is inexhaustible. Some of these plant chemicals have been shown to be deleterious to health or evidently dis-advantageous to human and animal health, if consumed in appropriate amounts. Most of these secondary metabolites elicit very harmful biological responses, while others are widely applied in nutrition and as pharmacologically-active agents. The pharmacological and other beneficial effects of these antinutritional factors in plants have been reviewed here.

Introduction

The health and wellness continue to drive growth in the global food industry as the consumers are constantly looking for the foods, beverages and other dietary solutions that will help them more aggressively to meet their own unique nutrition and personal health goals. Worldwide countries are going through a nutritional transition and are now affected by double burden of problems like nutritional and food security. The common alarming problems are under nutrition and specific nutrient deficiencies simultaneously coupled with imbalanced diets and chronic diseases. The problem of chronic diseases, non-communicable diseases (cardiovascular diseases, respiratory diseases, diabetes, obesity, cancer etc.) and malnutrition is more serious in the developing countries. The lack of access to health services, sufficient income, healthy and nutritious foods characterize majority of poor people in developing countries. So, food is not only the solution but also viewed as a product to enhance health and wellbeing, and it encourages the producers by supplying new goods that meet these needs. From the past decade, there has been growing consumer awareness regarding health, nutrition and the food safety which are often triggered by specific food incidents, especially in the developed countries and high-income groups in such countries. In the food industry there have been two broad trends which are hazards in the food chain and nutritional profile of the food. There has been recognition that hazards and contaminants can enter the food chain and can cause sickness, death and diseases, and so governments, often to deal with consumer and industry concerns, establish regulations and standards on food hazards including standards on pesticides, antibiotics, microbiological hazards and other chemical and physical contaminants. On the other hand, there is also a growing awareness of the health-enhancing properties for prevention and treatment of health concerns beyond the basic nutritional component of many foods.

• Food science deals with the physical, chemical, and biological properties of foods as they relate to stability, cost, quality, processing, safety, nutritive value, wholesomeness, and convenience.
• Food science is a branch of biological science and an interdisciplinary subject involving primarily microbiology, chemistry, biology, and engineering.
• Food chemistry, a major aspect of food science, deals with the composition and properties of food and the chemical changes it undergoes during handling, processing, and storage.
• Food chemistry is intimately related to chemistry, biochemistry, physiological chemistry, botany, zoology, and molecular biology.
• Nonenzymic browning involves reaction of carbonyl compounds, which can arise from existing reducing sugars or from diverse reactions, such as oxidation of ascorbic acid, hydrolysis of starch, or oxidation of lipids.

Some chemical and biochemical reactions that can lead to alteration of food quality or safety

History of food safety starts with knowledge about food hazards. The term “safe food” can be defined from different angles since the end users are highly heterogeneous. However, the accumulating data and day by day emerging information aboutfood borne diseaseslead to a boom in public awareness about food safety. Food safety can be defined as “The strategies and activities aimed to protect foods from biological, chemical, physical, and allergenic hazards that may occur during all stages of production, distribution, and consumption” (Paperella, 2020). According to the World Health Organization (WHO), unsafe food,which contains hazardousmicroorganisms or chemicals, causesmore than 200 ailments, ranging from diarrhoea to malignancies among which diarrhoea is common. 

Abstract

Fermentation technology holds immense promise in diverse fields. It offers opportunities for sustainable biofuel production, allowing us to reduce our reliance on fossil fuels and promote a greener energy sector. In the pharmaceutical industry, fermentation plays a vital role in manufacturing antibiotics, enzymes, vaccines, and therapeutic proteins, paving the way for more efficient and cost-effective production processes. Furthermore, fermentation can be harnessed for waste management and environmental remediation, enabling the transformation of organic waste into valuable biogas. With ongoing advancements, fermentation technology continues to open new avenues for innovation and contribute to a more sustainable and environmentally conscious future. The present chapter compares types of fermentation process as well as gives an insight into various industrial prospects of fermentation technology.

The proximate system of analysis consists of the analytical determinations of water (moisture), ash, crude fat (ether extract), crude protein and crude fibre. Nitrogen-free extract (NFE), more or less representing sugars and starches, is calculated by difference rather than measured by analysis.

Water

1. Water constitutes about 70 percent of an adult’s body weight and water (moisture) is the predominant constituent in many foods.
2. All foods contain varying amounts of water in the range of 20 to 90%.
3. The hypothalamus is a brain center that controls activities such as maintenance of water balance, regulation of body temperature, and control of appetite.
4. Moisture content of some foods

4.1. Coconut

• Coconut water is a refreshing drinks which also hygienic and nutritive.

