Commercial process, food

Commercial products usually do not pose health threats to their consumers. However, botulism cases acquired after consumption of commercially prepared canned foods have been reported. In the U.S., 62 outbreaks occurred in the years 1899 to 1973 (Lynt et al., 1975). Only 7% of outbreaks reported between 1950 and 1996 were linked to commercially processed foods (Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 1998). The implicated foodstuffs included chopped garlic in soy oil stored in glass bottles at room temperature (Louis et al., 1988), sliced roasted eggplant in oil, yogurt with hazelnuts, stuffed lotus rhizome, bottled caviar, and canned peanuts (Chou et al., 1988 D Argenio et al., 1995). 

Although a relatively new commercial process, food irradiation has been studied more thoroughly than any other food technology. More than 40 years of research have shown conclusively that there are no adverse effects from the consumption of irradiated food. In fact for many foods, preservation by irradiation has proved to be by far the best method. Table 4.4 summarises the general applications of food irradiation technology. 

Canned foods are another class of commercially processed foods which are widely consumed by the public. These products are subjected to extensive heat processing to achieve commercial sterility thus mutagen formation seemed to be a distinct possibility. A variety of canned meat, poultry, seafoods and vegetable products were therefore surveyed for mutagenicity (Tables III and IV). 

Many chemicals with little or no nutritive value are added to commercially processed food (Figure 16.4). Some of these food additives serve to protect the food from being spoiled by oxidation, bacterial attack, or aging. Others add and enhance flavor or color. Still others control pH prevent caking or stabilize, thicken, emulsify, sweeten, leaven, or tenderize the food. 

Note Saturated fats are found primarily in animal products. But a few vegetable fats and many commercially processed foods also contain Saturated fat. Read labels carefully. Choose foods wisely. 

Sodium compounds—It is suspected that high intakes of sodium may be one of the factors which lead to the development of high blood pressure in susceptible people. Natural, unprocessed foods contain only small amounts of sodium compared to most commercially processed foods. Furthermore, in addition to being present in foods in the form of common salt (sodium chloride), sodium may also be present in such additives as sodium bicarbonate, monosodium glutamate, and various types of phosphates. Therefore, the consumer who is on a low-sodium diet must read carefully the labels of food products because items which are low in salt may contain liberal amounts of other sodium compounds. 

Starch can be split into amylose and amylopectin by a commercial process based on selective solubilities. Amylose is used for making edible films, and amylopectin for textile sizing and finishing, and as a thickener in foods. 

Compounded Flavors. Liquid or dry blends of natural or synthetic flavor compounds are called compounded flavors. Most commercial preparations are available as water- and oil-soluble Hquids, spray-dried and plated powders, emulsions, and carbohydrate-, protein-, and fat-based pastes. Compounded flavors are used throughout the food industry in confections, baked goods, snack foods, carbonated beverages, and processed foods (53). 

Bulk Enzymes. Enzymes such as proteases, amylases, glucose isomerases, and rennin are used in food processing. Similarly proteases and Hpases are used in detergents. CeUulases and xylanases are used in the paper pulp industry. The genes for most of the enzymes used in the various commercial processes have been cloned and overexpressed. Rennin (chymosin) produced from E. coli and A. nigerhas been approved by FDA for use in the dairy industry. 

In food processing, it is a process condition that renders a processed food product essentially free of microorganisms capable of growing in the food in un-refrigerated distribution and storage conditions. The aseptic food packaging include film pouches and presterilized molded containers that are filled with aseptic foods, then hermetically sealed in a commercially sterile atmosphere. 

Since the MHLW designated shrimp/prawn and crab for mandatory labeling in June 2008 due to the almost unlimited use of crustacean in the processed foods in Japan and the status as a frequent cause of adverse food reactions in allergic patients, two ELISA methods for the determination of crustacean protein in processed foods have been developed (Seiki et al, 2007 Shibahara et al., 2007) EA test EIA-Crustacean [Nissui] produced by Nissui Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. and Crustacean Kit [Maruha ] produced by Maruha Nichiro Eoods, Inc. Both kits have been validated according to the Japanese validation protocol (Sakai et al., 2008) and are commercially available. All the commercial ELISA kits are shown in Table 4.9. 

The engineering component of food processing procedures is critical. Proper equipment that allows the simulation of commercial processing must be used. Each... 

Several standard DNA isolation kits are commercially available, including the QIAamp DNA Stool Mini Kit and the DNeasy Plant Mini Kit made by Qiagen. Both of these products are based on silica gel membrane technology and allow for the extraction of total DNA from processed foods and raw foodstuffs, respectively. In... 

Krone, C.A., Yeh, S.M.J. and Iwaoka, W.T. (1986). Mutagen formation during commercial processing of foods, Environ. Health Perspect., 67, 75-88. 

It may appear much cheaper to employ a culture than add an enzyme to the food process. However, not only economic but also quality control and food safety considerations are involved in decision making in the modern commercial process. Indeed, all three elements of the choice economy, reproducibility and process safety, presented to the manufacturer, have meant that innovations involving enzymes, which may seem fine on the drawing board, have been very tardily adopted by industry. 

The name vitamin B12 indicates a group of cobalt-containing corrinoids, also described as cobala-mins. Hydroxycobalamin (HOCbl), adenosylcobalamin (AdoCbl), and methylcobalamin (MeCbl) are the natural occurring forms. Instead, cyanocobalamin (Figure 19.20) is the commercially available form used for supplements and food fortification, thanks to its greater relative stability. Occasionally, sulfitocobalmin can occur in processed foods. Vitamin B,2 functions as a coenzyme and it is linked to human growth, cell development, and is involved in metabolism of certain amino acids. Vitamin B12 is present mainly in meat and diary foods, therefore a deficiency can occur in... 

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