THE BASICS OF FOOD

PROCESING AND
PRESERVATION
MATERIAL II

I MADE SUPARTHA UTAMA

OUTLINES
SMOKING
FERMENTATION
SALTING
SIZE REDUCTION
EXTRACTION
MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE

SMOKING
Meat, fish and some other foods may be
both preserved and flavoured through
the use of smoke, typically in a smokehouse.
The combination of heat to dry the food
without cooking it, and the addition of
the aromatic hydrocarbons from the
smoke preserves the food.

SMOKING
Desirable Effects of Smoking
Brings out the color inside cured meats.
Impregnates the outside of the meat with constituents of the smoke

that serve as antiseptics and germicides.

Imparts desirable organoleptic properties.
Causes a tenderizing action which results from increased activity of

enzymes if the meat temperature is elevated above 60F (16C).

Causes a tenderizing action that results from the meat being

exposed to high temperatures and high humidities in the

smokehouse.
Imparts antioxidants to the fats.
Has a destructive action on microorganisms when the smokehouse

temperature is above 120F (49C).

Imparts a desirable finish or gloss.
Reduces the nitrite content.

Contents of Smoke
Hardwood smoke will yield the following range
of concentration in the Smokehouse:
Formaldehyde, 25 to 40 ppm.
Phenols, 20 to 30 ppm.
Formic acid, 90 to 125 ppm.
Higher aldehydes, 140 to 180 ppm.
Ketones, 190 to 200 ppm.

Acetic and higher acids, 460 to 500 ppm.

Resins, over 1,000 ppm.

The Incubation Zone

Mesophilic bacteria will grow during the

incubation period or zone, which is 65 to

105F (18 to 41C).
The tendency is for the bacteria count to
increase during this period; however, the
total count will be considerably reduced at
the end of the smoking period.
A good smoking practice is not to hold the
product in this zone for more than 6 to 8
hours.

The Residual Effect.

The residual effect of the smoke on
bacteria is very pronounced.
Most smoked cured products will keep
considerably longer than unsmoked
cured products.
The residual effect of smoke against
molds is much less than the effect
against bacteria.

FERMENTATION
Fermented foods are among the oldest processed foods
and have formed a traditional part of the diet in almost all
countries for millennia.
Today they continue to form major sectors of the food
processing industry, including baked products, alcoholic
drinks, yoghurt, cheese and soy products among many
others.
During food fermentations, the controlled action of
selected micro-organisms is used to alter the texture of
foods, preserve foods by production of acids or alcohol, or
to produce subtle flavours and aromas which increase the
quality and value of raw materials.
Today the preservative effect is supplemented by other
unit operations (for example pasteurisation, chilling or
modified atmosphere packaging

The main advantages of

fermentation
the use of mild conditions of pH and
temperature which maintain (and often
improve) the nutritional properties and
sensory characteristics of the food the
production of foods which have flavours or
textures that cannot be achieved by other
methods
low energy consumption due to the mild
operating conditions
relatively low capital and operating costs
relatively simple technologies.

The main factors controling the growth

and activity of micro-rganisms in food
fermentations are:

availability of carbon and nitrogen sources, and

any specific nutrients required by individual
micro-organisms
substrate pH
moisture content
incubation temperature
redox potential
stage of growth of micro-organisms
presence of other competing micro-organisms.

Types of food fermentations

Micro-organisms that produce a single main byproduct are termed homofermentative, whereas
those that produce mixed products are
heterofermentative.
Fermentations can be classified into those in which
the main products are organic acids and those in
which ethanol and carbon dioxide are the primary
products.
Lactic acid and ethanolic fermentations are among
the most important commercial fermentations
Many fermentations involve complex mixtures of
microorganisms or sequences of microbial
populations which develop as changes take place in
the pH, redox potential or substrate availability.

Salting
Salt is one of our oldest preservatives and
is still a widely used preservative.
Salt in concentrations in which it is
normally used in preservation is not a
bactericide, but rather inhibits many
species of bacteria.
Salt exerts its preservative action by
dehydration, direct effect of the chloride
ion, removal of oxygen from the medium,
sensitization of the organisms to carbon
dioxide, and interference with rapid action
of proteolytic enzymes.

The Brine Concentration Formula.

The effectiveness of salt is based upon the amount

of moisture in the tissues.
The ratio of salt to water is expressed as brine
concentration.
The brine concentration is arrived at by dividing the
percentage of salt by the sum of the salt plus the
moisture.
This figure is then multiplied by 100. Luncheon meat
containing 3.5 percent salt and 59 percent moisture
would have a brine concentration of 5.60 percent.
Dried beef containing 50 percent moisture and 3.5
percent salt would have a brine concentration of 6.54
percent.

Requirement Vary

cooked pork may require only five percent salt to inhibit

the production of toxin by Clostridium botulinum
organisms, whereas ten percent salt might be required for
the same inhibitory action in dextrose broth.
It has been observed that in different media of the same
moisture content, there may be more salt required to
prevent the formation of Clostridium botulinum toxin in
one than in the other.
The Clostridium botulinum organism is commonly found in
canned meat products and cured meat products.
There will normally be sufficient salt present to keep the
Clostridium botulinum organisms in a spore-forming state,
so that there will be no toxin produced.
There must always be sufficient acid or salt to keep the
Clostridium botulinum organisms in a spore-forming state.

