FOOD PROCESSING
Food processing is the set of methods and techniques
used to transform raw ingredients into food for
consumption by
humans or animals. The food
processing industry utilizes
these processes. Food processing often takes clean,
harvested or
slaughtered and
butchered components and uses these to produce attractive and
marketable food products. Similar process are used to produce
animal feed.
Contents
Food processing methods
Common food processing techniques include:
Extreme
examples of food processing include the delicate preparation of deadly
fugu fish, preparing space
food for consumption under zero gravity, winemaking,
hot dogs,
and
chicken nuggets.
Benefits
Benefits of food processing include toxin removal, preservation, improving flavour,
easing marketing and distribution tasks, and increasing food consistency. In addition,
it increases seasonal availability of many foods, enables transportation of delicate
perishable foods across long distances, and makes many kinds of foods safe to eat
by removing the micro-organisms. Modern supermarkets would not be feasible without
modern food processing techniques, long voyages would not be possible, and military
campaigns would be significantly more difficult and costly to execute.
Modern food processing also improves the quality of life for allergists, diabetics,
and other people who cannot consume some common food elements. Food processing can
also add extra nutrients.
Processed foods are less susceptible to early spoilage than fresh foods, and are
better suited for long distance transportation from source to shelf. Fresh materials,
such as fresh produce and raw meats, are more likely to harbour pathogenic micro-organisms
(e.g. Salmonella) capable of causing serious illnesses.
Drawbacks
In general, fresh food that has not been processed other than by washing and simple
kitchen preparation, may be expected to contain a higher proportion of naturally
occurring vitamins, fibre and minerals than the equivalent product processed by
the food industry.
Food processing can lower the nutritional value of foods. Processed foods tend to
include food additives, such as flavourings and texturizers, which may have little
or no nutritive value, or be unhealthy. Some preservatives added or created during
processing such as nitrites or sulphites may cause adverse health effects.
Processed foods often have a higher ratio of calories to other essential nutrients
than unprocessed foods, a phenomenon referred to as "empty calories". Most junk
foods are processed, and fit this category.
High quality and hygiene standards must be maintained to ensure consumer safety
and failures to maintain adequate standards can have serious health consequences.
Industries
Food processing industries and practices include the following:
Prominent Companies
History
Food
processing dates back to the prehistoric ages when crude processing incorporated
slaughtering, fermenting, sun drying, preserving with salt, and various types of
cooking
(such as roasting, smoking, steaming, and oven baking). Salt-preservation was especially
common for foods that constituted warrior and sailors' diets, up until the introduction
of canning methods. These crude processing techniques remained essentially the same
until the advent of the industrial revolution.
Modern
food processing technology in the 19th and 20th century was largely developed to
serve military needs. In 1809 Nicolas Appert invented a vacuum bottling
technique that would supply food for French troops, and this contributed to the
development of tinning and then canning by Peter Durand in 1810. Although initially
expensive and somewhat hazardous due to the lead used in cans, canned goods would
later become a staple around the world. Pasteurization, discovered by Louis Pasteur
in 1862, was a significant advance in ensuring the micro-biological safety of food.
In the
20th century,
World War II, the space race and the rising consumer society in
developed countries (including the United States) contributed to the growth of food
processing with such advances as spray drying, juice concentrates,
freeze drying and the introduction of artificial sweeteners, colorants,
and preservatives such as sodium benzoate and saccharine. In the late 20th century products
such as dried instant soups, reconstituted fruits and juices, and self cooking meals
such as MRE
food ration were developed.
Because the 20th century witnessed a rise in the pursuit of convenience, food processors
especially marketed their products to middle-class working wives and mothers. Frozen
foods (often credited to Clarence Birdseye) found their success in sales of juice
concentrates and Swanson's "TV dinners". [1]
Processors utilized the perceived value of vbtime to appeal to the postwar population,
and this same appeal contributes to the success of convenience foods today.
See also
External links
Other sources
- Fábricas de alimentos, 9th edition (in Spanish)
- Nutritional evaluation of food processing,
- Food preservation
2nd edition, by Normal W. Desrosier