Food Engineering

(Food Processing & Manufacturing Science)

Dr. Mukund V. Karwe

(karwe@aesop.rutgers.edu)

(http://foodsci.rutgers.edu)
 Food Engineering
• Food Manufacturing Industry
the second largest manufacturing sector in the US with sales over
$650 billion covering a very wide range of prepared foods

Example:
Frozen foods Total frozen food sales $29.2 billion
 What is Food Engineering ?
FLOUR

Bagel Bread Croissant Filled

Croissant
MILK

Milk Yogurt Ice Cream Cheese

Powder
 What is Food Engineering ?

Application of engineering and science principles to

enable the development of food processing operations
for the manufacture of foods in large quantities and with
narrow tolerances to deliver to the consumer high
quality, safe and healthy foods.

Raw materials Processed foods

Process design and optimization
Equipment design
Process control
Packaging
 The History of Convenience Foods
• Convenience foods (packaged soups, frozen meals,
prepared sauces and flavorings) date back centuries.
• Humans have always needed to obtain food and store a
portion for later use. Prehistoric humans may have dried
fruits in the sun and stored meat in cold areas, such as
caves.
• The modern food processing and preservation industry was
born in 1800s.
• In 1809, when French chef and inventor Nicolas Appert
searching for a better way to provide food for Napoleon’s
army, devised a method for sterilizing food in tightly sealed
glass bottles.
 The History of Convenience Foods
• In 1882 Swiss Public Welfare Society offered a series of
recommendations, including an increase in the consumption
of vegetables.
• The Society commissioned Julius Maggi, a miller with a
reputation as an inventive and capable businessman, to
create a vegetable food product that would be quick to
prepare and easy to digest.
• The results-two instant pea soups and an instant bean soup-
helped launch one of the best known brands in the history of
the food industry.
• By the turn of the century, Maggi & Company was producing
not only powdered soups, but bouillon cubes, sauces and
flavorings.
Milestones in Food Technology in the
last 200 years
1809 Nicholas Appert used glass containers to sterilize
food (for Napoleon)
1818 Tin Can used for food storage (in U.S.)
Peter Durand (U.K.)
1840 Instant gelatin (Peter Cooper, NY)
1870 Margarine as a substitute for butter
1871 Chewing gum introduced (Philadelphia)
1886 Coca Cola introduced (Atlanta pharmacist John
Pemberton)
1890 Peanut butter introduced
1894 Cold cereal cornflakes introduced (W.K. Kellogg)
1904 Thermos flask developed (Dewar)
Ice cream cone
1941 M&M candy introduced (Forrest Mars)
1946 Teflon as a non-stick cooking surface (DuPont)
1947 Microwave oven to heat food
1953 Saran Wrap by Dow Chemicals
(MW safe plastic): polyvinylidene chloride
1955 First McDonald’s in California
1961 Space foods (Lunar missions)
1973 Plastic (which?) bottles for soda (soft drink)
1976 Pop-top soda can
1980s High Pressure food processing
1990s Food Processing using ‘field’
~1995 Outer space (Mars mission) food technology
initiated
2002 Food Nanotechnology, Food Informatics
How bakery products and frozen
dough are made?
 Industrial-scale bread production
1) Ingredient mixing and
dough development,
2) Automatic dough
slicing and depositing
into bread pans/trays,

Thank You 3) Proofing/second rise,

4) Baking the loaves in
hot-air convection oven,
5) Cooling the bread,
6) Separating the loaves
from the bread pans,
7) Slicing and
packaging,
8) Delivery to retail outlets.

http://encarta.msn.com//Industrial_Scale_Bread_Making.html
 Bread production

Dough Dough
mixer divider
Proofing of dough: allowing dough to rise to
get all the bubbles that give it a great texture

Conveyor belts

http://www.foodprocessing-technology.com/contractors/materials/habasit/
Moulding and stamping of bakery
products on the continuous processing line

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/
 Baking of dough requires large ovens

