Food processing and nutrition - Essay Example

Food Processing Food processing is a method by which raw ingredients are changed into food by either using chemical or physicalmeans. Food can also be changed into other various forms through processing. The importance of food processing is to produce food forms that can be easily marketed and consumed by human. The process involves methods such as emulsification, liquefaction, mincing, pasteurisation, macerating, cooking, pickling and many more. Food packaging and preservation usually follow after processing. Preservation methods include but are not limited to freezing, drying and other chemical means (Payne, 2014). Food processing and preservation has been found to have a number of importance and impact in the human health. The benefits of food processing and preservation are widely known. These include improvement of nutritional value and flavor. It also lengthens the duration of food. However, some negative impacts have been cited as well. This essay shall discuss both positive and negative impacts of food processing and preservation technology on nutritional and organoleptic and food safety. It shall compare and contrast the methods of food processing and preservation as applicable in different industrial settings, with reference to cost and operational parameters. Food processing and preservation has uncountable benefits. They include removal of harmful germs, easy transportation, easy digestion, increased flavor, easy to cook and many others. Since the arrival of this technology, human beings have been enjoying and appreciating all the aforementioned benefits. The food preservation has just sealed food security by ensuring there is a consistence supply (Lavenstein, 2003). The processed food is usually hard to get spoiled. During the processing, most products are passed through intense heat and in the course of this; micro-organisms that cause spoilage are killed. In some case, food products such biscuits are extremely dried to ensure that they do not easily spoil. The food products that have been treated this way can stay for a very long time before spoiling. Note that no preservation has been applied yet. These products, therefore, travel long distances without spoiling. Food processing and preservation has enabled various continents to exchange foodstuff (Lavenstein, 2003). The West has had a taste of the East and vice versa. In times of crisis, nations have always donated food to the affected victims. During such donations, food travels very long distances, some by air other by road. Were it not for processing and preservation, the food could spoil on the way. Food processing and preservation also removes deadly toxins from the raw food materials. In the course of food processing and preservation, the raw food materials are subjected to various steps that ensure that the food is thoroughly screen for any poisonous elements that may be present. Some food materials usually carry toxins that pose a great threat to the health of human being. For instance, maize without proper processing and preservation may be infected deadly with toxins. When people feed on such maize, they may be killed by this poison (Payne, 2014). Through the modern methods of preservation, food has been less vulnerable to infection of toxins and bacteria. The various technological methods used to pack and preserve food not only prevent the entry of harmful bacteria but also eliminate the ones inside the food. A good example here is the milk processing and preservation. During the processing, milk is passed through ultra-heat that kills all bad bacteria in it. After this, the milk is sealed in packets and tins that do not allow entry of any bacteria (Lavenstein, 2003). Another positive impact that the technological food processing and preservation has had on the human beings is that it ensured partially ensured that people eat healthy food. During processing of milk, for instance, the excessive fats are removed from it. The same applies to meat processing. Meat and milk usually carry fats with very high density. When these fats are consumed by man, they pile inside the veins and may cause blockage of such veins. In extreme case, the bad fats may lead to heart problems as blood will not be able to smoothly flow in the arteries. Processing of these food products, therefore, ensure that no such fats reaches human being (Payne, 2014). Other than the removal of high-density fats, processing also removes excessive sugar from certain food materials. For instance, in the processing of maize, the sugary parts are removed from the seeds. This step ensures that the level of sugar is regulated in food. The diabetic people normally cannot consume food stuff with too much sugar. Sugary food usually worsens their health conditions. The food processing factories usually have this category of people in mind as they prepare food. In fact, most processing companies have started to make food products that are specially meant for the diabetic individuals. For instance, the Coca-Cola Company makes sugar-free soda for this purpose. Were it not for the technology of food processing and preservation, the diabetic patience would have very almost nothing in their diet (Payne, 2014). Lastly, food processing and preservation has greatly improved the nutritional value of food. In the course of the processing, some additives are incorporated into the food. These additives may act as food supplements or flavor (Payne, 2014). When they act as supplements, they purpose to provide the minerals that cannot be easily found in the natural forms of food. These synthetic minerals added in food have really helped a lot in providing the essential minerals in the body. For children, the cases of food deficiency diseases such as Kwashiorkor have been reduced. Food processing technology has also improved the nutritional and organoleptic qualities of food by incorporating special incorporating special supplements for the vegetarian diet (Lavenstein, 2003). The vegetarians can now obtain all the essential minerals such as iron even though they do not eat red meat. These essential elements can as well be made separately as supplement capsules that can be taken separately. Apart from the minerals such as sinc, potassium and iron, food processing also involves addition of rich vitamins. This technology has, therefore, has ensured that no individual suffers from malnutrition. Where