Spick and
span
Himanshu Jain points out why 'clean' is just the beginning
in achieving food safety
As the pressures of modern day living
are mounting, the consumer of today
looks for more and more
conveniences in everyday life. The same is
true for food. After all, food is basic to life.
After a stressful day's work, the energy to
cook a full meal is often lacking and it is here
that the convenience food comes into picture.
Moreover, its not only convenience, but
there's a wide range of variety available. From
pasta to noodles to ready-to-eat food (from
rice to pongal to cooked vegetables) to snacks,
today's tastes go far beyond
what one ordinarily cooks
at home. In fact, the
convenience and
variety together
have
catapulted
the processed foods industry into one of the
fastest growing industry sectors in the country.
Whether it is fresh or packaged, a consumer
wants complete assurance that the food he is
consuming is safe. Moreover, he also does not
want to pay anything extra for that. Thus
comes the need to maintain cost as low as
possible. To achieve this 'not so easy' objective
in the tropical conditions we live in, a very
good understanding of the food and its
processing technology is necessary. It is indeed
a technological challenge to continue to
enhance the shelf life of the packaged food at
a cost, which makes them even more easily
accessible to larger sections of the population.
One of the most basic needs for processing
food and beverages is a 'clean' surface (be it
the vessel in which it is processed or the
packing machine or even the conveyor, which
carries it before packing). The next most
important aspect is a 'clean' environment -
the air, the floor and the surroundings.
Why is 'clean' so important?
The most common quality problem faced by
food processors pertains to this aspect even
though it manifests itself in many ways. It
could be 'higher micro count', 'off-taste', offcolour',
'off-flavour' or even outright 'unfit
for consumption'.
