Introduction
The number of
different food products
and the operations
and steps involved
in their production
are indeed very
great. Further, each
manufacturer introduces departures
in methods and
equipment from the
traditional technology for
that product, and
pro-cesses are
in a continual state
of evolution. The
food scientist would
soon experience great
frustration if there
were not unifying
principles and a
systematic approach to the
study of these operations.
The processes used
by the food
industry can be
divided into common
operations, called unit
operations. Examples of
unit operations common
to many food
products include cleaning,
coating, concentrating, controlling, disintegrating,
drying, evaporat-ing,
fermentation, forming, heating/cooling
(heat exchange), materials
handling, mix-ing,
packaging, pumping, separating,
and others. These
operations are listed
alphabeti-cally, not
in the order
of their natural
sequence or importance.
Most unit operations
are utilized in
the making of
a variety of
food products. Heat
exchanging, or heating,
for example, is
used in the manufacture
of liquid and
dry food products,
in such diverse
operations as pasteurizing
milk, sterilizing foods
in cans, roasting
peanuts, and baking
bread. Unit operations
may include numerous
different activities. The
unit operation of
mixing, for example,
includes agitating, beating,
blending, diffusing, dispersing,
emul-sifying, homogenizing,
kneading, stirring, whipping,
and working. We
may want to
mix to beat
in air, as
in making egg
white foam, or
to blend dry
ingredients, as in
preparing a ton
of dry cake mix;
or we may
wish to mix
to emulsify, as
in the case
of mayonnaise, or
to homogenize to
prevent fat separation
in milk. We
may wish to
mix and develop
a bread dough,
which requires stretching
and folding, referred
to as kneading.
One of the
key elements to
food processing is
the proper selection
and combination of
unit operations into
more complex integrated processing
systems. These operations and
processes consume great
quantities of energy.
Rationale
Lab performances, attendances,
product preparation and exhibition, Reporting note book, Viva Voce and Final
exam etc. are the main operational base to evaluate students learning feedback.
Objectives
To provide students with an
understanding of the principles, technology and application of unit operations
required and used in processing of food products. Different equipment like
solid food, liquid food and necessary food stuffs based modern procedures are
trained in these lab class.