Fruits, Vegetables, Corn and Oilseeds Processing Handbook

Fruits & vegetables are an important nutritional requirement of human beings as these foods not only meet the quantitative needs to some extent but also supply vitamins & minerals which improve the quality of the diet & maintain health. Fruit, vegetables & oil seeds processing is one of the pillars of the food & edible oil industry. India is the second largest producer of both fruits and vegetables. Fruits and vegetables are the reservoir of vital nutrients. Being highly perishable, 20 to 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. 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. Oil seeds also play an important role in the food sector & daily life. Edible oils constitute an important component of Indian households. Domestic edible oil consumption in India is increasing. Self sufficiency in edible oils today stands at in recent years, availabilities of non conventional oil, rice bran oil, soybean oil, palmolein oil and cottonseed have increased. Oils are essential components of all plants. However, commercial oil production facilities only utilize plants that accumulate large amounts of oil and are readily available In order to improve the nutritional status of the people & also to exploit the export potential of processed products there is need to increase the productivity of processed food in the country. Currently, India accounts for 7.0% of world oilseeds output; 7.0% of world oil meal production; 6.0% of world oil meal export; 6.0% of world veg. oil production; 14% of world veg. oil import; and 10 % of the world edible oil consumption. Some of the fundamentals of the book are preservation of pineapple, mango and papaya chunks by hurdle technology, effect of boiling on beta-carotene content of forest green leafy vegetables consumed by tribals of south India, process development for production of pure apple juice in natural colour of choice, physical refining of rice bran and soybean oils, anti nutrients and protein digestibility of fababean and ricebean as affected by soaking, dehulling and germination, quality changes in banana (musa acuminata) wines on adding pectolase and passion fruit, essential oil composition of fresh and osmotically dehydrated galgal peels, development of cold grinding process, packaging and storage of cumin powder, bakery products and confections, etc. This book deals completely on the basic principles & methodology of fruits, vegetables, corn & oilseed processing & its preservation. This will be very resourceful to readers especially to technocrats, engineers, upcoming entrepreneurs, scientists, food technologists etc.