High quality oats grain for processing

Common white oats, Avena sativa, are by far the most widely grown species. Oats are traditionally grown in moist, temperate regions.

Oat grain serves dual use as both a human food, chiefly as oatmeal or a component of breakfast cereal products, and as a high quality feed for horses and other livestock.

It has higher protein level among the cereal with 12 to 20% protein in the dehulled kernel and 9 to 15% in the whole grain, depending on genotype and environmental growth conditions.

Oats to be milled for human consumption should be plump, sound and free from heat damage, foreign odors, wild onion seed, smut, must and molds. Good quality oats are free form dust and are not dull colored.

Usually only grade 1 or grade 2 oats are accepted for food processing. Plumpness contributes to a good yield and desirable texture in the finished oatmeal. Grain plumpness and uniformity reducing the portion of small grains also improved milling productivity.

Heat or mold damage, or the presence of foreign materials, leads to off-color particles and off-flavors.
High quality oats grain for processing 

Food Preservation

Food preservation is the application of techniques to prevent or minimize undesirable changes in food.

Preservation aims either to destroy or inhibit the growth of harmful microorganisms in food by making an environment unsuitable for them.

From the nutrition viewpoint, food preservation is essential in improving the general health of the family by supplying it with a varied and balanced diet.

Food preservation assures the consumer of a supply of foods that are out of season.

Preserved food can be transported long distances from where it is produce and stored for long periods in warehouse or homes without risk of its decomposed or endangering health.

Food preservation involves the use of heat, cold, drying, (water activity or Aw), acid (pH), sugar and salt, smoke, atmosphere, chemicals, radiation and mechanical methods.

A methods of making food safer that us well known and accepted today is pasteurization.

Pasteurization is the process of heating foods to a temperature for a designated period of time to destroy disease-causing and/or food spoilage bacteria.

It is to reduced the number of harmful microorganism, of present, to a level at which they do not constitute a significant health hazard.

A newer form of pasteurization is called ultrahigh temperature (UHT) pasteurization.

The amount of bacteria killed a heat method such as pasteurization depends how high the temperature is, and how long the food is held at the low temperature for a long time.

But using very high heat means that the food can be kept at that heat for a shorter time.

Preservation techniques that limit the availability of water, such as drying, salting and smoking and those that use heat, such as canning and pasteurization, dramatically alter the nature of food itself.

High pressure processing is another technology gaining popularity in recent years wherein high pressure are used to inactivate microorganisms in foods.

There are are several methods of applying electricity instead of heat to a pasteurize food; these technique are referred to as cold pasteurization. Irradiation, ohmic heating and high intensity pulsed electric fields are some of these technologies.

Irradiation methods involve treatment with ionizing radiation – gamma rays, x-rays, ultraviolet radiation and microwaves.

Pulsed food processing technologies include pulsed electric fields, pulsed light fields, and pulsed magnetic field.
Food Preservation

Changes during Processing

Changes during Processing
The epoch making discovery of fire by human unleashed their innovative capabilities in many directions both beneficial and destructive yet the most important application that revolutionized the lifestyle of human beings and in no small measure contributed to their health and welfare is the thermal treatment of food.

Humans have learnt to cook, to broil, to steam, to bake, to roast, to fry, to smoke and to barbeque food on burning coal, wood or oil, transmitting heat through metal surface contact, by convection, by radiation, using steam or gas or fluids.

To these can be added in modern times, to pasteurize (UHT) treatments heating with infrared, microwave and ohmic heating.

Each of these treatments can transform raw food commodities into speciality appetizing products with distinctive texture, taste, flavour and aroma.

Along with these culinary inputs the food could be decontaminated of biohazards, such as pathogens, toxins, endogenous toxicants and anti-nutritional substances.

Its chewability and digestibility could be improved and unpalatable off taste and color eliminated or minimized.

Yet gradually some ill effects of processing on food compositions and wholesomeness started to come to light, for example the Maillard interaction between carbonyl and amino compounds and their subsequent cyclization and polymerization, caramelization reactions that lead to the formation of heterocyclic compounds, polycyclic aromatic molecules, nitrosamine and such other toxic, carcinogenic and mutagenic molecules during processing.

Although these are known to be produced in trace quantities the consumer has become aware of the lurking danger.

Possible chronic cumulative effects are yet o be assessed. New analytical techniques with increased sensitivity and specificity are needed to monitor these molecules.
Changes during Processing

What is the Meaning of Fresh Foods?

What is the Meaning of Fresh Foods?
The word fresh in the marketing of foodstuff has become something of a mantra in the past decade. However what the manufacturer and retailer mean by fresh and what the consumer understands are sometimes very different. We understand that the fresh bread has been baked within the last 48 hrs and fresh milk came from the cow within a similar period of time. So can fruit juice (the raw material could be weeks old), just because it has been pasteurized and required chill chain distribution be justifiable called ‘fresh’? Also, ‘fresh’ fruit juice could have 30 day best before life: is it still ‘fresh’ after 30 days? ‘Fresh’ fruit and vegetables could be several days old at the point of sale.

‘Fresh’ has three connotations to the consumer: the first is a about how recently it was derived from its source, the second is about minimal processing and the third about its eating quality. Pasteurized milk could be less than 24 hrs from the cow when place on sale. UHT milk when processed is no older than pasteurized milk but no one would describe UHT milk, even on the day of processing, as fresh. In a supermarket, fresh fish means raw fish: it was probably caught several days ago and has been frozen.

The consumer does not experience age of product or type of process: the consumer will buy fresh foods on the basis of a superior eating quality, often expect to pay a premium and accept a short shelf life. For the industry to offer both better value and greater convenience in the fresh foods market, we need to better understand that the consumer experiences as fresh food and how they discriminate ‘fresh’ from ‘processed’ foods. It is better be able to offer the fresh foods eating experience that is both good value and convenient.
What is the Meaning of Fresh Foods?