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Food
processing becomes the buzzword at IIT, Kharagpur, as a new short-term
course introduces processing alternatives for the industry, says HN
Mishra
Developments
in food processing technology and engineering play an important role
in making a wide variety of food items available all round the year
in nutritious and aesthetically packaged forms. Keeping this view in
mind, the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kharagpur, is organising
a short-term course on 'Innovative Food Processing Technologies' in
the first week of October 2004.
IIT, Kharagpur has a team of researchers for areas dealing with post-harvest
technology, dairy and food engineering, farm machinery power workshops,
aqua-cultural engineering, and so on. Many sponsored research projects
and development activities undertaken by the institute and deal with
integrated rainwater management, soil tillage, utilisation of fly ash,
ergonomic database for agricultural equipment, integrating remote sensing
data with distributed hydrological models and creating model pilot plants
for producing industrial enzymes.
The course caters to the recent developmental trends in the food-processing
sector. The changing kitchen practices including the increasing demand
for readyto- eat meals, instant foods and snack foods, have increased
the demand for processed foods in the country.
The course is tailored to disseminate information on new developments
in technology for the processed food industry to teachers, researchers
and food professionals working in universities, colleges, research and
development institutions and industries for a better understanding of
the current techniques used for food processing.
This 12-day long course to be held from October 4-15 will deal with
issues like basic principles of food processing and preservation, fundamentals
of post harvest preservation and food engineering, constraints, solutions
and potentials in food processing, designing new products from market
perspective, product development through experimental design, neural
network and logic approach in food product development, application
of image processing, vacuum high pressure technology, membrane technology,
Super Critical Fluid Extraction(see story on page 42) and fermentation
and enzyme technology in food processing.
Role of engineering in food processing plants
Ingredient preparation and deriving a formula: Food
products contain a variety of ingredients that may be originally available
in a useful form or may require extensive processing from agricultural
commodities. Ingredients that are suitable for use without processing
must be weighed, metered, or dispensed with, in a reliable and accurate
manner, to yield a complete formula. Ideally, in the early stages of
development small batches of a recipe or a formula are prepared for
commercial purposes where much larger batches or continuous formulation
is required.
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