ABSTRACT
Food processing involves a sequence of changes that converts fresh agricultural commodities, meat, and marine products to edible and safer food products. Processing encompasses development of desirable components (flavors, aroma) and elimination of undesirable traits and constituents (off-odor, microbial load, degrading enzymes, and foreign substances). The changes that occur during food processing are quite complex and interactive. The changes could be chemical, physical, biological, nutritional, or sensorial (Figure 8.1). The abovementioned changes can be collectively termed as reactions. Reactions cause changes in composition and other characteristics of the raw material or finished product in response to the processing conditions and environmental stimuli during the preparation and storage phases, respectively. Processing conditions are the external factors which bring about the reactions. Temperature is an important external factor in food processing which brings about reactions such as browning, caramelization, and gelation. Formation of melanoids due to the browning reaction during baking contributes to the brown coloration and pleasant flavor of bread crust (Stauffer, 1990). The reactions that occur during one phase of the processing chain can continue in its next phase (Earle and Earle, 2003). The other factors include light, concentration of oxygen, presence of catalysts, pH, and water activity (Kumar et al., 2016).