• White flesh is a calorie rich extensively used for cookery in South India.

• From grated wet coconut kernel, good quality oil as well as protein and carbohydrate can be extracted to prepare coconut honey.

• Undesirable flavour changes in desiccated coconut are due to oxidative rancidity of the oil.

• Residual cake after the oil extraction is used as cattle food.

• Dried coconut meat is known as copra and is the source of coconut oil, which is used in enormous quantities for making fats for baking and confectionery.

• An important product used in the chocolate and confectionery industry is desiccated coconut.

• Nut is removed from hard shell and thin brown rind pared off.

1. Introduction

Livestock meat and fish are rich sources of high-quality protein and other valuable nutrients such as polyunsaturated fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals and are an essential part of our healthy diet (Vladau et al., 2008; Mahmud et al., 2018; Mohanti et al., 2019; Mei et al., 2019). Food fraud and adulteration is an age-old distortive practice. The rising incidence of food contaminants and adulterants-induced health issues has challenged consumers to identify and consume safe livestock meat and fish products. Its significance has increased in recent years due to global trade, awareness among consumers, and sociopolitical issues.

Introduction

Many post-harvest treatments are applied to horticultural crops, either to maintain the quality (taste, colour, flavour, texture) or improve the visual appeal. Most important of these treatments are temperature management including the cold chain where the temperature of the crop is reduced rapidly and stabilize temperature after harvesting. Exposing the crop to high or low temperature and application of chemicals after harvest helps in managing/ prevent pest and diseases and sprouting occurrence respectively.

Harvested produce must be handled with care at every stage to avoid the mechanical damage and subsequent fungal/bacterial infection. Adopting appropriate post-harvest handling operation will minimize the all ill effects of post-harvest (Fig. 1).

India is bestowed with huge production of fruits, vegetables, cereals, millets, sugarcane along with meat production, milk production, fish production and poultry. Despite such a huge production in India, owing to perishable nature of these produce around 25-30 percent of the produce is being lost as post harvest loss. The one important reason for this may be the production of the crops are season specific and during the peak season the production is more while demand for consumption is less. It may be possible to cut down these losses to great extent, if these produces may be transported from the produces states to those who are not producing due to agro-climatic reasons. So for making transportation of the perishable a successful venture in decreasing post harvest loss, there must be proper cool chain management facilities both at producing site as well as marketing place. The aim of the cool chain management must be to keep the produce in saleable condition during entire storage periods. Some products are stored for short period whereas fresh fruits, vegetables require cold storage. Foods before keeping into the storage room need some pre-storage treatments for better results.

Fruit ripening is a phenomena during which horticulture produce undergoes a series of complex physical and biochemical changes initiated through a series of hormones (Ethylene, auxin, abscisic acid (ABA), gibberellins, jasmonic acid, etc.) to attain maximum physiological maturity and favourable organoleptic properties. These changes lead to alterations in colour, texture, aroma, flavour and nutrient composition. In a nut shell, ripening involves increase in pulp to peel ratio, solubilisation of pectic substances, degradation of complex carbohydrates, organic acids and chlorophyll, accumulation sugars, flavour volatiles, polyphenolic compounds and pigments (carotenoids, xanthophylls and anthocynanins). The extent of these changes guide harvesting, readiness for processing and consumption decisions, with physic-chemical alterations serving as indicators of optimum ripeness. Respiration rate, ethylene and ABA are key regulators of fruit ripening in climacteric and non-climacteric fruits, respectively. In climacteric fruits, ABA interacts with ethylene, influencing the synthesis of ethylene itself. Although there is ample documentation on the involvement of hormones in fruit development and ripening, our understanding of the functions of various hormones throughout growth, maturation, and specific ripening processes remains incomplete.

Waste is defined as anything that doesn’t add value to their operations. To the average person, waste is simply stuff that’s unwanted or useless. But from a scientific perspective, there’s really no such thing as waste. Nearly all the things we throw away can be transformed or processed in ways that make them useful again.

Waste comes in various forms, ranging from household trash to industrial byproducts. These include domestic waste, factory waste, e-waste, construction waste, agricultural waste, and more. We can categorize waste into different types:

Solid waste: This includes organic materials like vegetable and kitchen waste, as well as general household waste.

E-waste: Discarded electronic devices such as computers, TVs, and music systems fall into this category.

Liquid waste: This comprises water used in various industries, as well as waste from tanneries, distilleries, and thermal power plants.

