AGR222

INTRODUCTION TO FOOD
SCIENCE TECHNOLOGY


OUTLINE OF LECTURES


(1) Developments in food processing / preservation
(2) The value of food in Human development
(3) Food, Nutrition and human development
(4) Definition – food science, Food technology, food preservation/ processing
(5) The nature of Nigerian food resources
(6) The role of agriculture and food technology
(7) The structure of Nigerian food industry
(8) Principle of food preservation by; Freezing/ refrigeration, Canning/ heating, Drying/
dehydration/concentration, Irradiation/ packaging
(9) Fermentation – Biological method
(10) Chemical preservation method
(11) Food storage methods
(12) Quality attributes of food- quality assurance
Definition of terms
• Food science and technology: This is an integrated body of
knowledge concerned with the understanding, handling and
transformation of food substances for maintenance of food
quality and quantity.

• Nutrition: The study of the food and nutrient needs of the body
for good health.
Why we eat food?

Food is eaten to perform three basic functions;

• Primarily for the provision of nutrient

• Secondly for the sensory function – taste appearance, colour, texture

etc.

• Thirdly, for the physiological role in the body.

• Functional foods are consumed to play the third role in the body.
• The primary role of diet is to provide enough nutrients to meet
the metabolic requirements while giving consumers a feeling
of satisfaction and well- being.

• However, beyond meeting nutritional needs, diet may modulate

various functions in the body.

• Diet can also play beneficial or detrimental roles in some

people such diets are known as functional foods.
There is a very close link between diet and health.


• Definition: Food or dietary components that may provide a
health benefit beyond basic nutrition. These foods or
supplements which act explicitly or implicitly to improve health
or well – being. These are foods with nutraceutical properties.

• Nutraceuticals are foods or compounds derived from foods

but are in the medicine form of pills, capsules, portions and
liquids and which render demonstrated physiological benefits.

• The main focus or function of foods is on improving health

and reducing disease risk through prevention.
Some functional foods

• Drinks, chewing gum, dairy (prebiotics), fruits and vegetable,

spices, cereal products are some categories of functional
foods. Fruits and vegetables are top functional foods category.

• The concept and marketing of functional foods started in

Japan in the 1980s between 1988

• In 1998 more than 1700 functional foods had been launched in

Japan and with an estimated turnover of $14b in 1999.

• Today, foods are not only intended to satisfy hunger and to

provide necessary nutrients for humans but also to prevent
nutrition related diseases and improve physical and mental
well – being of the consumers.
Dietary supplements

• are special category of foods, legally classified as foods, but

not considered a conventional food which is consumed in a
diet as additive or an entire whole.

• A product that is intended to supplement the diet, which

contains one or more of the following ingredients – a vitamin,
a mineral, a herb, or other botanicals, amino acid.

• It is a dietary substance to supplement the diet by increasing

the total daily intake or a concentrate, a metabolite, constituent,
extract or combination of these ingredients.
Bioactive compounds

• These are secondary plant metabolites eliciting pharmacological or

toxicological effects in human and animals and have no growth
functions although may have survival function.

• Primary metabolites – Carbohydrate, protein, amino acids and lipids are

needed for growth and development.

• Bioactive compounds in foods: Flavonoids, phenolic acids, tanins

(polyphenols) carotenoids, antioxidants, lycopene. Lycopene, a bioactive
pigment is redish in colour such as tomatoes, and water melon.


• They have been associated with the prevention of prostate
cancer, and cardiovascular diseases. Others are essential
lipids – linoleic, linolenic and arichodonic acids which have
health benefits.

• Most of the bioactive components in foods are flavonoids,

antioxidants and phenolic compounds and are mostly in plant
foods.
Drying – evaporation of H O

2

• When a food or fish is in air, there are two distinct stages in the
process.

• In first stage water on or close to the surface of the fish

evaporates, and the drying rate depends only on the temperature,
the speed of air movement and the relative humidity of the air.

• If the air conditions remains constant, the drying rate remains

constant. This is known as the content rate period.
• Once the surface water has evaporated, water can then
evaporate only as far as it can reach the surface of the fish
from within.

• The rate of diffusion from the deeper lying parts of the fish
becomes progressively slower as drying proceeds.
•
• Then eventually, the rate of evaporation no longer remains
steady, but starts to fall. This is the second stage known as the
falling rate period.
• The principle of drying are somewhat different during the two
stages. The drier the air, the faster the water evaporates.

• The rate of evaporation depends directly on the difference

between the water vapour pressure on the air and the water
vapour pressure at the surface of the food material.

