Food Processing: Technology and Nutritive Value.

This booklet examines the principles of food preservation, food preservation techniques, and nutrition-related consequences of food processing. All foodstuffs in their natural state will deteriorate and become unfit for human consumption due to internal factors, such as enzyme activity, or external factors, such as insects, rodents, and microorganisms. Food preservation techniques have relied on: (1) a reduction of water activity through drying and smoking; (2) a modification of the acidic level, through fermentation or the addition of an acid; (3) heat, through blanching, heat sterilization, and pasteurization; and (4) cold, through refrigeration and freezing. Various techniques for the preparation, storage, and conditioning of food, as well as the nutrition-related consequences of food processing, such as vitamin, mineral, and protein loss, are examined in detail. (MDM)