PROCESSING OF FOOD

Blackberry juice processing

2012-01-06T02:54:00.000-08:00

Blackberries to be washed to remove dust and grubs, allowing to drain before putting through juicing machine.

Blackberry juice can be extracted either from fresh or frozen. Frozen berries may be cold pressed because freezing plays the part heating in breaking down the mucilaginous components.

Pressing of the fruit to extract juice is done in either hydraulic or mechanical horizontal basket presses.

For hot processing, clean, ripe, wholesome berries are heated and agitated in a steam-jacketed between 60 to 82 °C. When this temperature range is reached, the crushed berries can be pressed in a hydraulic rack and cloth press.

Heat treatment before pressing increase the yield, aroma and favor of the fruit.

Thermal treatment are usually used together with pretreatment of the fruit with pectolytic enzymes. This depectinization causes the releases of more juice through breakdown of cell wall.

The juices from blackberries contain high amounts of pectin making the juices viscous, an enzymatic depectinization is necessary in the production of clear juices and concentrates.

Around 50-100 ppm of pectinase is typically added for this purpose and juice recovery with use of these enzymes is typically in the 85-95% range.

Pectinase will improve juice and color extraction while retaining the organoleptic properties of the fruit.

The berries contain anthocyanins and a small amount do other flavonoids. The colored berries are generally very good sources of anthocyanins and processing techniques are being developed to release more of these from the skin during juice processing.

Blackberry juice can be fermented into a wine. Blackberry juice was sometimes used to color grape wine in Europe.

Blackberry juice processing

Modern Food Processing

2011-12-22T23:44:00.000-08:00

The rapid development of commercial food processing in the twentieth century has continued and now dominated food processing.

The focus of modern food processing has been on producing more food in order to feed masses of people and a greater variety of foods to provide options to this mass consumer base.

New food processing and manufacturing concepts, food structure engineering, process design and control, and hygienic aspects are the elements of advanced modern food plants.

It can provides new opportunities for the development of new foods and for the improvement of safety and quality do more conventionally manufactured foods through milder processing.

Progress in food processing can be accelerated by adopting new technologies from other manufacturing industries.

Modern food technology provides a handful of novel processing options to explore, which could provide more diverse food industry products and more competitive and efficient processes.

However, modern processing must reduce raw materials costs, capital investment, plant energy consumption, inventory in the plant, and the amount of pollutant generated.

The modern processing should improved process flexibility, safety and control technology.

Modern Food Processing

Condensed milk processing

2011-11-21T08:05:00.001-08:00

The early solution to the problems of distribution of fresh milk was to process it. The process were making milk safer and ending the dreadful sequence of nineteenth century urban epidemics associated with tainted milk.

Unsweetened and sweetened condensed milk can be made from milk or recombined milk. Concentrated milk, also called condensed milk, by definition is product obtained by partial removal of water from milk.

It contains not less than 7,5% milk fat and not less than 25.5 % total solids, it is pasteurized but not processed by heat to prevent spoilage and it may be homogenized.

The main common manufacturing steps in the production of condensed milk are standardization, preheating, concentration and homogenization.

For condensed milk, water is removed from milk under a vacuum. The vacuum allows for milk to be heated and condensed at a lower temperature than in the open vat method in order to improve taste and quality.

Sweetened condensed milk has about 44 % added sucrose and water activity of about 0.82. Sweetened condensed milk should not be confused with canned evaporated milk.

Sweetened condensed milk has enough sugar added to make the total carbohydrate content 56%, compared with the 10% carbohydrate content of evaporated milk. Sugar is used to preserve the product.

Condensed milk are process into types of products: bulk and canned milk. Canned products are intended mainly for home use as a baking ingredient. Bulk milk is used or sold for further processing into other dairy products or for processing into non-dairy products.
Condensed milk processing

Process of Fermentation

2011-11-16T06:14:00.000-08:00

Fermentation technology is one of the oldest technologies employed in the food processing industry.

The term fermentation is derived from the Latin verb ‘fervere’, to boil, which describes the appearance of the action of yeast on extracts of fruits or malted grain during the production of alcoholic beverages.

In general it can be defined as the process of growing a culture of microorganisms in a nutrient medium at maintained physic-chemical conditions and thereby converting feed into desired end product.

Fermentation involves the breaking down of complex organic substance into smaller ones.

The microbial or animal cell obtains energy through glycolysis, splitting a sugar molecule and removing electrons from the molecules.

