MICROWAVABLE PACKAGING-NEW TRENDS

Microwave cooking and heating technology has been one of the most pioneering innovations of modern times to which millions of house wives and the food industry must be thankful. Though there is still some controversy regarding the safety of foods processed using microwave frequency, it is a fact that nothing conclusively has been proven that this form of cooking has even 1% safety risks. Use of microwave processing technology is more prevalent as a domestic kitchen appliance than its impact on food industry, probably because of cost factors and uncertainties associated with uniform heating, especially when large quantities are processed. It is the house wife who is being targeted by the packaging industry through newer innovations and developments. In-pouch cooking enabled packaging bags and trays and Susceptor based paper bags are new convenience oriented products being made available to the frozen products industry which enables the house wives to reduce the handling and heating time for converting them into ready to eat preparations. Here is a take on this exciting new direction packaging industry is taking for making the kitchen chores less cumbersome and time consuming.

"Time savings and convenience have been the principal benefits driving consumer demand for microwavable food products to date, and they will continue to be so in the future. The U.S. market for microwavable packaging materials will continue to grow at its current rate, with some added impetus generated by the industry's ability to improve the taste and texture of microwaved products, and to introduce new products that meet the health and fitness concerns of consumers. The study evaluates packaging technologies that are expanding microwavable packaging into new end-user categories by increasing package functionality. One example are self-venting pouches or trays that can be transferred directly from the freezer to the microwave oven, eliminating the need for manual venting by consumers. This feature has helped spur growth in the largest end-user segment—entrees (which in 2011 accounted for 29 percent of all U.S. sales of primary packaging materials for microwavable products)—as well in the fastest growing end-user segment: vegetables. The study forecasts 18.5 percent annual sales growth through 2016 for primary packaging materials for microwavable vegetables. Another innovation, susceptor technology, is an ongoing and major development in microwavable packing that is contributing to the projected high growth rate of particular types of packaging materials, notably paperboard cartons and sleeves for hand-held entrees and pizza slices. Susceptors enable microwave-prepared foods to more closely match the quality, taste and texture of food prepared in conventional ovens. This technology has been instrumental in the relatively high growth rate of folding cartons as a type of microwavable packaging, which the study forecasts to be a 13.2 percent rate of growth per year through 2016".

It is in the US that microwavable packs of frozen food products were introduced first and consumers seem to be liking this new convenience, if the market trend is any indication. Many vegetables and prepared meal packs are now available with pressure releasing provision which make them compatible with programmed microwave heating. Similarly the Susceptor based paper cartons can be expected to become popular because from safety angle paper is supposed to be much better compared to plastics. Of course design and fabrication of such bags require multi disciplinary expertise involving heat transfer, engineering and food science background. More developments can be expected in packaging field in the coming years in evolving dramatically new packaging modes with highest safety credentials.

V.H.POTTY
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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

    

RECLAIMING CONTAMINATED WATER BODIES-A NEW APPROACH

A simple technology that can rejuvenate water bodies which have become morbid due to senseless dumping of organic wastes, causing depletion of the vital oxygen needed for life, is receiving rave attention in the US, if recent reports are to be believed. It is no secret that the most polluted water body in the world happens to be Cuyahoga river in Ohio, USA, though some of the major polluted water bodies are distributed among Russia, Argentina, China, Bangladesh, Israel and India. Rivers Ganga and Yamuna in India come under the top ten polluted water bodies category in the world. The new technology developed by an Indian company seemed to have captured the imagination of one of the water reclaiming agencies in the US which used the Indian technology to bring about dramatic changes in terms of clearing the treated bodies free of oxygen choking substances and generate the much needed oxygen which is the elixir of life in this planet. Here is the report that gives further insight into this new technology.