Plastic waste: Items like plastic bags, bottles, and containers make up this category.

Introdction

Fruits are an important supplement to the human diet, as they provide minerals, vitamins and fiber required for maintaining good health. Fruits are also rich in phytochemicals (7, xanthophylls, polyphenols, flavonoids, phenolic acids, organic acids etc.) which possess good antioxidant properties. India’s diverse climatic conditions ensure availability of almost all the varieties of fresh fruits and vegetables. According to FAO (2021), the country ranks first in the production of bananas (26.45%), mangoes (including mangosteens and guavas) (43.80%) and papayas (39.30%). The scenario of horticulture crops in India has become very encouraging. The percentage share of horticulture output in agriculture has become 33 per cent (Anonymous 2021). India has witnessed increase in horticulture production over the last few years. Significant progress has been made in area expansion resulting in higher production. Over the last decade, the area under horticulture grew by 2.1 per cent per annum and annual production increased by 3.9 per cent. During 2020-21, the production of horticulture crops was 334.60 million tonnes from an area of 27.74 million hectares. The production of fruits has increased from 76.42 million tonnes in 2011-12 to 108.34 million tonnes in 2022-23 (Agricultural Statistics at a Glance 2022). The area under cultivation of fruits stood at 7.05 million hectares. The total production of fruits in the year 2020-21 was highest in case of Andhra Pradesh (17.70 million tonnes) followed by Maharashtra (11.73 million tonnes) and Uttar Pradesh (11.23 million tonnes) (Anonymous 2021). India now is the second largest producer of vegetables and fruits in the world. The country ranks at first position in the production of banana, mango, lime and lemon, papaya and okra. The area and production of fruits in India is presented in Table 1. The fruits namely banana, mango, citrus, papaya, guava, grapes, apple, pineapple and sapota account for more than 85 per cent of the total production of fruits. The other fruits which are produced in India are almond, walnut, jackfruit, bael, ber, custard apple, kiwi, passion fruit, peach, pear, plum, strawberry etc.

Introduction
Preservation by using common salt, spices and vinegar is a common method for the preparation of pickles, sauce and chutneys. Salt is mostly used as a preservative in pickles in combination with acid. Sodium chloride is used in brines and curing solutions or is applied directly to the food. The quantity of salt necessary to inhibit growth or harm the cells varies with the type of microorganisms. However, the minimum concentration of salt to act as a preservative is about 12%. Salt (sodium chloride) exerts its preservative action
by performing the following functions:
? Causing high osmotic pressure resulting in plasmolysis of the microbial cells.
? Dehydrating food by tying up the moisture thus making it unavailabl for the growth of microorganisms.
? Salt lowers the water activity and thus has adverse effects on microorganisms.
? Affecting the solubility of oxygen in the food and thus inhibiting the growth of aerobic microorganisms.
? Salt ionizes to yield chlorine ions, which is harmful to microorganisms.
? Chlorine in sodium chloride is a good oxidizing agent & is, therefore, toxic to microorganisms.
 

Agricultural professionals continuously confront challenges in preventing pest infestations and managing temperature and moisture levels to protect grains from decay. They recognize the critical importance of safeguarding these valuable resources and rely on quick, dependable solutions to tackle common grain storage issues. Let’s take a closer look at the challenges faced by growers, handlers, transporters, and processors in long-term grain storage, and the strategies they employ to overcome these obstacles.
ABIOTIC FACTORS
There are also abiotic factors, which are non-living elements, that influence the quality of stored grains. Factors such as air, humidity, and temperature play a significant role in grain storage. If these factors are imbalanced in terms of quantity or quality, they can have a detrimental effect on the stored grains.
SPACE CONSTRAINTS
As crop yields continue to rise, farmers face the challenge of finding enough storage space to accommodate the increased harvest. Often, last year’s grain still fills storage bins when the new crop arrives, prompting the agricultural industry to seek innovative storage solutions.
The most straightforward solution to a shortage of storage space is to build additional bins. However, this option is not always feasible for smaller farms or processing facilities with limited budgets. As a result, many choose to repurpose existing barns or store surplus grain outdoors in piles. Unfortunately, this outdoor storage method comes with its own set of challenges, including faster spoilage and pest issues. To counter these problems, some facilities use temporary storage options such as grain bagging systems or outdoor storage tents. Mechanical ventilation systems are also employed to ensure proper aeration, reducing the risk of spoilage before the grain is moved to its final destination.