Fermented products encompass, but are not limited to wine, beer, vinegar, bread, soy sauce, sauerkraut, kimchi, pickled, olive, different fermented milk products, a large number of cheeses and a variety of sausages.

Many species of microorganisms are used for carrying out the process of fermentation to produce useful products. They include bacteria, fungi, algae and actinomycetes.

Several advantage of fermentation technology included:
*Produces value added and add variety to the human being’s diets.
*Preservation of the food.
*Food quality improvement through flavor development, nutrient enrichments.
*The food more nutritious.
*Detoxifies of foods

Today large numbers of chemicals are produced by fermentation technology with the advent genetic engineering and the developments in computer technology.
Process of Fermentation

Crystallization in food processing

2011-10-27T20:58:00.000-07:00

The process of forming crystals from solution is known as crystallization. It is a physical method of separation to obtain the solid in a pure form.

Crystallization is a term that describes several different phenomenon related to the formation of a crystalline lattice structure.

In food industry crystallization process is used for two specific purposes. Firstly, it is used to separate out a solid phase of different composition from liquid phase and one or both the fractions may be valuable.

Alternatively, crystallization is used without effecting separation of fractions in order to control or bring about desirable changes to the texture of the solid product.

Crystallization is often a four step process that includes:
*Generation of a supersaturated state
*Nucleation – formation of nuclei
*Propagation – crystal growth
*Maturation – crystal perfection or continued growth

Controlling crystallization in food processing requires control of the relative rates of nucleation and growth. To make the appropriate number and size of ice cream requires that the proper conditions are met during ice cream manufacture.

To make smooth texture of ice cream, many small crystals must be formed during processing.

Crystallization may serve for the recovery of crystalline products – (sugar, glucose, lactose, citric acid, salt), for the removal of certain undesirable components or for modification of certain food products in order to obtain a desirable structure.

In the process of crystallization of triglycerides, it is a complex phenomenon characterized by fairly slow growth rates and polymorphic transitions of their crystallized phases.

In crystallization of sucrose, it is the final step in the recovery of sugar from sugar cane or sugar beet. Also called ‘sugar boiling’, sugar crystallization of sugar is a complex process requiring precise control, skill and experience.

In principle, crystals are always pure. Impurities, which are sometimes found can be removed by washing.

In fondant processing, the temperature at which the syrup is nucleated is a critical parameter.

If nucleation is induced at temperature other than the optimal temperature, fewer crystals will be form than the maximum number, and the texture of the fondant will be unsatisfactory.
Crystallization in food processing

Yoghurt processing

2011-10-21T01:25:00.000-07:00

The milk use during production depends on the type of yoghurt being made. Whole milk or skimmed milk can be used. Milk chosen for yoghurt manufacturing must be of high bacteriological quality.

All yoghurt processing begins with milk pasteurization. Higher temperature and longer hold times are used for yoghurt production than most other cultured yoghurt. Milk is heat treated to denature milk proteins.

The denatured protein result in a former yoghurt texture and shorter incubation times. It gives a more stable yoghurt as well as eliminating bacteria contaminants and reducing the oxygen content of the milk.

Yoghurt milk heated to 85°C for 20 minutes and incubated for 42° for 3 hours. The incubation may be in stored tanks or in retail containers. In both styles, flavoring can easily be added by a dosing pump immediately before dispensing into the containers used for distribution.

Although unhomogenized milk may be used for yoghurt, most manufacturers homogenize yoghurt mix in order to prevent creaming during the incubation period, to assure uniform distribution of the milk fat, and to stabilize the coagulum against whey separation.

Furthermore, homogenization, followed by high temperatures, improve yoghurt viscosity.

Some yoghurts are made with unhomogenized milk to intentionally provide a cream layer on top of the yoghurt.

Milk is turned into yoghurt using bacteria called Bacillus lactus. Modern industrial processes utilize defined lactic acid bacteria as a starter for yoghurt production.

A starter consists of food grade microorganisms that on culturing in milk predictably produce the attributes that characterized yogurt. These are added to the milk as a bacteria culture.

The bacteria grow and produce lactic acid that thickens the milk and creates the acidic flavor of yoghurt. Fermentation is stopped by immediately cooling the product.

The final product has a pH value of about 4-4.2 and contains 0.7-1.1% of lactic acid. The yogurt is then cooled to 5° C and stored at the temperature.

The majority of yoghurts manufactured in the United States is Swiss-style, or stirred, stabilized with modified food starch, typically from waxy and gelatin.