Nualgi is a mix of micro nutrients in the form of nano particles including silica, iron and manganese, which triggers the rapid growth of a type of algae called diatoms, explained Mallimadugula Bhaskar, a collaborator of Sampathkumar. The oxygen released by diatoms through photosynthesis increases the dissolved oxygen level of water and thus keeps the pond clean and the diatoms converted into 'zooplanktons' provide food for the fish. One kilogram of Nualgi can treat four million litres of water, he said. Apart from India, Nualgi has been patented in the US, Britain, Germany and South Africa. Encouraged by its successful experiment in Duck Pond, Lake Savers has obtained clearance from the US Environmental Protection Agency for using Nualgi on a large scale in the US. "We are now aggressively embarking on more intensive studies and applications of Nualgi in a variety of water bodies from 5 to 120 acres," Tucci said. The Lake Savers which has so far purchased 350 kg of Nualgi, has expressed intent to buy another one tonne this year, Bhaskar said. According to Bhaskar, Nualgi is an economical alternative to treat sewage and organic wastes in "eutrophic" lakes and ponds as no skilled labor or energy is required. It is inexpensive and can be mass produced, he said. An eutrophic lake is characterized by excessive growth of algae resulting from contamination by nitrogen or phosphorus compounds such as by laundry detergents, untreated sewage, and fertilizer run-off from agricultural land. "One obvious solution is to reduce these inputs but this is unrealistic," Bhaskar said, adding: "The other solution is to remove the nutrients from water. The Nualgi-diatom-zooplankton-fish food chain is the best way to achieve this. Thus all the polluted lakes and rivers can be restored to their original glory using Nualgi."

What is not understandable is why countries facing problems of water pollution are not coming forward to whole-heartedly apply this technology to rejuvenate their water bodies? Is it a case of lack of financial resources or lack of will that inhibits taking a decision to apply this technology on a wide scale? Or is it the fear of using nanotechnology, with some safety questions still remaining unanswered, coming in the way of using the same for treatment of the water bodies? Whatever it is, a technology with such a high potential to regenerate dying rivers and lakes in the world remains grossly under utilized is a reflection of the lethargy and insensitivity on the part of the governments concerned.

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V.H.POTTY
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GOD'S FOOD-ARE THEY SAFE FOR HUMANS?

Food preparations, where ever they are made, can be hazardous when proper sanitary and hygienic practices are not adopted. If frequent food poisoning episodes are reported around the world, reason for a significant percentage of them can be attributed to ignorance, callousness, insensitivity and greediness for increasing profitability on the part of the manufacturers. Places of worship like Temples, Churches, Mosques, Ashrams etc attract huge number of devotees regularly and serving meals and offering prasadam are accepted tradition. While in smaller places limited volumes are made in kitchens located within the premises, there are also outsourced type of products made in central facilities for supply to the temples in some parts of the country. Large temples like Tirupati, Sabarimala, Dharmasthala, Udipi Temple etc receive thousands of visitors every day and the kitchens in these places are slowly modernizing the preparation facilities, though the pace of change is very slow. Sabarimala Temple was recently in the news after it was announced by the Travancore Devaswam Board which administers this temple that CFTRI, Mysore would be its consultant for improving the prasadam preparations from quality and safety angles. Here is a take on this new development about which devotees might be happy.  

The Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, has been appointed the official consultant of the Travancore Devaswom Board (TDB) for providing technical guidance to ensure the quality of Aravana, Appam, and other prasadom preparation at Sabarimala, Chief Secretary K. Jayakumar who is also the Chief Commissioner of the board, has said. He was talking to media persons at Sabarimala on Sunday after inspecting the Nilackal base camp, Pampa, and Sabarimala to review the arrangements for the annual Mandalam-Makaravilakku pilgrim season that begins in mid-November. He said the decision on the CFTRI's appointment came in the wake of the suggestions of the Kerala High Court, the Food Safety Commissioner, and Ayyappa devotees. Mr. Jayakumar said the TDB would procure quality jaggery for Aravana and Appam preparation directly from manufacturers with a proven track record. Tender had been invited to supply jaggery directly to the TDB godown at Pampa, he said.
It is amazing that the hard core babus in the government took almost 25 years to take this decision since CFTRI made the offer of helping the Temple to do the same and streamline the production way back in late nineteen eighties. Of course this latest decision did not come with any conviction as it was forced on the government by the Kerala High Court through one of the judgments delivered recently! The famous products associated with this popular temple include Aravana payasam, a jaggery based semi liquid preparation and Neyyappam, a fried sweet item, both of which became notorious during recent years because of contamination episodes and serious complaints from devotees regarding quality. It must be recalled that CFTRI was associated with temples like Tirupati and Palani earlier to provide technical guidance and such efforts should have been continued with other mass feeding places also for safeguarding the health of the devotees. The success of such sporadic efforts depends on the dynamism of the head of the temple authorities in taking decisions and supporting and implementing the recommendations of the technical team that may be entrusted with the task. A multidisciplinary team with engineers, microbiologists, food scientists, infestation control experts and packaging technology can handle the task effectively, if unstinting cooperation is forthcoming from the staff in these places, setting aside their prejudices and personal agenda.