Tunnel
oven

Industrial
tunnel oven

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/
 Ice cream
• Ice cream, popular frozen food made of milk, cream, sugar,
and flavoring.
• It was first made in Italy in the 17th century and appeared in
the US in the early 18th century. The US ice-cream
manufacturing industry began in 1851.
• Early production methods consisted of placing the
ingredients in a metal container, surrounded by a freezing
mixture of ice and coarse salt, and mixing them until
smooth.
• The story of its popularity is connected with the invention of
technology to make it on an industrial scale, and to keep it
cold once made.
• At the end of the 19th century, both making and freezing it
became easier, and together with the invention of the ice
cream cone, made the product boom.
 Industrial-scale ice cream production
In modern plants the ingredients
are poured into a tank, where they
are mixed and pasteurized.
The mixture is then homogenized
to break up particles of butterfat,
cooled, piped to a freezing tank,
and beaten until smooth; at this
stage nuts or fruits are added.
The ice cream emerges from the
freezing tank partially frozen and
is packed into containers that are
stored in a refrigerated room until
hard.

http://www.bosgear.com/segments/food.html
Industrial
freezer

Ice cream structure under

electron microscope

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/
Manufacture of dairy products

- Cheese
- Yogurt
- Milk powder
Collection of milk from farms with large
milk tankers

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/
Skim milk and yogurt manufacture

Milk
Cream
evaporators
separators

Yogurt
fermentation Yogurt
vessel filling
 How milk powder is made?

Spray dryer
Falling film
evaporator

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/ Milk powder

How cheese is made?

[left]
separating and
cutting curds

[right]
cheese
maturation and
warehousing

Curds and whey pumped Maturation of cheeses on

into the vat environmentally controlled racks
How cheese is made?

Cheese moulding machinery

Cheese blocks

Cheese
wedges

Truckle of cheese being sliced

http://www.repete.com/solutions.html
How are these made?

Food Extruder
Pasta & Cereal manufacturing

8,000kg/h spaghetti production line

Close-up of the 8,000kg/h pasta press

pasta press

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/
 Spaghetti drying

Pasta packaging

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/
Twin Screw Extruder
(making corn pops)

(Dr. Karwe’s lab)

Food extrusion die
Corn flakes production line
aerator mixing head used in marshmallow chicks
confectionary industry

Mixer for continuous aeration of Marshmallows extruded in continuous

fat based creams and chocolates ropes on starch-dusted conveyors.

www.foodprocessing-technology.com/
Robots in food industry

packaging-line robot

parallel-arm robot for high-

speed picking and packing
www.foodprocessing-technology.com/ applications.
 Packaging
• Regardless of the processing or preservation method
used, proper packaging of food is essential to make
sure the food remains wholesome during its journey from
processor to consumer.
• Packaging helps the delivery to the consumer of carefully
metered or weighed quantities of foods in a pleasing way
and also protects the food from spoilage and
increases its shelf life.
• Packaging contains food and makes it easier to handle
during transport and storage.
• Selection of packaging material is critical and depends on
the characteristics of the product to be packaged. For
example, milk is often stored in opaque containers to
prevent vitamins from being destroyed by light.
• Individualized delivery of food requires very fast
packaging lines filling millions of packages a week
(sometimes a day).
 Thermal Processing

Objectives:
• Render foods free of pathogenic & spoilage organisms
• Impart changes in texture, color, flavor
• Improve digestibility
• Improve shelf life
Blanching carried out before sterilization, dehydration,
and freezing to deactivate enzymes and reduce surface
load of microbes in vegetables and some fruits

Pasteurization is carried out for low acid foods (pH >

4.5) to kill pathogenic microorganisms. (Milk: 15 s at
71.5 °C) and for acidic foods (pH < 4.5) to extend shelf
life by killing spoilage microorganisms (molds, yeasts)

Heat sterlization is carried out to kill the enzymes and

microbes (high temp > 100 °C). Canned food and
aspectically packaged food
 Microwave Heating

• Interaction of EM field with food (containing water

and fat)
• Conversion of electrical energy to heat
• More penetration at lower frequency
• Non-contact
• Rapid heating
• Surface does not overheat (but no crust formation)
 What are microwaves?