The popularity of yoghurt has been propelled by the availability of sweetened fruit flavored product.
Yoghurt processing

High Pressure Processing

2011-10-19T23:10:00.000-07:00

The primary aim of treating foods with high pressure processing in most cases is to reduce or eliminate the relevant foodborne microorganisms that may be present.

Applying high pressure uniformly throughout a food product is another method of non-thermal food preservation. This inactivates microorganisms, spores and undesirable enzymes, and increase the shelf-life of foods without the used of chemical preservatives.

The pH and water activity of foods can also significantly affect the inactivation of microorganism by high pressure processing.

Japanese is a leader in this technology. In Japan, the technique has been used since 1990 on some juice, jams and jellies.

Although it was discovered in 1899, treating foods with high pressure is a relatively mew method of preservation and one still under development.

High pressure processing or pascalization is named after Blaise Pascal, a 17th century French scientist who describe how contained fluids are affected by pressure.

Jams made by high pressure processing retain the taste and color of fresh fruit, unlike conventional cooked jams. High pressure processing is also used in yoghurts, salad dressings and citrus juices.

The draw back of this method it is costly to implement, but interest in the technique was revived during the 1980s and 1990s.

In recent years, food preservation strategies have been developed that combine high pressure processing with the use of anti-microbial food additives.
High Pressure Processing

Additive in food processing

2011-10-18T20:25:00.001-07:00

A food additive is a substance (or a mixture of substance) which is added to food and is involved in processing of food without being a major ingredient.

Their use is as old as cookery. Additives or their degradation products generally remain in food, but in some case they may be removed during processing.

The modern concept of food processing has given a new dimension and conventional household to grow into a full-fledged food technology.

The concept of food additive keeping in pace with the technological advance, enlarged their horizon encompassing a number of a functional additives to improve the quality, shelf life, nutritional status, economies, as well as aesthetics of the products.

The following examples illustrate and support the use of additives to enhance the:

Nutritive Value of food
Additive such as vitamins, minerals, amino acids and amino acids derivatives are utilized to increase the nutritive value of food. Such fortification and enrichment have helped reduce malnutrition in the US population.

Sensory Value of Food
Color, odor, taste and consistency or texture, which are important for the sensory value of food, may decreases during processing and storage. Such decreases can be corrected or readjusted by additives such as pigment aroma compounds or flavor enhancers.

Shelf Life of Food
The current forms of food production and distribution, as well as the trend towards convenient foods, have increased the demand for longer shelf life. Furthermore, the world food supply situation requires preservation by avoiding deterioration as much as possible.

The extension of shelf life involves protection against microbial spoilage, for example, by using anti-microbial additives and by using active agents which suppress and retard undesired chemical and physical changes in food.

To maintain product consistency
Emulsifiers give products a consistent texture and prevent them from separating. Stabilizers and thickeners give smooth uniform texture.

Major additives sued in food processing include alternate sweeteners, anti-caking agents, antioxidants, bleaching and maturing agents, bulking agents, coloring agents, curing agents, dough conditioners, emulsifiers, enzymes, fat replacer, firming agents, flavoring agents, fumigants, humectants, irradiation, leavening agents, lubricants, nutrients supplements, pH control substances, preservative, propellants, sequestrants, solvents, stabilizer and thickeners, surface acting agents, and sweeteners.

It is generally recognized that additives are applied only when required for then nutritive or sensory value of food, or for its processing or handling.

Although many additives are used in very small amounts,, it has been estimated that the average American consumes about 5 pounds of additives per year. If included sugar – the food processing industry’s most used additive – the number jumps to 135 pounds a year.

Food additives play a vital role in today’s bountiful and nutritious food supply. They allow the grown urban population to enjoy a variety of safe, wholesome, tasty foods year around. And they make possible an array of convenience processing foods without the inconvenience of daily shopping.
Additive in food processing

Preservation of fresh juice

2011-09-30T21:40:00.001-07:00

Refreshing juices of pleasing flavor can be made from many fruits. The problem is one of to preserving the juice that as much as possible of its fresh flavor and appearance is retained.

Despite the many path ways to deterioration, there are a number of effective preservation methods that have evolved to combat spoilage.

A principle tenant of juice preservation is to maintain the quality and nutritional attributes while preventing spoilage.

Fresh juice can be stored and not lose too many nutrients by keeping it cold, such in an insulated container, covered in the refrigerator. Attention to good sanitation practices from production through juice preparation and low temperature holding are the two processes that capable of extending storage.

