Food Spoilage & Unprocessed Foods

Food Spoilage Criteria

• Foods are considered non-compliant when there is a foreseeable health risk from repeated ingestion, not due to excessive use.
• Foods exceeding the safe limits of microorganisms or foreign matter are non-compliant.
• Foods that may harm a group of consumers who the food is specifically designed for are non-compliant, such as infants, diabetics, or pregnant women

Unprocessed Foods (1997 Regulations)

• Foods that have not been subjected to any treatment altering their original state are unprocessed.
• Examples of unprocessed foods include honey, non-emulsified oils and fats, milk, cream, natural mineral water, spring water, sugar, tea leaves, and coffee, excluding flavored instant coffee/extracts.
• Processes like division, chopping, slicing, deboning, peeling, grinding, washing, ultra-freezing, refrigeration, and packaging are allowed, but do not render food into the "processed" category.

Trends Effecting Food Choices

• Lifestyle changes are affecting eating habits because women have entered the workforce which increases buying power but reduces time spent cooking.
• Consumers are seeking convenience in their food choices by wanting similar organoleptic and nutritional qualities but incorporating specific technology for easier manipulation and consumption.

Evolution of Food Production

• Human diet is based on various ingredients and raw materials where people use available foods that vary based on factors like terrain, climate, customs, culture.
• For centuries, food production was based on local resources but scarce resources led to searching for alternatives, increasing trade which diversified diets and influenced eating habits.

Modern Food Industry Transformation

• Western society has undergone big changes influencing food habits which is shown in the industrialization of food production and culinary practices due to technological and scientific advancements.
• Modified equipment now uses new energy sources like gas, electricity, and electromagnetic waves.
• Improvements in storage techniques such as refrigeration, pasteurization, and vacuum packing have extended shelf life, thus expanding market reach and improving safety.

Changes For Consumers

• Consumers can now select their food more carefully with the increase of traditional products and more readily available foods
• Food companies can more easily cater to restaurants, providing food ready to serve in short periods of time

Intermediate Food Products (PAI)

• Food industries have undergone evolution due to the emergence of PAIs, which involves first processing available materials to create new ingredients for specific food products.
• These ingredients can be separated or extracted for specific purposes like their nutritional and functional properties
• PAI usage has extended into collective catering through the "assembly kitchen" concept.

PAI Definition

• PAIs are manufactured products with well-established functional characteristics, able to be properly stored to extend their shelf life
• Isolated and purified fractions of traditional materials can be initial PAIs, the PAIs are integrated with ingredients to make balanced mixtures
• Examples of PAIs include stable frying oils, emulsifiable fats for pastries, and enriched fatty acids for specific diets.
• PAIs normalize chemical and functional properties, allowing for uniform, high-quality products despite natural variations
• PAIs allow for modification in texture, aroma, and preservation, expanding functionality.

Consumer-Driven Food Production

• Food production is focused on consumer demand, therefore raw materials are now used in novel ways which lead to the applications of conservation and distribution methods to diversify commercial offerings.
• Different commercial product groups include base foods, by-products, PAI products and semi-prepared dishes.

Classification of Food

• Foods can be classified based on technological and modern criteria and available offerings:
• Fresh Products
• Appertized Products
• Frozen Products
• Modified atmosphere packaging Products
• Heat process/Vacuum sealed products
• Textured Products
• Prepared Dishes

Fresh Food Products

• Fresh products involve minimal processing, such as refrigeration (0-10°C), used to protect food for transport/storage, representing the most traditional and perishable food type.
• These products are in the Food Code: meats, fish, milk, fats, flours, legumes, vegetables, and fruits.
• Important to establish purchasing behaviors focusing on quality which helps guarantee the final product.

Appertized Products

• Food preserved by hermetically sealed, heat-treated containers to ensure preservation, often called canned foods.
• Responds to 19th-century technology, reaching industrial scale mid-20th century, with no need for special care as long as containers remain sealed.

Semi-Preserved Foods

• Foods preserved for a set time by proper treatment, stored in waterproof containers at normal pressure.
• Require refrigeration to extend commercial life because it requires complementary action from specific elements.
• Includes pre-cooked dishes that undergo heat treatment to reduce microbial load.

Sterilization Methods

• Involves heating packaged products with steam in batches, which risks overcooking, so continuous systems were introduced.
• Modern techniques apply direct ohmic heating by passing an electric current through the food, generating heat within.

Frozen Foods

• Freezing is used to extend shelf life without significantly altering qualities by using efficient ultra-freezing and cold chain technologies
• Frozen foods commercializing since the 20th-century have enabled diverse food availability in the consumer market.

Impact of Freezing Food

• Freezing extends product shelf life and increases product offerings however the food needs to be properly frozen and applied correctly
• Freezing's convenience has led to its growth in collective catering and home cooking, as well as pre-made meals.