V.H.POTTY
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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

MAKING BREAD WITHOUT AN OVEN?-HERE IS A METHOD!

Making bread is considered more a skill than science though the process is based on scientific facts. There are thousands of bakeries in many countries making their own bread using their special recipes delivering fresh bread every day through their shop front. A fresh bread from an "Iyengar bakery" in Karnataka or a Kaka shop in Kerala is irresistible as far as aroma, texture and taste are concerned though every baker uses same ingredients like wheat flour, yeast, water, yeast foods, employs a mixer for developing the dough and heat the portioned dough in an oven at relatively high temperatures. There are many newer developments that can make bread faster, with more consistency of quality and large scale production takes place in huge automated baking facilities. While oven, whether gas operated or electrical, is a standard feature in many western kitchens, it is not owned by majority of families in countries like China and India where bread is still a bought out item of the diet. Here is a claim from one of the cooking experts as to how good bread can be made without an oven and at temperatures much below that is obtained in an oven. Here are a few details.

The pressure cooker is a wonderfully versatile kitchen tool. One of the best things about this, besides the time savings, is you avoid heating up your kitchen with the oven.One of our favorite food hacks is making fresh bread without a bread maker. If you own a pressure cooker, you can get make delicious and rich-tasting loaves at home in under twenty minutes. Laura at Hip Pressure Cooking (the same smart site that showed us how to cook eggs in a pressure cooker) reveals this new bread-making technique. You'll need some sort of container, like a coffee can or heat-proof glass measuring cup, and just a few simple ingredients (e.g., flour, baking soda, yogurt). After pressure cooking for fifteen to twenty minutes you should get a warm loaf (even faster than baking bread in a crock pot). The bread doesn't come out crunchy, but you can quickly grill a few slices or put them under the broiler for some crust.


Interestingly the bread made in a Pressure Cooker needs to be further toasted before consumption because the product tends to be some what soggy due to presence of too much moisture in the baking environment. Of course the term bread can mean different things to different people and there are many products in the Orient called bread made from from rice which have no resemblance to what goes by that name in the West. Another important difference in the bread made with pressure cooker is that it uses baking powder for "raising" while traditional bread recipes use live yeast for the purpose. One is reminded of a product called "Buns" in the coastal region of Karnataka, made from Maida with Banana pulp as an important ingredient and deploying frying process for getting the fluffy texture. This product, offered in most local restaurants, is much more tastier than the baked buns made by conventional bakeries. The above report about preparing bread in a Pressure cooker can definitely give a product with its own flavor and texture which many may like as a simple alternative to commercially made bread products.

V.H.POTTY
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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

WATER SUPPLY IN INDIAN CITIES-CITIZENS" WOES

While lot is being talked about the food security issues which are going to be faced in the coming years, little attention has been focused on the on-going water crisis being experienced in many urban entities throughout India. Though providing safe drinking water to its citizens in adequate quantities is the sacred responsibility of those who plan and manage civic facilities in these protected population areas, India is woefully lack of even the minimum infrastructure in these townships due to mis-governance, lethargy, callousness, insufficient investment and insensitivity to the sufferings of the citizens. Probably India may be the only country in the world where water quality in most of the towns and cities is totally unreliable and can cause damage to the health of the population depending heavily on the so called "protected" water supplies. One even wonders whose health the municipalities and civic corporations are protecting-the citizen's or the financial health of the private water suppliers and the bottled water manufacturers who are having a swell time under such an environment. Here is an interesting report from Chennai about the tragedy of water supply system here which reflects the unfortunate mindset of the governments with no value attached for human lives in their agenda!