Low temperature during manufacture and storage is an valuable hurdle to deterioration, Single strength juice freezing and storage in a low oxygen environment can maintain fresh character as well or better than any other process.

The most practical way of accomplished this is by pasteurization by heat at temperatures from 150 ° to 180 ° F.
Preservation of fresh juice

Process of Baking

2011-09-22T23:21:00.000-07:00

Bread and other baked products have been reported as the main nutritional sources today.

European populations are estimated to obtain approximately half of their required carbohydrates and about one-third of their protein from bread.

Baking is probably the most famous department in the culinary arts. In the culinary arts, baking is the art of cooking food using an oven.

The food is cooked through applying dry heat evenly through the oven and into the food. It is used in producing pastry based goodies such as pies, tarts and cakes.

The baking guidelines for cookies vary incredibly, depending on the type and formulation. Some cookie dough may be refrigerated or frozen for later uses depending on the chemical leavening agents present and the mixing process used.

Cookie dough that contains baking powder has a high tolerance for storage in the refrigerator and freezer because the majority of the gas is created during exposure to heat.

The dry heat in the oven causes the starch to gelatinize and results to the browning or charring of the outside of the food.

Dough are exposed to a defined heat for a certain time during the baking process in the oven. Baking stability of the preparation means that it does not start boiling or melting.

Some people in the culinary arts might think that the charred part or the brown part is not as tasty as it sounds, but this part is actually what gives taste and flavor to the baked good, partly sealing the moisture of the food.

The browning apparent in the baked good is caused by the sugar caramelizing and the chemical reaction that happens between the reduction of sugar and the amino acid (Millard reaction).

Moisture in the baked goody, on the other hand, is not really completely kept in, in time as the goody is being baked it will become drier and drier.

There are stages in baking process take places as follows:
*Formation and expansion of gases
*Trapping of the gas in air cells
*Coagulation of proteins
*Gelatinization of starches
*Evaporation of water
*Melting of shortenings
*Crust formation and browning

In baking industry, large numbers of processes are used, in which the processing time and conditions can be altered. With the introduction of new technologies, for examples, frozen and par-baked breads, new requirements are set for the baker’s skills.
Process of Baking

Food Bio-preservation

2011-09-04T22:55:00.000-07:00

There exist microorganism that are nontoxic and have been found even to be beneficial, directly or indirectly, to human health.

The inhibition of foodborne pathogens by lactic acid bacteria is one form of natural food preservation.

Nowadays, this tendency for natural preservation of foods has provided the basis for the development of new methods of preservation, such as bio-preservation or biological preservation of foods.

Use of natural antimicrobial systems is studied because consumers and governments move away from extensive use of artificial preservatives.

Bio-preservation aims for the reduction of health risks without changing the organoleptic properties of the products.

It is biological preservation of foods referred to as extension of shelf life and the improvement of safety of products by mean of the endogenous microflora or using cultures as starters for protective, and/ or their metabolites.

It also referred to a combination of fermentation and preservation processes and entails the extension of shelf life and improving the safety of food.

The main goal of bio-preservation is the enhancement of safety using bacteria with antimicrobial capabilities or their substances.

The preserving action of this bacteria is not necessarily associated with their ability to ferment the food of interest.

Bacteria used in bio-preservation should be harmless to humans, complete well with spoilage and pathogenic microorganisms for nutrients of food if conditions are conducive to microbial growth, and produces acids and other antimicrobial agents, particularly bacteriocins.

Bacteriocins can be defined as protein containing macromolecules with a capacity to exert bactericidal action on susceptible bacteria.

E. coli produce colicins and lactococci produce nisin and diplococcion. The bacteriocins inhibit some gram-positive bacteria, spore forming bacteria and food borne pathogens, including Listeria monocytogenes.
Food Bio-preservation

Process of caramelization

2011-08-28T05:58:00.000-07:00

Caramelization belongs to the group of so-called browning reactions.

Caramelization is relatively simple at least by comparison. Caramel has a brown color and it originates from various sugars when they are heated.

Pure sucrose melts at 186 degree C, decomposition begins at lower temperature and continues up until around 199 degree C.

It become so hot that it melts and fairly rapidly goes from a colorless liquid to a golden brown and then to a deep brown following by black if heating continue.

As it darkens, the sugar develops its characteristics caramel flavor.

