FST 60291 Food Preservation

Course Description: This course explores advanced concepts and methods in food preservation. It covers traditional and modern techniques, emphasizing scientific principles, technological advancements, and practical applications.

Course Objectives:

• To understand the principles and methods of food preservation.

• To analyze the impact of preservation methods on food quality and safety.

• To evaluate current technologies and innovations in food preservation.

• To apply knowledge of preservation techniques to real-world scenarios.

History and Evolution of Food Preservation. Importance and Objectives of Food Preservation. Food attributes: Colour, Texture, Flavour and Nutritive value. Basic Principles of Food Spoilage and Preservation. Post harvest losses due to Physical, Chemical and Microbial causes and control measures.; Overview of Preservation Methods.

Thermal Processing: Concepts; Methods; Advantages and Disadvantages; Low Temperature Preservation: Refrigeration and Freezing, Advantages and Disadvantages, Types of refrigerants, Food Freezing Concept, Freezing curves, Methods, Factors affecting freezing rate, Changes during freezing, Freezing defects, Thawing, Equipmentation; Drying and Dehydration: Concept of water activity, Theory of drying. Advantages and disadvantages of drying. Methods of drying, Factors affecting drying rate. Physico-chemical changes during drying, Rehydration ratio and Coefficient of rehydration.  

Chemical Methods of Food Preservation: Class I & Class II Preservatives; Mechanisms of action; FSSAI Specifications, Tolerable limits, Toxicity; Use of Natural Antimicrobials: Plant, animal and microorganism derived.

Fermentation and its Role in Food Preservation;; Packaging, Aseptic and Modified Atmosphere Packaging (MAP); Emerging Chemical and Biological Methods. Irradiation and its Applications: Mechanism, Unit of radiation, Radappertization,  Radurization, Radicidation. Dose requirements for various foods, Public health aspects of Irradiated Food. 

Technological Innovations in Food Preservation: Nanotechnology in Food Preservation; Pulsed Electric Fields (PEF) and Ultrasonic Processing; Advances in Packaging Technologies; Smart and Active Packaging  Principles of bio-preservation. Principles of advanced food preservation technologies; Microwave heating, Ohmic heating, Hurdle technology, High pressure processing, Electric pulse, Ultrasound wave etc. 

 Technology of food preservation by Desrosier and Desrosier  Food Science by N.N. Potter 

Student will be able: 

a) To gain knowledge of basic principles and methods of food preservation. 

b) To understand different types of equipment, involve in various preservation techniques. 

c) To determine the preservation methods suitable for different food materials. 

d) To get knowledge on Post-harvest losses and different technique used to prevent these losses. 

e) To get knowledge of food spoilage and methods to increase their shelf life.