• The dryness of the air is usually expressed as relative humidity

i.e. the weight of water vapour in it expressed as a percentage
of the saturation weight at that temperature.
• A thin fish or piece of fish will dry faster than a thick fish of the
same weight, because the thin fish has a proportionally greater
surface area.

• The faster the water evaporates, the smaller the duration of the
constant rate period.

• The second stage in drying is the falling rate period. During the
falling rate period, the following principles apply;
• The faster the water diffuses from the layers beneath the surface
of the food material, the faster the water evaporates.

• The drying rate does not depend on the speed of the air passing
over the food of fish.

• Drying rate does not depend on the humidity of the air, provided
the air is not saturated.

• The higher the temperature of the air, the faster the water diffuses
to the surface of the food e.g. fish
• The leaner the fish, the faster the water diffuses to the surface.

• The thinner the fish/food, the faster the food dries, because
the diffusion path to the surface is shorter.

• The greater the amount of salt added to the food/ fish, the
more slowly the water diffuses to the surface.


Deterioration and spoilage of food


• The lag time between harvest, transportation, processing and consumption of
food creates opportunities for possible adverse/ undesirable changes in foods,
therefore consequently resulting in deterioration and/ or spoilage.

• This lag time may vary from only a few hours to many month.

• Deterioration and spoilage are used to indicate adverse change in eating quality
which may occur during storage and distribution of food.
• Deterioration is defined as involving those changes in quality
induced by physical, chemical and biochemical reaction taking
place within the food itself or within the inter venation of the
physical environment (e.g. O2, CO2, H2O, light, heat etc).

• On the other hand, spoilage is defined as those changes in

quality brought about by the action of biological agents,
especially micro-organism and insects.
• Spoilage normally leads to more drastic changes in quality
than deterioration since microbial agents are capable of
inducing a great variety of extensive changes in quality ore
than those caused by physical/chemical biochemical reaction
occurring in the food itself.

• Therefore a rotten eg is the end result of spoilage in this

product brought about by molds and / or bacteria.
• In contrast an off flavor in margarine, chicken, a meat is the
end result of a deterioration reaction in these products induced
by internal chemical reaction.

• In the first instance, the spoilage of egg is considered useless

and can no longer be consumed;
• whereas in the latter case, the deteriorated margarine, chicken
or meat may still be considered edible, even though not highly
acceptable.
• The term food spoilage does not imply that a “spoilt” food will
cause disease or an intoxication in man.

• In other words spoilt foods are products which have changed

in sensory quality (i.e. colour, odour, flavor, texture etc);

• and are not necessarily those which contain organisms

capable of inducing a contagious disease (e.g. salmonellosis),
or an intoxication (e.g. botulism) in man.
• However, there are cases where food can be “spoilt” and be
dangerous to main health.
• Spoilage of food is caused by 3 factors
• Micro organisms
• Chemical variations e.g. rancidity of fats
• Enzymes – These are naturally occurring proteins that act on food
to cause changes in colour or taste.
• Water activity = The relationship between the water vapour
pressure of the product or temperature and the saturation
pressure of water at the same pressure.

• aw = P (products) / PO
• The water activity of a products depends on the chemical
composition of the product, the state or its constituents, the
water content, and the temperature of the products.

• A curve of the water content of a product versus its water

activity at a given temperature is called a sorption isotherm.
Range of aw Types of dominant deteriorative reaction Types of possible deteriorative reactions

1.08 MOS growth Enzymatic reaction

0.91 Bacteria
0.88 Yeasts
0.80 Molds
0.8 – 0.65 Enzymatic reactions (fat decomposition and Non – enzymatic browning
browning reactions)

0.75 Halophytic bacteria

0.70 Osmophilic yeast
0.65 Xerophylic molds
0.65 – 0.3 N o n – e n z y m a t i c b r o w n i n g r e a c t i o n Enzymatic reaction; anti-oxidation
(Marillend reaction)

0.3 Autoxidation; physical change Non – enzymatic browing reaction, enzymatic

reaction
 Food crops
(1) Cereals and sugar crops: Rice, maize, sorghum, millet, wheat, barley,
sugar cane.
(2) Oil seed crops: Groundnut, castor, benniseed, sunflower, safflower, oil
palm nut, coconut, shea butter
(3) Grain legumes: Cowpea, soyabean, pigeon pea, chickpea, lima beans.
(4) Root and tuber crops: Cassava, yam, sweet potato, Irish potato,
cocoyam, carrot
(5) Fruit, vegetables, and spices: Tomato, eggplant, onion, okra, chillies,
pepper, plantains and bananas, avocado pear, ginger, melon, paw-paw,
grape fruit, pineapple, citrus, Guava, mango, cashew, Date palm,
locust bean.
(6) Beverages stimulants: Coffee, cocoa, tea, kola, tabocco