Caramelization results in hundred of compounds being generated as a sugar decomposes, and these new compounds result in both browning and the generation of enjoyable aromas

These commonly occur on
-Baking, cooking, heating, roasting and toasting of foods including coffee, roasted nuts.
-Prolonged storage of fruits, vegetables and other foods

The aroma of a simple caramelized sugar has several different notes, among them buttery and milky (from diacetyl), fruity (esters and lactones), flowery, sweet rum-like and roasted.

As the reaction proceed, the taste of the mixture becomes less sweet as more of the original sugar is destroyed, with more pronounced acidity and eventually bitterness and an irritating, burning sensation.

Two important roles of caramelization in the food industry are caramel flavour and color production.
There are three commercial types of caramel colors:
-Acid fast caramel, used in cola drinks, s made suing ammonium bisulphate catalyst
-Brewers’’ color, found in beer is made form sucrose in the presence of ammonium ion
-Baker’s color, in baked goods, results from direct pyrolysis and sucrose to give burnt sugar.
Process of caramelization

Coffee Harvesting

2011-08-20T20:12:00.000-07:00

Coffee Harvesting
Coffee harvesting may have different objective depending in the method of processing as well as the availability and cost of labor.

Where the wet or semi-dry method is to be used, traditionally the main objective is to maximize the percentage of ripe cherries harvested.

On the other hand, if the dry method is to be used, the usual objective is to harvest all cherries simultaneously with the least percentage of unripe ones.

The ideal situation is to harvest all fresh, ripe cherries with the least possible damage to the tree, irrespective of the processing system to be used.

With the harvesting technology available today, 100% ripe cherry harvesting may be only achieved be selective hand-picking, which generally corresponds to the most expensive operation available.

In situations where labor is scarce or expensive in relation to coffee prices, selection may have to be overlooked so unripe and over-ripe cherries must then be picked. This is mostly the case today, with 100% ripe cherries harvesting nearly impossible to achieve with or without selective picking.

High quality coffee may still be produced in any case from the fresh, ripe cherries alone, but the total volume of high quality coffee available is then smaller.

Ideally, only ripe coffee berries should be harvested because they provided the best beverage. In Brazil, 90% of the plantation are harvested manually; the berries are stripes from the plant branches and fall on the ground, into basket or on fabric or plastic strips laid under the plant. Letting the berries fall on the ground is not recommended because dirt, debris, moldy and rotten berries end up being collected as well.

However, mechanical harvesting has been increasingly used it is so difficult to hire manage and pay the large force required for manual harvesting; operational, costs may drop by 40%. Mechanical harvesting is more suitable for medium to large plantation in areas with slopes of up to 20% incline.
Coffee Harvesting

Processing Factors on Flavor

2011-08-18T17:02:00.000-07:00

Various production and processing factors can effect the flavor in addition to the complexity of flavor.

Apart from product safety, flavor stability are important issues for the evaluation by the consumer.

Therefore the requirements for the flavor of the final product are increasing. This requires extensive knowledge in various field:
*Processing properties of the flavor
*Behavior of the flavor during the production of the food
*Behavior of the flavor during the shelf life of the food
*Interactions of flavor and foodstuff.

Minor effects from processing include those from filtration, aeration and freezing, but by far the most important factor is heat.

This may cause chemical changes in the flavor, but the main problem is the loss of volatiles.

This may have the effect of reducing the fresh top note of a flavor. If the key recognition chemicals have widely different boiling points, heat could render the flavor unrecognizable.

The products odor, as well as its taste, contribute to its flavor. The favor industry works very closely in many areas to recover volatiles lost in processing which when treated from valuable entities.

The choice of solvent can reduce this problem. In some instances, volatile chemicals may be replaced by higher boiling analogues.

In processes involving considerable heat, such as bakery and extrusion, the best solution is multiple encapsulation.

Numerous new volatile compounds are formed during the processing of grain. Although they are often identical compounds, their amounts and relative proportions may vary significantly depending on the process parameters, thereby resulting in different flavors.

Important flavor compounds in rye sourdough are alcohols, ester and carbonyls. In baking, mainly compounds related to the Millard reaction form: alcohols, acids, aldehydes, hydrocarbon-substitutes furans, ketones, lactones, pyrazines, hydrocarbon-substituted pyroles, and sulphur compounds.
Processing Factors on Flavor

Oats Kilning Process

2011-08-07T18:39:00.001-07:00

The fat content of oats is high and the grain contains an active lipase. Lipase serves no useful purpose in milled oats products d if present, it would act on the fat to release undesirable free fatty acids, which result in the development of hydrolytic activity.