"As many as 90 private tankers that cater largely to apartment complexes, hotels, hospitals and commercial establishments were checked over the past few days. The water samples transported by private vehicles were checked in various areas such as Koyambedu, Retteri and Padi. The exercise follows the recent death of two construction workers from West Bengal, allegedly due to acute diarrheal disease after drinking water procured from a private tanker supplier at their workplace in Pallikaranai. These tankers are becoming indispensable as the demand for water is on the rise. While Metrowater's supply is primarily through pipes, some localities rely on tankers for their daily needs. Chennai Metrowater operates nearly 670 tanker trips every day and charges a nominal amount for them. The remaining gap between demand and supply, especially for the suburbs and large establishments, is mainly bridged by private water lorries. While over 2,000 private tankers are said to be in the business in and around Chennai, there is no regulation or monitoring of the quality of water supplied or the number of trips operated by these private suppliers. According to sources in the Food Safety department, the Chennai Corporation is the authority to enforce quality norms on private water lorries in the city while the Public Health department fulfills that function in the city's fringes. None of the water samples checked had the minimum chlorine level of 0.2 parts per million (ppm), as per prevalent specifications. The water in these tankers had been extracted from bore wells or open wells in agricultural areas".

It is admitted that India is a big country and there are bound to be teething problems and occasional hiccups during the growing phase but perpetuating the dilapidated water supply infrastructure except for some stray improvements here and there is not acceptable to the citizen who invests heavily on taxes and confidence on the ability of the administrators to protect his life under the democratic system of governance. Projects are planned, heavy investments are made and execution is scheduled but it takes ages for such projects to take shape due to the inefficiency of the management system with no one bothered about such indefinite delays which can be any where from 5 to 40 years!. Many projects are never even completed, let alone commissioned! Accountability has become the casualty in the present day India with no one being hauled up for shoddy work in any sphere of activity connected with the governments. What a tragedy! What type of life a citizen can lead if the basic minimum water needed for a clean and healthy life is denied to him, though excuses may be many for the shirkers to trot out for the delay? Will India ever achieve a stage where at least water flows abundantly, let alone the promised honey and milk under the Ramarajya regime envisaged by Mahatma Gandhi? If the present trend is any indication, such a transformation is unlikely in the foreseeable future.

V.H.POTTY
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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

PORTION CONTROL DIET-YET ANOTHER PLAN FOR WEIGHT REDUCTION!

Controlling body weight is a pressing problem these days when thousands of mouth watering food products are available in the market, most of them being rich in sugar and fat. As these foods are addictive in nature, once hooked on to them there is no way to escape unless one has will power and dedication to control the type and quantum of food consumed. The fact that weight increase is mostly determined by the amount of calories ingested through carbohydrates and fats, makes it all the more imperative to regulate calorie intake just to meet the every day needs. There are many diet plans like Atkins Diet, South Beach Diet etc being touted as effective for controlling body weight but there is no consensus that they work for every body and they are without any side effects. Here comes a new eating regime based plan that advocates controlling the portion of food consumed each day to avoid excess consumption. Here are some details of the "Plan"

