Food, organic processing

Two major trends in the industrialised world are the demand for convenience food and awareness of the need for healthy eating patterns. The trend is away from generic foods towards processed products, for example, as we have seen, there is a growing demand for organic frozen desserts and items such as frozen pizzas. Many supermarkets see a potential for surplus products in freezing and canning surplus produce (FAO, 2002). The popularity of functional or healthy foods is also a potentially lucrative area for organic produce, especially dairy products. 

The organic chemical industry, the food processing industry, the pulp and paper industry, the textile industry, and the petroleum industry are important industries that produce organic process wastes. Unlike inorganic process wastes, they contain dissolved and insoluble matter in the main wastewater stream thus, they are more difficult to handle for disposal. They have its characteristic biological problems and spontaneous interaction with the surrounding environment, particularly, under high solar radiation. 

Important food quality and safety issues associated with organic processing and quality assurance along the food chain are addressed further in Part 3 of the book. 

The organic food chain processing trading and quality assurance... 

Organic foods are processed by biological, mechanical and physical methods in a way that maintains the vital quality of each ingredient and the finished product. 

The chemical form of arsenic in marine environmental samples is of interest from several standpoints. Marine organisms show widely varying concentrations of arsenic [4-6] and knowledge of the chemical forms in which the element occurs in tissues is relevant to the interpretation of these variable degrees of bioaccumulation and to an understanding of the biochemical mechanisms involved. Different arsenic species have different levels of toxicity [7] and bioavailability [8] and this is important in food chain processes, while physicochemical behaviour in processes such as adsorption onto sediments also varies with the species involved [9]. It has... 

Many of the analytes of interest for solid phase chemical reference materials are the same as those in seawater, but the need for and the preparation of reference materials for suspended particulate matter and sediments is quite different. The low concentrations of many seawater species and the presence of the salt matrix create particular difficulties for seawater analyses. However while sediments frequently have higher component concentrations than seawater, they also have more complicated matrices that may require unique analytical methods. A number of particulate inorganic and organic materials are employed as paleoceano-graphic proxies, tracers of terrestrial and marine input to the sea, measures of carbon export from the surface waters to the deep sea, and tracers of food-web processes. Some of the most important analytes are discussed below as they relate to important oceanographic research questions. 

Should transgenic foods be labeled as such in the stores where they are sold Why or why not Would you be reluctant to buy this food How would the price of the food affect your decision What if the food were processed and within a box, such as a box of crackers What if the food were fresh produce on display next to organic fresh produce What if the GMO fresh produce looked healthier than the organic fresh produce and was less expensive ... 

The use of biosensors for industrial and environmental analysis is very important for the control of food manufacturing processes, for the evaluation of food quality, for the control of fermentation processes and for monitoring of organic pollutants. 

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