Unless lipase is inactivated, this process will occur when groats is disrupted by flaking or milling and the lipase comes into contact with the oil.

When oats are to be used as human food their storage becomes a problem because of the quick and easy way in which the oil develops rancidity.

For this reason oats for human consumption are usually kilned or semi-roasted in order to destroy the enzymes.

Kilning process is carried out in a radiator kiln in which the oats are treated with steam and heat.

Rancidity normally arises from lipase activity and successful kilning therefore, implies inactivation of the lipase.

Inactivation of lipase is also important to help maintain adequate flavor in the stored products.
Oats Kilning Process

Pineapple juice processing

2011-06-19T17:58:00.000-07:00

The manufacturer of pineapple juice is a good example of the interaction of plant breeders, horticulturists, food technologists and engineers on an industrial process that evolved over many decades.

The juice was and to some extend still a byproduct of solid pack operations.

Pineapple juice is often recovered from the ejected skins and cores from the machines which cut the pineapple in preparation for canning.

Other source of fruit for juice are small pineapple, physically damaged fruit that is unsuitable for canning and off-cuts from the canning line.

This waste material is utilized by using a screw press to recover the juice.

The juice contains up to 40% pulp. The pulp content is reduced, usually by finishing with a screw-type finisher followed by centrifugation, before pasteurizations and concentration.

Screening and centrifugation of these fractions also necessary to remove skin specks or eyes.

For preparing pineapple juice concentrate, the juice is concentrated in a multiple effect vacuum pan. The fresh pineapple juice at about 12 Brix concentrated to 60-65 Brix for manufacturing purpose or to 45 Brix for packing in retail size 6 oz cans.
Pineapple juice processing

Gelatinization process

2011-06-02T03:41:00.000-07:00

Gelatinization process is characterized by the gelatinization temperature, above which the gelatinization of the starch suspension starts due to heat and moisture transfer phenomena.

It is the process that starch molecules undergo to thicken a liquid. It was defined by the expert as phase transition of granules from an ordered state to a disordered one.

When moist heat is applied to starch, the granules gelatinize, forming a mixture of thick, soft and creamy consistency.

This behavior makes starch useful for many purposes in food as an adhesive and thickening agent and industrial applications such as making paper paint and cosmetics.

There are three stages of gelatinization using starch:
*Heating the starch
*Absorbing the liquid
*Thickening the liquid

The process is essential for many industrial processes as it alters the rheology and viscosity properties of the system that the starch is in and it also makes the starch more accessible to enzymatic action.
Gelatinization process

Cocoa Powder Processing

2011-05-14T21:17:00.001-07:00

There are two types of cocoa powder, natural and Dutch processed.

Natural cocoa powder tends to be acidic and in many cases, harsh because inferior quality cocoa beans are often used to produce it.

Dutch-processed cocoa powder has been treated to reduce its alkali.

Adding alkali to natural cocoa powder mellows its flavor and darkens its color.

The process adding alkali to cocoa powder was discovered in the early nineteenth century by Coenraad Van Houten, who was Dutch: that’s the reason this type of coca is known as Dutch processed cocoa powder.

Van Houten patented a press that removed most of the bitter fat which accounts for more than half the weight, from the ground, roasted beans.

Through the use of Van Houten’s invention, two distinct products were produced: a hard cacao cake and cacao butter.
Cocoa Powder Processing

Distillation in flavor industry

2011-05-14T17:34:00.000-07:00

Distillation is a process in which the separation of components in a mixture is achieved due to differences in volatility, that is differences in vapor pressure, of the components in the mixture to be separated.

In flavor industry distillation is frequently utilized for the isolation of flavor compounds, the formation of artifacts during distillation has been a subject of considerable interest.

It is extensively used throughout the flavor industry for:
*the recovery of volatile components from aromatic plants materials by distillation. The distillation process can take many form, Direct steam distillation in a blow over uses a very short condensation column. Condensed product is collected directly.

*Fractionalization of essential oils. The process of reclaimating the aroma of fruit products and specifically fruit juice concentrates by fractional distillation.

*The purification of volatile aromatic chemicals from more or less volatile impurities.

*The recovery of solvents during the process of extraction

*The concentration of natural flavoring materials

*In destructive distillation for the production of pyroligneous acid

*In numerous research and analytical technique

After the separation of extract and extraction material a complete removal of solids and cloudy components has to ensue. This filtration process can be performed with continue or discontinuous filters or by centrifugation with full jackets, reciprocal; pusher or sieve centrifuges.
Distillation in flavor industry

Food Irradiation

2011-04-10T07:55:00.000-07:00

Food irradiation has generally come to describe the use of ionizing radiation, an energetic charged particles such as electrons and alpha particles, or energetic photons such as gamma rays and x-rays to decrease the population of, or prevent the growth of, undesirable biological organism in food in a controlled manner.

