Define Historical Development of Food Processing?
Food processing began thousands of years ago to help people keep food through the lean seasons. Several methods of preserving food have been around for a long time. The processes of smoking, drying (dehydration) and using salt and spices to prevent spoilage have been used for thousands of years. All of these methods were based on desiccation or dehydration. Grains and nuts were the first foods to be dried using the naturally available sunlight and air. Mechanical methods of drying were developed in the late 1700s. Dried foods are popular because they are compact, lightweight and last much longer than the fresh foods. Cheese-making was an accidental discovery, which became established as a method for increasing the longevity of milk. The process of canning was pioneered in the 1790s when Nicolas Appert, a French Confectioner, discovered that the application of heat to food in sealed glass bottles preserved the food from deterioration. Napoleon-I gave Appert 12,000 Francs to make his invention public. Napoleon was highly interested in Appert's invention because of its potential to supply food to the armed forces who were many miles away from home. Appert published several books for canning and started the canning industry. Around 1806, the French Navy had undertaken successful training of Appert's principles on a wide range of foods including meat, vegetables, fruit and milk. Before the year 1860, changes in food were described on the theory of spontaneous generation. Pasteur demonstrated that ferments, molds and some other forms of putrefaction were caused by the presence of microorganisms widely distributed in the environment. As these microorganisms are the major cause of food spoilage, food preservation relies on rendering conditions unfavorable for their growth.