Food Processing & Food Engineering Explained [using Earthen Pot]

Today’s topic is Food Processing & Food Engineering.
What is the significance?

Is there any kind of relevance of food processing and food engineering with the food industry or the food technology?

Yes, for a food technologist, it’s very important to understand these two terms because they involve the conversion from raw material to a finished product and how that conversion takes place.

And this is why its very important for a beginner in Food Technology to know about Food Processing & Food Engineering.

Now, assuming that you have already understood food science & food technology, let’s jump right into today’s topic.

So first of all, what is Food Processing?
Food processing is the conversion of some kind of raw material into some kind of finished product.

I have an earthen pot right here and the objective of an earthen pot and the objective of food processing is very similar.

In earthen pot, we pour some water and after some time, the water gets cooler. And earthen pot also protects the water from the outside environment.

Now, I’, not trying to go deep into the science of earthen pot.

What I’m trying to emphasize is on the purpose of an earthen pot.
In an earthen pot we basically make the water more appealing for the consumers, that is the primary purpose.

And in the food processing, we also adopt some functions, whose main purpose is to make the food more appealing for the consumer.
Now, that appealing part can have a lot of meaning for consumers.

Appealing can be in terms of taste, or in terms of nutrition or in terms of the visual appeal, how it looks, how it is packaged and that totally depends on the consumers.

Food processing involves heating of raw milk, it can involve mixing of ingredients, it can involve dicing of meat, cutting of vegetables and fruits and a lot of operations can come under the domain of food processing.

All these operations have a common purpose – ‘To make the food more appealing for the consumers’.

If you look closely and compare the purpose of food processing and an earthen pot, you’ll find that eventually both of them are serving the same purpose.

In an earthen pot, water is made cooler i.e. more appealing and in food processing, the food is made more appealing in terms of taste/nutrition for a consumer.

So, this was the food processing part.
And now, we are moving on to Food Engineering part.

If I have to explain food engineering in one line, then Food Engineering involves the equipment and machines that are used in the food processing of a food product.

Now what does this mean?

This basically means that food engineering involves the study of some kind of engineering concepts and some kind of operations that are involved in the processing and that help to achieve the purpose of food processing.

And in an earthen pot you’ll say okay, Areeb now how will you define food engineering in terms of an earthen pot?

So, food engineering in terms of an earthen pot is very simple.
If you look closely, on this earthen pot we have a tap, or you can also say stop-(valve) but in simple words we will stick with water tap.
This water tap acts as an equipment which makes it easier for anyone to take out water and drink from this pot.
And if this wasn’t present here then we will have to open the lid and we’ll have to take out the water using some kind of utensil and that would be burdensome.
And that is why we have fitted water tap down here so that water can be collected easily.
Now this water tap is an equipment, used with this machine, to make the process of cooling/taking the water more easy/simple/faster.
Also, this whole pot is acting as a machine/equipment which keeps the water cooler and protects it from outside environment.
You can also say that earthen pot is a kind of processor. Obviously it doesn’t involve some hi-fi technology.
But yes, you can also say that this is some kind of food processing happening over here cos some kind of minimal change is happening in this earthen pot.
And this vessel is acting as a kind of food processor to keep the water cooler and also this vessel acts as a protector for the water from spoilage/microorgasnims.
So the water tap, or you can say the lid and the whole vessel are the equipments or they are the machinery that are helping food processing to be completed much faster in a much simpler or you can also say in a more efficient way.
So, to sum up the whole lecture in just 1-2 lines -
Food processing is the conversion of raw food material into a food product which is more appealing for a consumer whereas food engineering involves the machines and equipment used to process the raw food in a faster, easier and efficient way.

Video on food science & food technology - https://bit.ly/2MG6020

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Please watch: "What Is Food Safety & Why You Need to Know About It?"
   • What Is Food Safety & Why You Need to...  
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