Food irradiation is unique because the ionizing radiation is penetrating and transfer energy without a significant rise in temperature, thus it its termed a ‘cold process.’

Exposing food to radiation energy disrupts the organic processes essential to life and the reproduction of organisms.

It will destroy pests and pathogens on food and agricultural products. It also used to delay the ripening and extend shelf-life of fruits and inhibit the sprouting of certain vegetables such as potato. .

During the irradiation process, energy waves from gamma rays, electrons, or X-rays break molecular bonds inside the genetic materials of pathogens, spoilage organism and insects, such cause them to die or prevents them from replicating.

Food irradiation has become established as a better alternative for food preservation. It eliminates the use of harmful chemicals for treatments.

There is no other food processing technology that has been so extensively researched as food irradiation.
Food Irradiation

Extraction of Fruit Juice

2011-04-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Global fruit juice sales hit the 54 billion liter (BnL) mark in 2007 and are forecast to rise 15% by 2011 to 62 bnl.

Western European currently consume an average of 31 L of juice a year per capita. Juice is growing fast in Eastern Europeans (18 L are consumed annually per capita in Russia) as well as in India and China.

The extraction of juice from fruit is an ancient art dating from the earliest of records where wine is often mentioned.

Fermentation of fruit juice so the alcohol content preserved the fermented juice was one of the earliest forms of food preservation by the human species.

Preserved fruit juices keep their fresh taste and attractive color as long as they are not heated for too long or at too high a temperature. Prolonged boiling or heating changes the taste except with tomato and apricot juice.

Manufacturer of fruit juice has progressed from the farm or cottage industry into the efficient technology of modern food processing with the rapid changes in most technologies.

Throughout the temperature area of the world, fruits used for the major quantities of juices are citrus, pome and grape or vine fruits.

Hand picked fruit is generally of good quality and needs little pre-press treatment, but the growth of automatic harvesting, particularly with apples, creates may new problems of debris and dirt such as leaves stones and twigs, all of which need to be removed prior to pulping.

Methods of extracting fruit juices are dependent upon the structure and edible portion of the fruit.

Preservation methods include thermal treatments, freezing, chilling, concentration and for some clear juices, fine filtration.

Juice may taken apart by removing volatile flavour components, water, bitterness and acidity and then recombined to produce a consistent product. Fruit derived bases may be manufactured from the remaining fruit material after the juice has been extracted.

Pasteurization is often required to stabilize the product by removing microorganisms that could produce fermentation and/or spoilage, affecting clarity, taste and shelf life.
Extraction of Fruit Juice

Cereal Processing: History of Milling

2011-03-22T08:34:00.000-07:00

The objective of cereal milling is to remove the bran and germ from the seed and to free the endosperm. This left whole as in rice milling, ground into coarse pieces (wheat semolina, maize grits) or milled into flour.

Since prehistoric times up to the middle of the 19th century, cereal grains were ground in small mills, driven by hand, wind or water power.

The process of milling wheat into flour was revolutionized around 800 BC in Mesopotamia, when animal, water and wind power were harnessed for the first time to run the large stones used for grinding.

In ancient Rome the mill and the bakery were the very same enterprise. The grain were milled and worked up without delay to dough and bread.

The flour ground in such a mill was whole grain flour, because the complete cereal grains poured into the mill on top, came out out as flour at the bottom.

Probably the most ancient technique involves the grinder rocking backwards and forwards while grasping an ellipsoid stone in both hands which crushes the grain within a larger concave stone suits in front of the grinder.

Both upper and lower stone are usually made from a hard igneous rock such as granite or basalt to avoid the production of stone in the grinding process.

Around the Mediterranean and possibly also in China during the first half of the first millennium BC, there were two sophisticated versions of the handmill the hopper-rubber and the lever mill.

Moving to the milling process proper, it was in 1878 that Henry Simon took 19 British millers, to Hungary to view the all steel rollermill invention.

This machine became the heart of what is known as the gradual reduction system, commonly used worldwide today.
Cereal Processing: History of Milling

Production of Cognac

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Cognac is a drink described as a “symbol of luxury, refinement and art de vivre.”

Cognac is produced only in the Cognac region of France and is considered the very height of brandy.

