Author: S.balamurugan ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION Processing is the treatment of food substances in such a manner as to change its properties with a view to preserving it, improving its quality or making it functionally more useful. Food processing 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. Food processing typically takes clean, harvested crops or slaughtered and butchered animal products and uses these to produce attractive, marketable and often long shelf-life food products. Similar processes are used to produce animal feed. Extreme examples of food processing include the delicate preparation of deadly fugu fish or preparing space food for consumption under zero gravity. The MINISTRY OF FOOD PROCESSING INDUSTRIES set up in July 1988, is the main central agency of the Government responsible for developing a strong and vibrant food processing sector; with a view to create increased job opportunities in rural areas, enable the farmers to reap benefit from modern technology, create surplus for exports and stimulating demand for processed food. The industry of food processing is as follows; Fruits and vegetable processing industry, Food grain milling industry, Dairy products, Processing of poultry and eggs, meat and meat products, Fish processing, Bread, oilseeds, meals (edible), breakfast foods, biscuits, confectionery (including cocoa processing and chocolate), malt extract, protein isolate, high protein food, weaning food and extrude/other ready to eat food products, Beer, including non-alcoholic beer, Alcoholic drinks from non-molasses base, Aerated waters / soft drinks and other processed foods, Specialized packaging for food processing industries.
INTRODUCTION
The word ‘retail' is derived from a French word meaning ‘to cut into small pieces'. As mentioned earlier, retail is predominantly unorganized in the case of India. Organized Retailing refers to trading activities undertaken by licensed retailers, that is, those who are registered for sales tax, income tax, etc. These include the corporate-backed hypermarkets and retail chains, and also the privately owned large retail businesses. Unorganized Retailing, on the other hand, refers to the traditional formats of low-cost retailing, for example, the local kirana shops, owner manned general stores, paan/beedi shops, convenience stores, hand cart and pavement vendors, etc.
Processing is the treatment of food substances in such a manner as to change its properties with a view to preserving it, improving its quality or making it functionally more useful.
Food processing 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. Food processing typically takes clean, harvested crops or slaughtered and butchered animal products and uses these to produce attractive, marketable and often long shelf-life food products. Similar processes are used to produce animal feed. Extreme examples of food processing include the delicate preparation of deadly fugu fish or preparing space food for consumption under zero gravity.
PAST INFORMATION
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. Evidence for the existence of these methods exists in the writings of the ancient Greek, Chaldean, Egyptian and Roman civilizations as well as archaeological evidence from Europe, North and South America and Asia. These tried and tested processing techniques remained essentially the same until the advent of the industrial revolution. Examples of ready-meals also exist from pre industrial revolution times such as the Cornish pasty and the Haggis.
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.
BENEFITS
- Mass production of food is much cheaper overall than individual production of meals from raw ingredients. Therefore, a large profit potential exists for the manufacturers and suppliers of processed food products.
- More and more people live in the cities far away from where food is grown and produced. In many families the adults are working away from home and therefore there is little time for the preparation of food based on fresh ingredients. The food industry offers products that fulfill many different needs.
- 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 de-activating spoilage and pathogenic micro-organisms.
- Modern food processing also improves the quality of life for people with allergies, diabetics, and other people who cannot consume some common food elements. Food processing can also add extra nutrients such as vitamins.
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, fiber and minerals than an equivalent product processed by the food industry.
- Food processing can lower the nutritional value of foods, and introduce hazards not encountered with naturally-occurring products. Processed foods often include food additives, such as flavorings and texture-enhancing agents, which may have little or no nutritive value, or be unhealthy. Preservatives added or created during processing to extend the 'shelf-life' of commercially-available products, 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". So-called junk food, produced to satisfy consumer demand for convenience and low cost, are most often mass-produced processed food products.
- The additions of these many chemicals for preservation and flavor have been known to cause human and animal cells to grow rapidly, without going into Apoptosis.
PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS FOR FOOD PROCESSING
When designing processes for the food industry the following performance parameters may be taken into account:
- Hygiene, e.g. measured by number of micro-organisms per ml of finished product
- Energy consumption, measured e.g. by "ton of steam per ton of sugar produced"
- Minimization of waste, measured e.g. by "percentage of peeling loss during the peeling of potatoes'
- Labour used, measured e.g. by "number of working hours per ton of finished product"
- Minimization of cleaning stops measured e.g. by "number of hours between cleaning stops"
TRENDS IN MODERN FOOD PROCESSING
Cost reduction
Profit Incentive drives most of the factors behind any industry; the food industry not least of all. Health concerns are generally subservient to profit potential, leading the food processing industry to often ignore major health concerns raised by the use of
industrially-produced ingredients (partially-hydrogenated vegetable oils, for example, a well-known and well-researched cause of heart disease that is still commonly used in processed food to increase profit margin).
