CLASSIFICATION OF FOODS AND SCIENCE OF PROCESSING
Food technology deals with engineering and other scientific and technical problems involved in transforming edible raw materials and other ingredients into safe, nutritious, and appetizing food products (Desrosier, 1977). Food science is concerned with the basic scientific facts about food, whereas food technology is concerned with the processing of raw materials into foods that meet human needs and wants. Indian agriculture has undergone a sea change during the past half a century. Starting with the campaign for ‘grow more foods’ in the forties, Indiareached ‘self-sufficiency’ during the eighties. Thanks to the ‘Green Revolution’ which swept the country. Advancing knowl¬ edge of food science and engineering developments have made possible the large-scale processing and preserving of food. Accordingly, food science and technology has developed over the past four or five decades into a large scientifically well-ground, and technically sophisticated speciality. It must be remembered that food is eaten primarily to satisfy the hunger and needs of the body for nutrients. This fact makes it clear that food scien¬ tists should have a basic understanding of human nutrition if they are to carry out properly the job of converting raw agricultural, animal and sea products into nutritious as well as acceptable processed foods. Foods may be broadly classified as cereals, pulses, nuts and oilseeds, vegetables, fruits, milk and milk products and fleshy foods. These foods contain substances known as nutrients which perform various functions in the body. Foods for body building: Foods rich in protein, mineral, vitamin and water. Foods for energy: Foods rich in carbohydrates, fats and protein. Foods for regulating body process: Foods rich in minerals, vitamins, water and fiber. Proteins form the major cellular structural elements are biochemical catalysts and are important regulators of gene expression. The above nutri¬ ents are present in almost all foods in vaiying proportions. As far as the science and technology is concerned the foods are broadly classified as: (i) plant foods such as cereals and millets, legumes, nuts and oilseeds, spices and condiments and miscellaneous foods and (n) animal foods such as milk, meat, fish, egg and poultry.
FOOD PREPARATION Neolithic food preparation was primarily a home industry. A hypothetical chronology for development of cooking techniques is given in Fig. 2. All of these originated in the home kitchen. Among the new food preparation tech¬ niques developed were sieving, salting, seasoning, pressing, alcoholic fermentation, acetification (vinegar formation), and bread making. It is interesting to note that some of these are still used in the home, whereas others are employed by commercial food processors.
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