Minimally processed fresh foods
Today's consumers are increasingly demanding convenient, ready-to-use and ready-to-eat foods with a fresh like quality, and containing only natural ingredients. The concept of minimal processing theoretically involves the care of foods throughout the entire post-harvest system - from the farm-gate all the way to the consumer, while also meeting the demands of the consumer for convenience and fresh. This minimal processing approach is also called as hurdle technology, simply because a series of hurdles is placed in the way of the micro-organisms growth and survival; e.g. combinations of weak acid treatments with modified atmosphere packaging or mild heating with reduced water activity, or alternative doses of mild heating and chilling.
Minimally processed foods include conventional products such as prepared vegetables and salads, prepared fruits, prepared meat items, heat-and-eat meals and new generation foods such as fresh pasta and pasta sauces. If these products are heat processed, the heat treatment is much less than that required of the canned foods. Chilled ready-to-eat or ready-to-heat foods are a very rapidly growing segment of the market. Some of the best examples of this are the fresh and sliced apples and potatoes packaged under the modified atmosphere packaging that have a shelf-life of three weeks. These products are prepared under very rigorous hygienic conditions, packed under vacuum and cooked at fairly low temperatures.
The advantages of minimally processed foods are many:
- Maintains freshness and quality;
- Renders fruits and vegetables in convenient and ready-to-cook form;
- Extends the shelf-life;
- Bulk reduction for better storage, easy transportation and packaging;
- Boosts export of vegetable in minimally processed form;
- Renders 60% value addition; and
- Low technology, without involvement of sophisticated machinery.
Increased product safety is also much in demand by the producers and distributors. The fresh-like products are highly perishable and actions that increase safety are important. Minimally processed products readily deteriorate in quality than the original raw material due to the alteration of tissue integrity during processing of these products. Therefore, minimally processed foods must be held continuously at refrigerated temperatures and guarded from temperature abuse in distribution and retailing.