Salt Loving Organisms

There is a group of bacteria classified as
halophiles ("salt loving") that will grow in
the presence of high concentration of salt.
Some of these organisms will even grow in
a saturated (26 percent) or supersaturated
salt solution.
Bacteria that will grow in a salt
concentration of tenpercent or higher are
classified as halophiles.
There are also many varieties of yeast and
mold that will grow in a salt concentration
above ten percent

SIZE REDUCTION

Many food processes frequently require the reduction in size of

solid materials for
different purposes.
For example, size reduction may aid other processes, such as
extraction, or may shorten heat treatments, as in blanching and
cooking.
Comminution is the generic term used for size reduction and
includes different operations such as crushing, grinding, milling,
mincing, and dicing. Most of these terms are related to a
particular application, for example, milling of cereals, mincing of
beef, dicing of tubers, or grinding of spices.
The reduction mechanism deforms the piece of food until it
breaks or tears.
Breaking of hard materials along cracks or defects in their
structure is achieved by applying diverse forces.
The types of forces commonly used in food processes are
ompressive, impact, attrition or shear, and cutting

Benefit of Size Reduction

An increase in the surface-area-to-volume ratio of

the food which increases the rate of drying, heating
or cooling and improves the efficiency and rate of
extraction of liquid components (for example fruit
juice or cooking oil extraction).
When combined with screening, a predetermined
range of particle sizes is produced which is important
for the correct functional or processing properties of
some products (for example icing sugar, spices and
cornstarch).
A similar range of particle sizes allows more
complete mixing of ingredients (for example dried
soup and cake mixes)

Different methods of size

reduction

Chopping, cutting, slicing and dicing:

(a) large to medium (stewing steak, heese and sliced fruit

for canning)
(b) medium to small (bacon, sliced green beans and diced
carrot)
c) small to granular (minced or shredded meat, flaked fish
or nuts and shredded vegetables).

Milling to powders or pastes of increasing fineness

(grated products > spices > flours > fruit nectars >
powdered sugar > starches > smooth pastes)
Emulsification and homogenisation (mayonnaise,
milk, essential oils, butter, ice cream and margarine)

EXTRACTION

One area in food processing that is receiving increasing attention is extraction.

This separation process involves two phases. The solvent is the material added
to form a phase different from that where the material to be separated originally
was present.

Separation is achieved when the compound to be separated dissolves in the

solvent while the rest of the components remain where they were originally.

The two phases may be solid and liquid, immiscible liquid phases, or solid and
gas. Solidl iquid extraction is also called leaching.

Oil from soybean, corn, and rice bran cannot be separated by mechanical
pressing, therefore, solvent extraction is used for their recovery.

Oil from peanuts is recovered by mechanical pressing and extraction of the

pressed cake to completely remove the oil.

One characteristic of solvent extracted oilseed meal is the high quality of the
residual protein, suitable for further processing into food-grade powders.

They may also be texturized for use as food protein extenders.

Solid-Liquid Extraction (Leaching)

This is a separation operation in which the

desired component, the solute, in a solid
phase is separated by contacting the solid with
a liquid, the solvent, in which the desired
component is soluble.
The desired component leaches from the solid
into the solvent. Thus the compositions of both
the solid and liquid phases change.
The solid and liquid phases are subsequently
separated and the desired component
recovered from the liquid phase.

TYPES OF EXTRACTION PROCESSES

Single-Stage Batch Processing

In this process, the solid is contacted with solute-free

solvent until equilibrium is reached. After equilibrium,

the solvent phase is drained out of the solids.

Multistage Cross-Flow Extraction

In this process, the solid is contacted repeatedly,

each time with solute free solvent. This procedure

requires a lot of solvent, or in the case of a
soxhlet, a lot of energy is used in vaporizing and
condensing the solvent for recycling, therefore, it
is not used as in industrial separation process.

Multistage Countercurrent
Extraction

This process utilizes a battery of extractors. Solute-free solvent enters the

system at the opposite end from the point of entry of the unextracted solids.
The solute-free solvent contacts the solids in the last extraction stage, resulting in
the least concentration of solute in the solvent phase at equilibrium at this last
extraction stage.
Thus, the solute carried over by the solids after separation from the solvent
phase at this stage is minimal.
Solute-rich solvent, called the extract,merges from the system at the first
extraction stage after contacting the solids that had just entered the system.
Stage to stage flow of solvent moves in a direction countercurrent to that of the
solids.
The same solvent is used from stage to stage, therefore solute concentration in
the solvent phase increases as the solvent moves from one stage to the next,
while the solute concentration in the solids decreases as the solids move in the
opposite direction.
A good example of a multistage countercurrent extraction process is oil extraction
from soybeans using a carousel extractor. This system called the rotocell is now
in the public domain and can be obtained from a number of foreign equipment
manufacturers.

MODIFIED ATMOSPHERE

Modified atmosphere is a way to preserve food by operating on the

atmosphere around it. Salad crops which are notoriously difficult to
preserve are now being packaged in sealed bags with an atmosphere
modified to reduce the oxygen (O2) concentration and increase the
carbon dioxide (CO2) concentration. There is concern that although
salad vegetables retain their appearance and texture in such
conditions, this method of preservation may not retain nutrients,
especially vitamins. Grains may be preserved using carbon dioxide. A
block of dry ice is placed in the bottom and the can is filled with grain.
The can is then "burped" of excess gas. The carbon dioxide from the
sublimation of the dry ice prevents insects, mold, and oxidation from
damaging the grain. Grain stored in this way can remain edible for five
years. Nitrogen gas (N2) at concentrations of 98% or higher is also
used effectively to kill insects in grain through hypoxia. However,
carbon dioxide has an advantage in this respect as it kills organisms
through both hypoxia and hypercarbia, requiring concentrations of only
80%, or so. This makes carbon dioxide preferable for fumigation in
situations where an hermetic seal cannot be maintained.