The food we eat comes from a variety of processing. Raw foods from farms and other agricultural aspects go through multiple processes. Food processing makes the food more suitable for consumption and cooking. However, most people need to learn more about food processing.
It will help if you become aware of what precisely food processing is. Knowing such aspects can help you choose your food better and focus on improving your nutrition or diet. Food processing involves several techniques and ranges from different types. As mentioned below, you can check out Stendel + Reich food plant architects to know more about food processing and its types.
Learning more about food processing
Food processing involves a variety of operations that treat raw foods. Food processing treats and refines raw food items to make them more suitable for consumption, cooking, or storage. Food processing also involves food preservation. Generally, this process involves the essential preparation of food.
The essential preparation of raw foods may involve altering or converting a food item into a different form. For example, fruits may be changed and transformed to create preserves or fruit extracts. As a result, food processing provides new byproducts such as fruit juices and other instant foods.
Food processing is primarily used to turn different raw foods into new food products. Most food items we eat are processed to provide better taste and digestion. For instance, the food industry heavily uses food processing to perform operations such as washing, chopping, freezing, packaging, cooking, etc. Food processing may likely involve adding a few ingredients to raw food items. Ingredients may be added to increase the shelf life of food products.
Exploring the types of food processing:
- Primary food processing
Primary food processing may involve converting crude horticultural raw food into nourishing food. Items going through primary food processing can be disposed of quickly. After primary processing, food items may be more appropriate for different uses. An example of primary food processing can be processing grain to make flour.
- Secondary food processing
Secondary food processing involves dealing with and utilizing food delivered from food processing. This type of processing may include transforming food products from primary food processing to ready-to-eat nourishment. An example of secondary food processing involves using flour to create batter or bread.
- Tertiary food processing
Tertiary food processing consists of utilizing secondary processed food and refining it more for consumption. For instance, tertiary food processing may result in food items such as frozen pizzas and other bundled snacks. Tertiary food processing only utilizes food processed on a primary and secondary level to provide refined and consumable food.