• Electromagnetic waves of radiant energy

• Just like light or radio waves, and different only in
wavelength
• Longer than IR, shorter than radio waves
 Properties of microwaves

• Travel in straight lines

• Reflected by metals, Pass through air
• Generally pass through glass, paper, plastic
• Absorbed by water and other food components

Does oil heat in a microwave oven?

 Microwave Oven
 Transfer of microwave energy from a magnetron to
the food product
 Electromagnetic spectrum between 300 MHz and
3000 MHz frequency

 2450 MHz for domestic microwave ovens 2450 MHz

or 915 MHz for industrial systems

Source: http://www.zebu.uoregon.edu/~js/ast123/ lectures/lec03.html

 Inherent disadvantages of thermal
processing

Loss of
original flavor, taste, appearance, color
nutritional quality
“Newer” Processing
Methods
 Non-Thermal Processing

Objectives:
• Render foods free of pathogenic & spoilage organisms
• Retain color, flavor
• Improve shelf life
• Improve texture
 Examples of Non-thermal Processes

• High Hydrostatic Pressure (HHP)

• Pulsed Electric Field (PEF)
• Ultrasound
• Pulsed Light (PL)
• Irradiation
• Electron Beam
• Oscillating Magnetic Field (OMF)
• Gas, plasma
High Pressure Processing

High pressure processing (HPP), or high hydrostatic

pressure (HHP), or ultra high pressure (UHP)
processing, subjects liquid or solid foods, with or
without packaging, to pressures between 40 and 1000
MPa ( 1-20 min).
Three African elephants (~5 tons each)
standing on a 18 mm (dia.) disk

(18 mm in diameter)

600 MPa or 87,000 psi

 Traditionally shucked HPP shucked

muscle
& tissue
damage Adductor
muscle
intact

Pericardial
cavity
intact

Oysters
HHP Processed Current and Potential
Products in the Market
Apple cider, fruit smoothies,
Ham, chicken, turkey, sausages
Oysters, Clams, other shell fish
Hummus,
Guacamole,
Salsa, wet salads
 High Intensity Pulsed Light Processing

• Intense, short duration, broad-spectrum light is

exposed to a food or package
• Very effective on product surfaces
• Marginally effective at penetrating to depths in foods
• Reduces the need for chemical disinfectants and
preservatives
 Lamp

Shelf

 FDA approved Pulsed Light Technology for food

(21CFR, Part 179, 1996)

Source: Dr. Carmen Moraru

 Radiation vs. Irradiation

• Radiation: Mode of heat transfer in vacuum

Non-Ionizing Radiation: RF, microwaves, IR

Ionizing Radiation: X-rays, gamma rays, and energy

from radioactive isotopes.

 Irradiation:: Ionizing radiation

Irradiation
 Current Food Products Processed by
Ionizing Radiation
Potatoes,
Spices,
Dry vegetable seasoning,
Ground beef, pork, poultry,
Some fruits and vegetables
More than 150 food irradiation facilities in 40 countries

“Food irradiation is one of the most extensively and

thoroughly studied methods of food preservation”
Thakur and Singh (1994)
 Labeling Requirements

• Irradiated foods are required to have either “treated

with irradiation” or “treated by irradiation” displayed
prominently on the label.
• “Radura” must be displayed.
• Ingredients (e.g. spices) are not required to have any
labeling.
• Restaurant foods do not require labeling
 Consumer Acceptance

“The greatest disadvantage of food irradiation is its

name…evokes unpleasant associations of radioactivity,
nuclear threats, high technology, genetic mutation, and
cancer”
GAS PLASMA PROCESSING
 PLASMA

 Plasma is the fourth state of matter

A higher energy state than gas, liquid or solid

 Most of the universe is made up of plasma

Sun
Stars
Lightning
Neon lights
 PLASMA
 Plasma can be generated by passing a current
between 2 electrodes through a gas.

Its application in food industry includes:

– Food packaging
– Microbial safety
 Food engineering/processing/
manufacturing delivers a wide range of
high quality, healthy foods in a
convenient, safe and shelf stable way
to the consumer.
THANK YOU