IntroductionFood processing is the transformation of raw ingredients into food, or of food into other forms. Food processing typically takes clean, harvested crops or 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.

The food processing sector is highly fragmented industry, it widely comprises of the following sub-segments: fruits and vegetables, milk and milk products, beer and alcoholic beverages, meat and poultry, marine products, grain processing, packaged or convenience food and packaged drinks. A huge number of entrepreneurs in this industry are small in terms of their production and operations, and are largely concentrated in the unorganized segment. This segment accounts for more than 70% of the output in terms of volume and 50% in terms of value. Though the organized sector seems comparatively small, it is growing at a much faster pace.

Brief 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)

• In 1809 Nicolas Appert invented a vacuum bottling technique that would supply food for French troops

• This contributed to the development of tinning and then canning by Peter Durand in 1810. 

• Pasteurization, discovered by Louis Pasteur in 1862, was a significant advance in ensuring the micro-biological safety of food.

• In the 20th century, food processing developed with advances such as spray drying, juice concentrates, freeze drying and the introduction of artificial sweeteners, coloring agents, and preservatives such as sodium benzoate

• 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.

FermentationThe fermentation bioprocess: 

• Is the major biotechnological application in food processing

• It is one of the steps in the sequence of various food processing operations.

• Makes use of microbial inoculants to enhance – taste– Aroma– Shelf-life– Texture– Nutritional Value

Schematic steps of an ideal fermentation process

inoculants

Bioreactor

Raw material

Pre treatment

Incubation

Product separation

Fermented product

Downstream processes

Final product

Benefits

Drawbacks

Industries

PROMINANT FOOD COMPANIES:

Current Trends in Modern Food Technology

The Indian ScenarioIndia, with the second arable land in the world, and with diverse agro-climatic zones across the country, has tremendous production advantages in agriculture, with the potential to cultivate a vast range of agricultural products. For example, India produces 41% of world’s mangoes, 30% of cauliflowers, 28% of tea, 23% of bananas, 24% of cashew nuts, 36% of green peas and 10% of onions. This strong base in agriculture provides a large and varied raw material base for food processing. These advantages if leveraged optimally, can translate into India becoming a leading food supplier to the world.

Indian trends in the Food Processing Industries

    In recent years, the Indian food processing industry has experienced sudden growth levels, owing to increasing urbanization and commercialization. These post liberalization trends have led to changing lifestyle, food habits and a more organized food retail.

There has been a notable change in consumption pattern in India. Unlike earlier, now the share and growth rates for fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy have gone higher compared to cereals and pulses. Such a shift implies a need to diversify the food production base to match the changing consumption preferences.

Structure of the Indian Food Processing Industry

In terms of policy support, the ministry of food processing has taken the following initiatives:

1. Formulation of the National Food Processing Policy2. Complete de-licensing, excluding for alcoholic beverages3. Declared as priority sector for lending in 19994. 100% FDI on automatic route5. Excise duty waived on fruits and vegetables processing

from 2000 – 016. Income tax holiday for fruits and vegetables processing

from 2004 – 057. Customs duty reduced on freezer van from 20% to 10%

from 2005 – 068. Implementation of Fruit Products Order9. Implementation of Meat Food Products Order10.Enactment of FSS Bill 200511.Food Safety and Standards Bill, 2005

The Indian Scenario

Safety

Systems approach: Safety design

ConclusionThough there is tremendous potential in the food processing industry, it needs strong and dependable chain facilities to support the increasing production of various perishable products like milk, fruits, vegetables, poultry etc. Any attempts to project emerging trends during the new millennium must be viewed in the backdrop of anticipated changes in the global trade of food commodities under the WTO(world trade organization) regime. Further, a number of major influences which will govern the future trends in new products development so far as global food is concerned.