The success of a TTO relies on a systematic approach encircling factors like assessment, valuation, marketing, negotiation, and post-transfer management (fi gure 8). This chapter covers the activities that are essential for the effective functioning of a TTO. Other activies Technology Assessement /Valuation Financial Managemnt Major Activities of technology transfer office Commercialization IP Management Fostering Innovation
Fig 8: Various activities of TTOs.
3.1 Technology assessment - A pillar of innovation commercialization
The process of transitioning an innovative technology to commercial reality requires a stringent and formal process known as technology assessment. This early stage is crucial as it determines the viability of an invention by analysing practicability of the invention as well as its uniqueness and the likelihood of it being adopted in the target markets. In the absence of this preliminary examination, the chance of technology’s potential being mismatched to the market can arise.
a) Scientific merit and technical feasibility
A key benchmark in assessing technologies involves the identification of
scientific validity and technical performance. An innovation’s viability depends on the fact that it complies with good scientific practice or the innovative application of a new paradigm that has empirically confirmable validity. It is important to determine whether the invention’s underlying mechanism can be reliably proven through established scientific practice. A working prototype allows for empirical testing in different conditions and serves as proof of practical application. In addition to that, scalability has to be tested critically. It often happens that innovations perform well in a controlled laboratory setting but lose efficiency or cost-effectiveness in the case of mass production. The viability of the implementation on a grand scale becomes a core concern in this phase of the evaluation.

In today’s innovation driven economies, turning a great idea or new technology into something investors want to fund takes careful planning. This process is called investor readiness. which means making sure the idea works, has a market, and is presented in a way that makes investors feel confident. Therefore, Investor readiness means the preparedness of an innovation to attract and secure investment from potential investors. It has all the essential parameters in place that an investor would evaluate before deciding to invest. For inventors, this means showcasing innovation’s business potential, potential for growth, and the capability to provide a return on investment. Understanding investor readiness is important because it directly influences scalability and growth of invention. Even the most innovative ideas can struggle to find the financial benefits without showcasing business potential.
Why it is important to discuss investor readiness
Investor readiness is the state in which a technology, its value proposition, and its founding team are significantly prepared to engage with securing funding from potential investors. Without investor readiness, even high-potential innovations may fail to reach the market due to gaps in business clarity, legal assurance, or team maturity. TTOs play an important role in this process by acting as intermediaries between inventor and investors. Modern day TTOs are more inclined to prepare technologies and associated teams to attract investment. This expanded mandate of TTOs and brought in investor readiness. It requires a wellstructured approach focused on aligning academic innovations with investor expectations. TTOs help in creating this readiness by guiding researchers through commercial pathways, derisking technologies, and translating technical advancements into investment suitable.

Aseptic packaging is a specialized and advanced method used to extend the shelf life of perishable foods without the need for refrigeration. This technique involves sterilizing both the food product and the packaging material separately and then filling and sealing the product in a sterile environment. Aseptic packaging has transformed the food industry, allowing products such as dairy, juices, soups, and sauces to remain fresh and safe at room temperature for extended periods. The ability to maintain product quality, nutritional value, and safety while reducing reliance on cold storage has made aseptic packaging a preferred choice in both food manufacturing and distribution. The process of aseptic packaging is both complex and precise, as it requires thorough sterilization of every component to ensure food safety. Packaging materials, typically a combination of paper, plastic, and aluminum, are carefully selected to withstand high temperatures while providing an effective barrier against contamination. This chapter explores the principles of aseptic packaging, its significance in food preservation, and the advanced technologies and materials used to achieve and maintain sterility in packaged foods.

1.    Introduction
    
2.     Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries
    
3.     Technologies for Responsible Fishing
    3.1     Technology for bycatch reduction in trawl fisheries
    3.2     Technology for by catch reduction in purse seine fisheries
    3.3     Technology for by catch reduction in gillnet fisheries
    3.4     Technology for by catch reduction in hook and line fisheries
    3.5     Technology for by catch reduction in trap fisheries
    
4.     Environment-Friendly Fishing Gears
    4.1     Reducing bottom impact of towed gears
    4.2     Semi-pelagic trawl system
    4.3     Benthic release panels
    4.4     Remote controlled otter boards (smart trawling)
    4.5     Ground gear modifications
    4.6     Otter boards bridles and sweeps
    
5.     Energy Conservation in Fishing
    5.1     Fishing gear and methods
    5.2     Vessel technology
    5.3    Engines
    5.4    Reduction gear, propeller and nozzle
    5.5     Sail-assisted propulsion
    5.6     Adoption of advanced technology
    5.7    Conservation, management and enhancement of fishery resources
    
6.     Conclusion
    
References