Food processing is the transformation of raw products into food. Food processing includes many forms. From grinding to home cooking to complex industrial methods used to make convenience foods. Some food processing methods play important roles in reducing food waste and improving food preservation, thus reducing the total environmental impact and improving food security.
The optimal design and construction of the food processing equipment depends on the specifications and requirements of the food processing application benefits of food processing including toxin removal, preservation, easing making and distribution tasks and increasing food consistency. In addition, it increases yearly availability of many foods, enable transportation of delicate perishable foods across long distance and makes many kinds of foods safe to eat by de-activating spoilage and pathogenic micro-organisms. Modern supermarkets would not exist without modern food processing techniques. Processed foods are usually less susceptible to early spoilage than fresh foods and are better suited for long distance transportation from the source to the consumer.
Mass production of food is much cheaper overall than individual production of meals. Therefore, a large profit potential exists for the manufacturers and suppliers of processed food products. Modern food processing also improves the quality of life for people with allergies, diabetics and others who cannot consume some common food elements. Food processing can also add extra nutrients such as vitamin.
FOOD PREPARATION EQUIPMENT
MECHANICAL PROCESSING EQUIPMENT
METHODS OF COOKING
COOLING & CHILLING PROCESS
FILLING, PORTIONING & PACKING
PACKING TECHNIQUES
SNACK FLEX LINE
PRIMARY FOOD PROCESSING
Primary food processing turns agricultural products (livestock) into something that can eventually be eaten. This category includes ingredients that are produced by ancient processes such as drying, threshing, shelling, butchering including deboning and cutting meat, freezing and smoking. Commercial food processing uses control systems such as hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP).
SECONDARY FOOD PROCESSING
Secondary food processing is the everyday process of creating food from ingredients that are ready to use. Baking bread, regardless of whether it is made at home, in a small bakery, or in a large factory, is an example of secondary food processing. Fermenting fish and making wine, beer, and other alcoholic products are traditional forms of secondary food processing. Sausages are a common form of secondary processed meat, formed by comminution (grinding) of meat that has already undergone primary processing. Most of the secondary food processing methods known to described as cooking methods.
TERTIARY FOOD PROCESSING
Tertiary food processing is the commercial production of what is commonly called processed food. These are ready-to-eat or heat-and-serve foods, such as catering and re-heated airline meals
PERFORMANCE PARAMETERS FOR FOOD PROCESSING
- HYGIENE e.g. measured by number of micro-organisms per mL of finished product
- ENERGY EFFICIENCY 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 stop measured e.g. by ” number of hours between cleaning stop”