"In the case of Lifesize — a portion-control diet system meant to be easy to follow thanks to plastic measuring devices for food groups like carbohydrates, meats and dairy — Mr. Kates brought dieting and nutrition expertise. After studying biology at the University of California, Los Angeles, he spent years running fitness clubs and advising clients, including celebrities, on their diets. Mr. Berkowitz, a graduate of the University of Pennsylvania, brought salesmanship. As a filmmaker who often had to scrape together budgets, he knew how to hustle for start-up capital and make a good pitch. Not that either man knew they would ever be partners based on that first meeting. Mr. Kates said that to lose weight, it didn't matter what you ate, — in fact, he insisted that Mr. Berkowitz not limit himself to grilled chicken and vegetables — but it was how much you ate. Mr. Berkowitz remained unconvinced, but took note of the portion sizes that Mr. Kates showed him with his hands. The next day, Mr. Berkowitz began to wonder if Mr. Kates might actually be right. "So I run out and I get clay," Mr. Berkowitz said. "According to his measurements, my wife and I make bowls." They took the bowls to Color Me Mine, a pottery studio, and fired them up. "I put a big 'M' under one bowl for meat. A big 'C' for carbs, and 'D' for dairy, because that's how they're divided. I started eating that way. My energy was up and the weight started falling off." He ultimately lost 46 pounds".

It is difficult to imagine that such a plan will work with people who consider eating what they want in quantities desired by them as a fundamental right that is sacrosanct! Recall the furor that is going on in New York when authorities there wanted to ban sale of large sized sugary beverages beyond the size 16 oz. The new diet plan suffers from the drawback that its success will depend largely on the self control on foods eaten by an individual and unless such control is evident, it will not work. Added to this it may pose logistical problems in segregating foods into carbohydrate rich, fat rich etc because levels of these nutrients vary enormously from product to product and country to country. Besides the volume based portion size may pose difficulties in deciding about the quantity to be consumed. Ultimately no "scheme" can succeed without the cooperation of those desirous of shedding their body weight sincerely.

V.H.POTTY
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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com

ANOTHER STUDY ON ORGANIC FOODS-FINDING OUT THE OBVIOUS!

A critical question one may ask regarding organic foods is why people are paying a premium price and buy them? Typically the answer could be that they are safer and more nutritious than commercially produced produced products using a variety of chemical substances including antibiotics. However very few people really believe that organic foods can be more nutritious, their faith on them being anchored on safety and there is a strong reason for that. Organic food industry is one of the most rigidly regulated sectors with well laid guidelines and strict procedures to avoid chemical contamination of any sort, be it from fertilizers, water, soil, crop protecting chemicals or any other source and strong certification procedure by expert agencies make them more attractive to consumers, giving the much needed confidence. in a recent study, it was brought out that organic foods are not more nutritious (which was already known) and less likely to contain man made chemical substances (also known earlier) and the findings as contained in the following report may not be that exciting.  

"17 studies in humans and 223 studies of nutrient and contaminant levels in foods met inclusion criteria. Only 3 of the human studies examined clinical outcomes, finding no significant differences between populations by food type for allergic outcomes (eczema, wheeze, atopic sensitization) or symptomatic Campylobacter infection. Two studies reported significantly lower urinary pesticide levels among children consuming organic versus conventional diets, but studies of biomarker and nutrient levels in serum, urine, breast milk, and semen in adults did not identify clinically meaningful differences. All estimates of differences in nutrient and contaminant levels in foods were highly heterogeneous except for the estimate for phosphorus; phosphorus levels were significantly higher than in conventional produce, although this difference is not clinically significant. The risk for contamination with detectable pesticide residues was lower among organic than conventional produce (risk difference, 30% [CI, －37% to －23%]), but differences in risk for exceeding maximum allowed limits were small. Escherichia coli contamination risk did not differ between organic and conventional produce. Bacterial contamination of retail chicken and pork was common but unrelated to farming method. However, the risk for isolating bacteria resistant to 3 or more antibiotics was higher in conventional than in organic chicken and pork (risk difference, 33% [CI, 21% to 45%])".

It is true that organic food industry hardly commands 2-3% of global food market and probably clocking a reasonable annual growth, slightly higher than the normal food industry. But the faith in the safety of organic foods cannot be shaken easily as common sense tells the consumer that they are definitely superior to present day main stream food industry because chemical inputs during growing or processing are scrupulously avoided. Talking about nutrition the conventionally marketed foods many be contain more nutrients as most of them are fortified with a variety of substances like vitamins, minerals, phytochemicals, essential amino acids and essential fatty acids. How far these external addition are utilized by the body is another matter, fit for a debate! 

V.H.POTTY
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http://foodtechupdates.blogspot.com