Modern Technology on Food Preservation (2nd Edition)

Food Preservation has become an integral part of the food processing industry. There are various methods of food preservation; drying, canning, freezing, food processing etc. Food processing is one the method of food preservation which is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food or to transform food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals either in the home or by the food processing industry. Canning is one of the various methods of food preservation in which the food is processed and then sealed in an airtight container. This process prevents microorganisms from entering and proliferating inside. Dehydration is the process of removing water or moisture from a food product. Food dehydration is safe because water is removed from the food. Freezing is also one of the most commonly used processes commercially and domestically for preserving a very wide range of food including prepared food stuffs which would not have required freezing in their unprepared state. Benefits of food processing include toxin removal, preservation, 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 deactivating spoilage and pathogenic micro organisms. Nanotechnology exhibits great potential for the food industry. New methods for processing nanostructures are being developed having novel properties that were not previously possible. As such, due to the recent up gradation of preservation techniques, the preservation industry is also growing almost at the same rate as the food industry which is about 10 to 12% per year. The purpose of this book is to present the elements of the technology of food preservation. It deals with the products prepared from various fruits and vegetables commercially. Relevant information on enzymes, colours, additives, flavours, adulteration, etc., has been given. This book also contains photographs of equipments and machineries used in food preservation. This book will be very useful for new entrepreneurs, food technologists, industrialists, libraries etc.