Processing and Value Addition In Fruits and Vegetables Crops

India is a global leader in production of fruits and vegetables. We share 12 per cent of world's production of fruits and 15 per cent in case of vegetables. We are the top rankers in the production of mango, papaya, sapota, cauliflowers, and cabbage in the world. The productivity of fruits has nearly doubled, from 5.5 to 10.3 t/h, over the years. In spite of these impressive production records our over all performance in this field is far from satisfactory. Our farmers are not getting economical return on their investments that have become a serious impediment in the growth of this sector. Many reasons are cited for non-performance of this sector. Lack of infrastructure facilities to handle perishables, lack of marketing, lack of processing facilities, lack of knowledge of post harvest practices, inadequate packaging, transport, heavy post harvest losses, etc. Though our production records stand high our global position in international trade of vegetables is dismayed. India processes less than 2 per cent of its fruits and vegetables against 83 per cent in Malaysia, 78 Philippines, 70 per cent in USA and Brazil and 30 per cent in Thailand. Thus value addition is negligible in India. The main reason attributed for the non-performance of processing sector is because it is not market driven. It is recognized that India can capitalize on its rich natural resources and man power to augment surplus horticultural production which could be translated into value added products, higher returns and employment generation. By proper handling and value addition country can be a dominant player in international food trade. According to one report food industry contributes to 18 per cent of GNP and has employed 1.5 million workers, which mounts to 20 per cent of our industrial labour, which indicates the importance of this sector in our economy. The processing systems in a developing country can be classified as:

a) Small scale processing. This is suitable for personal subsistence of a farmer, which caters to needs of a nearby local market. b) Intermediate processing. This operation may be by an individual or by a group of processors. Processing is for a locally grown produce adopting a technology. The raw material may be self grown or on contract farming c) Large scale processing. This is a highly mechanized operation requiring substantial supply of raw material on a economical business proposition. This system requires large capital investment, high technical, managerial and marketing know-how and skills.

Important factors to determine worthiness of a fruit or vegetable for processing: I) II) III) Its demand in the processed or modified form Quality of the raw material to undergo processing Regular supplies to sustain business production. There must be greater flexibility in the plant layout so that the facilities and equipment must be suitable and adoptable for multi-product and multicrop processing through out the year. This offsets the drawback of seasonability, which is very peculiar to some fruits and vegetables. Importance steps in processing: I) Raw material Control 1. 2. 3. II) Stage of harvest Method of harvest Method of handling and transport

Raw material quality control 1. Name and variety 2. No. of pieces/Kg 3. Sanitation condition 4. Physical condition

5. Colour, appearance, texture, flavour, taste 6. Soluble sugars 7. Acidity III) Temporary storage before storing 1. Keep in shade 2. Avoid dust and contamination 3. Avoid excessive heat 4. Avoid insects, pests and damage 5. Preferable to use cold storage (1-2% weight loss is considered as an ideal for temporarily storage) IV) Washing To be done before processing to remove soil, microorganisms, pesticide residues and other contaminants. It is done by, 1. Using pressurized water 2. Using warm water at 50 oC 3. Using 0f 1.5 % HCL 4. Using chlorinated water or chlorine V) Sorting and grading It is done to remove uncommon material and to keep uniform fruits and vegetables through 1. Removing damaged material 2. Removing foreign bodies 3. Removing deformed and culls 4. Separation according to colour, maturity, uniformity and size Value addition by Preservation and processing: Important value addition methods for fruits and vegetables are as follow, 1. By storing fresh products It reduces moisture loss and also checks metabolic and microorganism activities. The various methods of storage of perishables are, i) By packing in barrier films (like waxing, preservatives/ chemicals, insulating materials to avoid brushing etc.) 3

ii) iii) iv) v) vi)

By using refrigerated storage By reducing oxygen availability By creating carbon enriched environment By using MAP techniques By using CA storage techniques

Proper temperature, humidity pressure and gas concentrations suitable for the storing perishables are mandatory for effective storage. 2. Preservation by acidification, salt, sugar solutions Following solutions may be used in correct proportion either individually or in mixture depending upon the perishable. i) ii) iii) iv) v) vi) vii) viii) Vinegar Acitic Acid Lactic Acid Citric Acid Tartaric Acid NaCl Sugar syrups Edible oil

Preparation of pickles, murabba, acid fermentated products vegetable canning are some of the examples. 3. Heat preservation Following thermal preservation methods are used. Pasteurization - Time and Temperature Combination is to determined according to product Sterilization Time and Temperature Combination is to determined according to product Thermal processing - Sterilization by thermal processing is the most popular method adopted for fruits and vegetable products processing. In canning a sterile product is produced by filing a hot product into a standard food grade can, exhausting and sealing followed by auto4

claving at predetermined temperature and time combinations. In general for vegetal 121C for 15 minutes or its equivalent. After this thermal processing the cans are cooled to room temperature, labeled and are ready for dispatch. To improve the heat transfer coefficient to cut short the lag times in heating of a can and to reduce the cost of processing, Rotary Retorts, Vibratory Retorts, etc.should be used. 4. Canning of vegetables 1. Canning in brine 2. Canning in their own juice 3. Canned vegetables in tomato concentrated juice 4. Canned in vegetable oils Aseptic packaging This is a new technology of processing of fruits juice and concentrates. Thermal processed sterile products are filled into a sterile pack under sterile conditions in the form of Bag-in-Box filling method. The important advantages of this aseptic packaging are, a) It reduces heat denaturation due to short time processing. b) It gives better quality and quality independent of package size. c) Greater diversity, range, shape and type of packages. d) Great flexibility in package size (small packs, drums, bags in box, tankers, etc.) e) It reduce energy costs f) Significant savings in material management, space and handling. This packaging essentially is made of three major components

i. ii. iii.