the additives act as flavors, they have always improved the taste and color of food, thus, enhancing appetite. This has enabled patients with loss of appetite to eat. Despite the immense benefits of food processing mentioned above, the entire process has also been established to bear several disadvantages that may lead to health risk. Those who against the commercial food processing and preservation have insisted that it does more harm than good to the health of human beings. Among the many reasons given is that processing washes away the essential nutrients from food. There are other negative impacts involved in various methods and stages of food processing as discussed below. Milling, as a method of food processing, eliminate fibre from the cereal foodstuff. During milling, the husks that normally carry fibre are removed from the cereals. These husks usually contain the essential fibrous diet such as B-group vitamins, phytochemicals and other minerals. This fibrous diet usually facilitates smooth digestion in the stomach. When they are removed from the cereals, one may experience digestion difficulties. During the processing of bread, for instance, the fibrous husk is removed from wheat (Lavenstein, 2003). The resultant white bread is less nutritious than whole meal bread. Even the white bread may be fortified with synthetic fibre, it cannot compare to the natural fibre in terms of percentage composition. In canning, food is put inside a closed can and thoroughly heated in an attempt to kill any bacteria that may cause spoilage. Such severe heating usually alters the taste and texture of food. The food may look less appealing, thus, discourages other people from eating. Besides, the water-soluble vitamins such as vitamin C and B-complex are usually lost during such heating (Payne, 2014). These vitamins are very sensitive to high temperatures. It is now clear that important nutrients are lost through this method of food processing. Vitamin C plays the central role in disease prevention and healing. People who entirely depend on processed food are at high risk of contracting diseases. Other methods of processing that employs severe heating is pasteurisation and blanching. Here, the vitamins are lost as well. In pasteurisation, the flavor of milk is altered by the removal of fats and overheating. The milk may eventually have a flat taste (State Government of Victoria, 2015). In Dehydrating, the food is dried out by removing excess water. It is normally done on fruits. During this process, vitamin C is lost through the water that is being dried out. Dehydrating also leaves food with high concentration of energy (Payne, 2014). The high amount of energy in such food may lead to weight gain hence obesity. This is a major health problem. A recent research has also established some bacteria are actually very beneficial in the human intestine. The processing of food kills these bacteria through overheating. For this matter, food actually puts the digestion system at risk. The intestinal bacteria usually play some significant in the digestion (State Government of Victoria, 2015). Having looked at both the good and the bad side of food processing and preservation, the discussion that follow shall now focus on the entire process as applicable in different industrial settings, with reference to cost and operational parameters. This shall be tackled by comparing a highly developed food processing factory with a small scale counterpart. Hygiene is one of the main concerns in this industry. Hygiene is usually measured by establishing the number of micro-organisms in every product. The specialists normally take a small sample of the finished product and take to a laboratory for testing. If a product is found to carry more than a certain standardised number, the product may be rejected. In a well developed food processing and preservation factories, the international hygiene standards have been adopted since the products usually target a global market. Therefore, large factory usually observe strict hygiene regulations. In small scale factories, there may be lack of some machines to validate the hygiene of the products (State Government of Victoria, 2015). However, a small scale factory may have some advantage of the large ones. In small scale setting, few products are processed. This fact minimises the chances of contracting metallic impurities. In large scale setting, there are always several processes that involve grinding and milling. In the course of such processes, there is high likeliness of small pieces of metals getting into food. When these metallic pieces get inside the consumer, they can cause serious digestion problems (State Government of Victoria, 2015). The two settings also show difference in terms of operational cost. In the recent past, there has been a steady rise in the cost of energy. This situation has led to more expenditure for both small scale and large scale factories. However, the large scale factories have heavily invested in the energy saving technology such as energy recovery systems. Small scale factories, on the other hand, can not afford such investment hence still spend more on energy cost (Payne, 2014). Still on the cost of operation, the large scale enterprises have employed technology that enables automation of some services. As such, some duties are automatically carried out by machines instead of real people. This technology has helped the large factories to save money that would have been used as salary for workers. Small scale enterprises, however, may not reach this level. For that matter, they spend more to pay wages (Lavenstein, 2003). This paper analysed both the positive and negative impacts of food processing and preservation. It has established that food processing removes toxins and adds flavor into food. It has also discussed that overheating during processing removes nutrients. Finally, there has been a brief discussion on how large scale factories are well placed in terms operational cost. It is, therefore, clear that food processing and preservation actually has great impacts on nutritional and organoleptic and food safety. Bibliography Lavenstein, H. 2003. Paradox of Plenty. University of California Press. New York. Payne, S. 2014. Food Processing. [Online]. Available at [Accessed 26 May 2015]. State Government of Victoria. (2015). Food Processing and Nutrition. [Online]. Available at [Accessed 26 May 2015]. Read More