Cognac is produced from selected wine varieties which are vinified and distilled with great care. The quality of grapes and the manufacturing process is carefully controlled to ensure maximum quality.

Therefore, cognac is very expensive.

Ugni Blanc grape is used because it is perfect for distilling because of its high acidity and low sugar and alcohol content.

The grape employed for the base wine for cognac production are nearly all from Charente and the adjacent regions of Deux-Sevres and Dordogne.

In order for it to be called cognac, it must also be distilled in copper pot stills and aged in French oak barrels.

It is made by double distillation - distilling twice in pot stills. Spirit distilled from fruit is brandy, cognac is a brandy twice distilled from wine.

The distillation employed in the production of cognac is known as the Charente process.
Production of Cognac

Process of Milk Pasteurization

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Process of Milk Pasteurization
Pasteurization, named after Louis Pasteur (1622-1895), its originator, was originally used to treat wine and beer, but soon came into use to treat milk as well, when it found that heating milk for a short time to below its boiling point killed microorganisms.

Pasteurization destroys 100 percent of pathogenic bacteria, yeasts and molds and 95 to 99 percent of other, nonpathogenic bacteria.

The process of pasteurization also inactivated many of the enzymes that cause the off-flavors of rancidity.

In the United States pasteurization was championed by Alice Catherine Evans (1881-1975), a microbiologists who worked for the US department of Agriculture.

Evans suffered from a disease known as brucellosis (undulant fever) and in 1918 she discovered that brucella, the bacterium that caused her disease, could be found in cow’s milk.

Scientists eventually determined that brucella was not the only milk borne bacterium. Milk can harbor other bacteria – such as E. coli, salmonella, and listeria – which can cause harmful and even life threatening infectious in the young, the old, pregnant women and the infirm.

Indeed, unpasteurized cow’s milk was a very common cause of tuberculosis, typhoid fever and salmonellosis.

Evans advocated on behalf of pasteurization for years after her discovery. Finally in the 1930s, milk pasteurization became mandatory under US law.

The advantages to be derived from pasteurization vary with the conditions under which the milk is produced and the efficiency with which the work is conducted.

If the milk comes from dairies where disease and uncleanliness prevail, pasteurization will prolong the keeping quality of the milk and also materially lessen the danger from disease germs.

If on the other hand, healthfulness and cleanliness receive the exacting attention which prevails on certified dairy farms, nothing can be gained by subjected milk to the pasteurizing process.
Process of Milk Pasteurization

History of Aseptic Packaging

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History of Aseptic Packaging
Aseptic packaging is an area of food packaging in which a food product and a package are commercially sterilized separately and combined in a commercially sterile environment.

The aseptic processing and packaging process has seen tremendous growth and remarkable advances since its inception in the 1940s.

The first invention was likely a device for carrying food. Hunters and gatherers needed to lighten the burden of bringing food back to a central camp.

These early camps were undoubtedly located near water, because the means of transporting liquid was still long way off.

As population grew and were forced to move father away from a secure source of water, the need to carry liquids became urgent. Skins and shells, followed by pottery and ceramics and then glass, metals and plastics, became the materials needed for storing, preserving and transporting liquids.

The used of glass containers for food dates back to 1200 BC. Glass proved to be particularly useful type of food packaging, because it did not react with food and was a highly effective barrier against oxygen, a common cause of food spoilage or deterioration.

Packaging food in paper began around 200 BC , when the Chinese used a type of paper made from tree bark to package foods.

Paper products evolved slowly until the late nineteenth century, when advances made during the industrial revolution helped make the production of paper bags and other products possible.

Canning truly revolutionized food packaging. There is evidence that containers made of tin-plated iron was used as early as the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, but the use of these containers was not widespread, because they were considered poisonous to food.

In 1989 the Institute of Food Technologist an organization of food scientists devoted to improving the production and distribution of food, selected aseptic packaging as “the most significant food science innovation in the past fifty years”.

Ruben Rausing in Sweden reportedly conceived the concept for holding milk in a container made form a paperboard composite.

The original package had a tetrahedral shape and was called a Tetra Pak.

This new technology was married to aseptic technology, and a new industry was born. The box-shaped package that is so widely available is a laminate of six layers of three materials: paperboard 70% polyethylene 24%, and aluminum 6 %.

Innovations in plastic technology and plasma discharge silica coating technology offer the promise that more foods will be packaged in efficient septic packages during the twenty first century.
History of Aseptic Packaging