Vacuum-Packed and Modified Atmosphere Foods

• A method used to modify food, where pre cut food is packaged to be sold in modern markets, appealing to modern consumers
• Involves operations like selection, washing, disinfection, rinsing, drying, packaging, and sealing under appropriate atmosphere.

Proper Practices For Food Products

• Produce must be kept under the correct temperature to maintain freshness by considering process technology and refrigeration system
• These products offer time savings to produce more diverse amounts of meals easily
• Such products include leafy greens and root vegetables.

Modified Atmosphere Packaging

• Storing food in containers to prevent gas exchange which depends on the food type in total, partial, or in a modified atmosphere
• These new options can help conserve and ration food where you can preserve the nutrients such as Vitamin C.

Modified Atmosphere Consists of:

• Substituting natural atmosphere with a different gas or mixture, effectively doubling shelf life of food.
• Vegetable products require oxygen, whereas other foods only need the air in package substituted to prevent contamination.
• Gases used are nitrogen which lowers water and fat solubility, carbon dioxide to slow bacterial and fungal growth, and oxygen to maintain respiration/color.
• Modified atmospheres improve hygiene, portion sales, and smaller servings.

Heat Treatment and Vacuum-Sealed Foods

• Fifth group of food processing involves heat treatment and vacuum-sealing
• Vacuum sealing can be combined with modified atmospheres, it applies to cooked meals or simply cooked vegetables.
• Notable progress has been made in its food market applications in the late 20th century, differentiating it of food processing

Commercially Available Methods

• Sterilized ready-to-eat meals that are sealed to inhibit all the bacteria present with a sterilization temperature above 100 °C
• Preserved in containers which distinguish permeability and may alter flavor

Commercially Available Methods

• Pasteurized meals contain both animal and vegetable products, with heat treatment between 65 °C and 85 °C that result in a refrigerated time frame of 21-42 days in a vaccum-sealed container
• To prevent bacteria growth the companies pasteurize products where that are incubated and spored, followed by second pasteurization

Convenient Cooking

• Some cooking methods can conserve food properties such as vacuum cooking that prevents bacteria build up from altered aerobes.
• Methods include preparing meat, fish, vegetables to save product time and traditional cooking that are vacuum sealed

Textured Food Products

• Utilizing specialized technology with a major role in the market like the extrusion of vegetable fibers and surimi
• Through extrusion the food products can be texturized such as snacks, cereals, and desserts.

Extrusion

• It is a process of molding a soft plastic into a desired style through the use of friction and mechanics
• This then creates ingredients which can be manipulated such as flour, starch, or grains to create human foods
• The act of snacking often occurs informally as a snack of first generation due to extrusion.

The Extrusion Process

• Advantageous to food producers due to cost, energy, time, design, versatility, and flexibility
• Food manufactures can use extrusion with expansion and baking when processing grains to fry

Prepared Dishes

• The change in habits in the modern world has impacted the prepared dish market, making the food both diverse and quick.
• Prepared meals are heated appropriately to be consumed from animal and vegetable products
• The final food treatment can be one of three ways such as immediate dishes which are made on the same day, with a process of consumption to have the dish be preserved and cooled when served eventually

Freezing Food

• There is strong integration of food processing in home and collective cooking, although it is pre-cooked but needs domestic processes
• Elements are frozen crude while other dishes are prepared so that the end dish can be ready after it melts
• Preparing these dishes starts by selecting established recipes to apply proper techniques for optimal freezing

Utlra-Freezing

• Accomplished quickly by surpassing the maximum stabilization point, allowing the food to sit in a freezer for longer periods of time
• There is great interest in keeping food sterile by using the most effective technology that is desired

"Convenience Foods"

• Commercialized by their dietary uses from public U.S administration referring to food that is prepared with home to commercial destitution
• Within modern markets this increases the amount of goods that are available to get cooked or that you can add ingredients to such as milk or water.

"Take-Away Foods"

• Referred to by goods that vary and come prepared to be retailed as they are consumed outside of the points of sale.

"Health Foods"

• Another market of products that have been consumed to be of both healthy and peculiar aspects.

Consumer Demands for Food Benefits

• Responding from industry concerns, manufactured for those with gluten allergins that contain low calories for those who want better taste
• Some can be solved through a technology processing especially through organic properties.

Calories

• The food market has evolved to sell more of the market share while emphasizing some kind of light.
• As a concept is can also be both qualitative and quantitative
• This is where calorie, low cholesterol products have created their products, and reduced the need for high sugars.

This lesson outlines the criteria for food spoilage and non-compliance, focusing on health risks and exceeding safe limits. It also defines unprocessed foods according to 1997 regulations, listing examples like honey and milk. Permitted processes such as washing and refrigeration are also detailed.