Historical developments in food science and technology - Indian perspective.

摘要

In pre-historic times, the ability to preserve food was an important factor for survival. The main and basic raw materials for processing of food in India are the cereals, in which wheat being the most important one followed by rice, maize, rye, oats and barley. The important processed fruits include orange, apple, pineapple, mango and others. The most widely processed vegetables are potato, beans, cabbage and tomato. Sugar, a constituent of most of the foods on display and particularly of confectionary is derived from the sugarcane grown in India. It is also now derived from beetroot. Meat in India is used from domestic animals like cattle, sheep, pigs and chicken. The seas and lakes are still the main sources of fish but in recent years fish is being reared in hatcheries and ponds. Meat and fish products are preserved by refrigeration at all stages of processing, manufacture, and transport in India. The poultry sector of modern India has transformed from backyard rearing to commercially organized, scientific and fastest growing sector among the livestock economy in the country. A silent revolution has been taking place in the last 4 decades in the poultry sector to take India to a mark on the poultry map of the world. Baking is the basic technology used for most cereal based food products. Irradiation is one of the latest technologies used in food processing. Till 1947 in India, consumption was limited to baby foods, canned foods, preserves and beverages. Slowly the food industry was dominated by rice hullers, chakkis and similar low technology units. Between 1947 and 1980, there was slow modernization of processing methods, hullers were replaced by shellers, chakkis for wheat were supplemented with flour mills, ghanis yield into expellers and others, which include solvent extraction plant, refineries, etc. This was followed by building up of equipment fabrication facility and development of indigenous packaging materials. Today, there is well established ready mix processing, fruit juice concentrate, tetra pack drink, extruded products, tertiary processed foods, ready-to-eat (RTE) extruded snacks, frozen RTE foods, retort pouched foods, warm and eat foods and health oriented foods. The recent history of brewing in India features the grading of licenses in 1970s. Currently there are at least 55 operational breweries in India. With respect to the sterilization of milk, the first ultra high temperature (UHT) plant was established in 1982. The soybean processing had its modest beginning in 1975. Today, the availability of soybean oil in the national oil pool is very high. The soybean processing industries are optimistic of fulfilling the twin objectives of meeting the edible oil and foreign exchange requirements of the country. Currently there are different categories of convenient foods viz. RTE foods, ready-to-drink/ready-to-serve fruits and vegetable based processed foods, ready-to-use foods, etc. The review also deals with aspects related to current status and future prospects with respect to organic milk, radiation processing of food, oscillating magnetic field, nano composite materials in food processing and biopolymers for food packaging and vacuum impregnation.