A flexible, collapsible, fully sealed bag made of synthetic film (single ply or multiply), A tubular spout through which the contents are filled and dispensed. A rigid outer box or container to hold the bag and to offer mechanical strength.

Inner bags made of multi ply laminates combining aluminum foil and metalized polyester substrates are available. These films provide oxygen barrier properties and are highly suitable for oxygen sensitive products and also highly acidic products. Thermal processing of the product in a heat exchanger, aseptic filling and packaging is an integrated system. Fruit juices, Nectars, Tomato -puree, coconut water, etc., are now available in aseptic packs. There is an ample scope to extend this technology for particulate products like fruits cubes and vegetable in their own juices or sugar syrups. 5. Dehydration Drying is a very important processing method. Some of the important dried products are raisins, onion flakes, garlic powder, banana powder, tomato powder, etc. Dehydration industry has not shown satisfactory growth in the past due to constraints like non- availability of required varieties, locational disadvantages, up gradations technology, high cost, lack of consumer awareness and lack of market demand. But now the trend is changing and many industries are coming up in Gujarat. Many smaller dehydration plants are set up for products like onion flakes, garlic, potato flakes, granules and other dehydrated vegetables. Drying offers new products and value addition. The fruits are dried as whole, cut, diced or powered. Shelf life stability of more than one year has been reported. For drying of vegetables they are washed, peeled, cutt/diced/cube, steaming/sulphuring and drying with hot air at the required temperature for required time using solar/ tunnel dryer followed by bin drying with natural pressurized air. While in case of fruits juice is extracted and after adjusting sugar content/soluble solid it is dried in drum/spray dryer under vacuum. 6

Package requirements for powders i) ii) Storage in stores @ less than 75% RH Vapour/ moisture proof barrier properties [metal drums, AI. foil, hermetically sealed containers, nitrogen filling, antioxidants (ascorbic acid)] Some of the recent advancements in dehydration of fruits and vegetables are, a) b) c) d) Microwave drying, Osmotic dehydration, Vacuum dehydration and Freeze-drying.

These methods are advantages to conventional hot air drying in terms of reduced drying times, energy efficiency and excellent product quality. 6. Freezing and refrigeration processing Frozen peas and cut vegetables are very popular in the developed world. These products yet to make an impact in our country due to lack of cold chain and infrastructure facilities. Newer methods of freezing for green peas and mango have been developed and IQF is one such process adoptable for continuous processing. IQF refers to individual quick-freezing of every particle/ aggregate using fluidization in a stream of very cold air. Fluidization leads to high heat transfer coefficients and therefore very rapid freezing and hence a better quality. For example freezing of green peas in an air blast freezer may take 3 -4 hours whereas it is only 10 -12 minutes by IQF. This results in for better texture and there is no humb or block formation. IQF products can be handled easily as particulates where as it is a block in air blast freezing. Some of other important IQF products are frozen fruit dices and cut vegetables (Okra, guards, etc.). 7. Non-thermal processing

The conventional heat processing methods suffer serious disadvantage of quality defects due to exposure of the product to high temperature. Several non-thermal processing techniques have emerged to over come these quality defects and are finding applications in processing of several fruits and vegetable products. a) Membrane Technology Reverse osmosis (RO) and Ultrafiltration (UF) membrane separation processes facilitate concentration of liquids without heating and phase change. UF has been successfully applied for concentration of several fruit and vegetable juices. b) Ultra High Pressure or High Hydrostatic Pressure Processing (HHP) Ultra high pressure or High Hydrostatic Pressure Processing (HHP) is a novel non-thermal processing where in foods are subjected to very high hydrostatic pressures ranging from 100 -600 Mpa (50,000 -60,000 Psi). High pressure inactivates micro-organisms and enzymes and makes food safe for consumption and increase shelf life. HHP treatment has been applied to several products like citrus and other fruit juices. c) Pulsed electric field (PEF) Pulsed electric field of high strength (35 kV/cm) is found to produce destruction of micro-organisms which is similar to thermal effects but without the application of heat. PEF produces ant microbial treatment of liquids and pumpable foods which results into high quality parameters of detention of natural flavours, nutritional properties, colour, appearance and also extended shelf life retaining original flavour, colour and nutritional values. Some of the developments that are taking place in the fruit and vegetable product processing are as,

I. Canned fruits and vegetables - Combination of vegetables in sauces and vegetable recipe dishes. Exotic fruits. 2. Glass packed fruits and vegetables -"Condiverde"/"antipasti" products based on vegetables in oil. -High quality fruit packs. 3. Retortable plastics -Basic vegetables or vegetable meals -Fruit in jelly 4. Aseptic cartons -Ready made jelly 5. Rosti meals -Potato based products in retort pouches 6. Fruit juices -New combinations of juices and freshly squeezed products 7. Crisps -Thick and crunch skin-on crisps. Kettle or pan-fried chips. Lower fat crisps.