HEALTH
- Reduction of fat content in final product e.g. by using baking instead of deep-frying in the production of potato chips, another processed food
- Maintaining the natural taste of the product e.g. by using less artificial sweetener than they used before.
HYGIENE
The rigorous application of industry and government endorsed standards to minimize possible risk and hazards. In the USA the standard adopted is HACCP. Lims solutions help industry to manage those quality standards.
EFFICIENCY
- Rising energy costs lead to increasing usage of energy-saving technologies, e.g. frequency converters on electrical drives, heat insulation of factory buildings and heated vessels, energy recovery systems, keeping a single fish frozen all the way from China to Switzerland.
- Factory automation systems (often Distributed control systems) reduce personnel costs and may lead to more stable production results.
- Excellent efficiency and quality is the world of food processing
MINISTRY OF FOODPROCESSING & INDUSTRIES
The Ministry of Food Processing Industries, set up in July 1988, is the main central agency of the Government responsible for developing a strong and vibrant food processing sector; with a view to create increased job opportunities in rural areas, enable the farmers to reap benefit from modern technology, create surplus for exports and stimulating demand for processed food. The industry of food processing is as follows;
- Fruits and vegetable processing industry
- Food grain milling industry
- Dairy products
- Processing of poultry and eggs, meat and meat products
- Fish processing
- Bread, oilseeds, meals (edible), breakfast foods, biscuits, confectionery (including cocoa processing and chocolate), malt extract, protein isolate, high protein food, weaning food and extrude/other ready to eat food products.
- Beer, including non-alcoholic beer
- Alcoholic drinks from non-molasses base
- Aerated waters / soft drinks and other processed foods
- Specialized packaging for food processing industries
FRUITS & VEGETABLES
The installed capacity of fruits and vegetables processing industry has increased from 1.1 million tones in January 1993 to 2.1 million tones in 2006. The processing of fruits and vegetables is estimated to be around 2.2% of the total production in the country. The major processed items in the fruit and vegetable segment are fruit pulps and juices, fruit based ready-to-serve beverages, canned fruits and vegetables, jams, squashes, pickles, chutneys and dehydrated vegetables. Some recent products introduced in this segment include vegetable curries in reportable pouches, canned mushroom and mushroom products, dried fruits and vegetables and fruit juice concentrates.
DAIRY INDUSTRY IN INDIA
India has the highest livestock population in the world with 50% of the buffaloes and 20% of the world's cattle population, most of which are milch cows and milch buffaloes. India's dairy industry is considered as one of the most successful development programmes in the post-Independence period. In the year 2006-07the total milk production in the country was over 94.6 million tones with a per capita availability of 229 gms per day. The industry had been recording an annual growth of 4% during the period 1993-2005, which is almost 3 times the average growth rate of the dairy industry in the world. Milk processing in India is around 35%, of which the organized dairy industry account for 13% of the milk produced, while the rest of the milk is either consumed at farm level, or sold as fresh, non-pasteurized milk through unorganized channels.
POULTRY INDUSTRY
It is believed that the Indian Poultry Industry is 5,000 years old, since last 4 decades it began to witness remarkable growth from backyard to poultry industry. The organized sector of poultry industry is contributing nearly 70% of the total output and the rest 30% in the unorganized sector. The broiler industry is well dominated in southern states in our country with nearly 60-70% total output coming from these states. The layer industry once again is represented more in southern states especially, Andhra Pradesh, Tamil Nadu and Maharashtra producing nearly 70% of the country's egg production. India's 75% of egg produce is consumed by the 25% population living in urban and semi-urban areas. Presently about 800 hatcheries are operating in the country.
MEAT AND MEAT PRODUCTS
India ranks top in animal and cattle population. The meat and meat processing industry is still to come up. Some top players in the meat processing industry like Venkateswara Hatcheries, Godrej Agrovet, Vista Processed Food, Al Kabeer, Allanasons etc., with modern state-of-the-art slaughter and processing plants, have changed the entire scenario, making the industry grow at almost 10%. There is a huge scope for expanding exports, especially in buffalo and poultry meat, eggs and dairy products
CONCLUSION
At last I concluded my presentation; Increasing incomes are always accompanied by a change in the food habits. Over the last three decades in India a shift in food habits have been observed. The report observes that the proportionate expenditure on cereals, pulses, edible oil, sugar, salt and spices declines as households climb the expenditure classes in urban India while the opposite happens in the case of milk and milk products, meat, egg and fish, fruits and beverages.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/business-opportunities-articles/food-processing-industry-4648790.html
About the Author S.Balamurugan final year MBA Sri Kaliswari College, Sivakasi.
