Description
Food engineering refers to the engineering aspects of food production and processing. Food engineering includes, but is not limited to, the application of agricultural engineering and chemical engineering principles to food materials. Genetic engineering of plants and animals is not normally the work of a food engineer. Food engineering is a very wide field of activities. Among its domain of knowledge and action are: Design of machinery and processes to produce foods Design and implementation of food safety and preservation measures in the production of foods Biotechnological processes of food production Choice and design of food packaging materials Quality control of food production. This new book deals with food engineering research from around the globe.
Chapter 1 – Food processing is an indiscrete part of the chain from cultivation/catch to consumer. During the last decades the food value chain has grown longer and has become more market oriented, i.e. consumer driven instead of producer driven. New information on the effects of food on the health of the consumers and on the environment will continue to influence the choice of consumers regarding food products.
Emphasis on knowledge has and will continue to increase accordingly when producing and marketing food products. The consumer demands knowledge on the origin of the product, on the environmental effects of the production as well as effects on the communities where the production takes place, i.e. the emphasis is on solicitude. At the same time the product should be convenient to cook, safe and fresh. This calls for consistent research and development where the focus in the next years will be on the following areas:
• Fresh products, cooling instead of freezing – superchilling
• Process optimisation, based on precise measurements (such as NMR) and historical data on raw material.
• New processing methods, aiming at minimum processing while ensuring safety at the same time
• Improved use of byproducts
• Engineered products – functional foods
• Low energy use in production
• Supply chain management, including optimisation of transportation
• Genetic improvements of crops and farmed animals.
• Tracebility
• Verification of sustainable and/or organic production, fair and ethical trade as well as other solicitude matters.
• Marketing differentiation
• Increased dissemination of research results and other information to consumers
• OR
• Statistics