LO3: Examine the effects of processing and storage of micronutrients in foods and their effect

on food quality.

Micronutrients consists of vitamins and minerals which are very essential for human
development as it helps to maintain a good health and prevent diseases, such as osteoporosis
by a lack of calcium or scurvy due to a lack of vitamin C.

It is important to process and store micronutrients in food in order to prevent micronutrient

deficiency. So, people should implement more micronutrients in their diet with the food they
consume. Since lots of food are highly perishable or seasonally available, suitable techniques
should be considered to retain the micro nutritional value of the food.

Fresh fruits and vegetables contain lots of micronutrients with the high amounts of vitamins
they provide to the body. In order, to preserve micronutrients in food, it is important to take
into consideration how to process food so that people can derive from the same nutrients
when they are not consuming food in their fresh form. For instance, micro nutritional value of a
vegetable can be preserved by blanching. This process consists of heating the vegetable high
enough to destroy enzymes that are present in leaf tissues and also to shorten their drying and
dehydration. But when conducting blanching, we must ensure that we are not blanching the
vegetable too much to avoid loss of colour, texture, flavor and nutrient quality.

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P5 Appraise how different preservations methods can be used effectively in hospitality

providing specific examples.

Food preservation consists of different various techniques that allow food to be kept for a
longer time period without losing its nutritional quality and prevent the growth of unwanted
microorganisms.

Most of the preservation methods are interrelated with each other and have common uses and
applications.
Different types of preservation methods:

 Pickling is the process of preserving food by anaerobic fermentation either in brine in a

salt solution or in an acid solution such as vinegar. The concentrations of the pickling
agents and the time needed for pickling are determined by the type of food.

Pickling is very useful in the hospitality sector as it adds unique flavors to meals. Pickled
food is viewed as both a condiment and seasoning ingredient in prepared dishes.

Pickling consists mostly of mangoes, mixed vegetables, lime, chili, tomato and garlic
preserved in oil and assorted spices.

Pickling allows the hospitality industry to provide customers with non-seasoned foods
throughout the year.

Picking is consumed in various cuisines such as in the European cuisine, people consume
pickles that are made from roots, peppers, watermelons and vegetables and in the
Chinese cuisine, pickling is done using baicai or Chinese cabbage, radish and chili
pepper.

In the hospitality sector, with the use of pickling, tourists who are traveling would be
very satisfied and enjoy a good culinary experience with the use of different and various
types of pickling used either in the food or being accompanied with the food.

 Canning is the method that involves a careful preparation of food packed in a sealed
container exposed to a high temperature, above 100 degrees and then immediately
allowed to cool down at a temperature of about 38 degree. This cooling process helps to
prevent unnecessary adverse effects of heat on the texture, flavor or colour of the food.

During the heat process, all vegetative bacteria are destroyed and spores cannot grow.

Before canning any food, it is primordial to sterilize the food and then sealing the can
with an airtight seal to prevent contamination during handling and storage.

Canning is suitable for high and low acidic foods and it also prevents contamination as
well as it enhances shelf life of foods.
 The canning process is first of all concerned with the cleaning, where raw food are
washed and then they are cut, peeled, cored, sliced, graded, soaked and pureed.

Canning is very useful in commercial kitchens during off season of some foods, thus
canned foods are always an alternative and it lasts for long periods.

The benefit we have with canned foods is that they do not require any preservatives as
usually the food that is sold in the canned food is already cooked.

In the hospitality industry, canned foods are widely used and it is more convenient as
well. For instance, it is easier to use tomato paste in cans rather than fresh tomatoes for
the preparation of Italian foods. This is effective as it is already available and secondly
when fresh tomatoes are expensive, there would not be any issue or additional cost.
However, if fresh tomatoes are easily available, we can also use both the canned tomato
and fresh tomato. This will bring additional good flavor to the food.

 Curing is the process of adding salt to flesh foods such as pork, beef or fish, to
denaturize the meat proteins. The curing process eliminates moisture from the meat
and this is replaced by salt to preserve the meat.

Curing can be initiated by heat, radiation, electron beams, or chemical additives.

The advantage of curing is that different flavors can be added to the meat. Many
businesses can create their own signature cured food and mark themselves among their
customers. This process allows for new inventions and creating new flavors in foods.

Curing is used with certain fruits and vegetables in the making of pickles.

Example of a well-known delicacy created with the help of curing is pepperoni.

 Fermentation is a process in which an organism converts a carbohydrate, such as starch
or a sugar into an alcohol or an acid. It is a natural process which is used to make
products such as wine, cheese and beer.

Fermentation can make foods more nutritious as it adds rich and complex flavor to the
food.

In many cuisines, fermentation has been an important part as it has been a means of
preserving food from making sauces to beverages to breads and pickles.

Fermented foods offer old time appeal to customers as they offer a unique twist on
classic dishes. Moreover, it is affordable as many bear low food cost.

Bread, for example is made by the process of fermentation as all ingredients are mixed
together with yeast and then it is baked. The yeast in the bread would make it remain
edible much longer.

One way of using fermentation and bringing it to another level can be using fermented
vegetables into cocktail menus.

 Heating means heating food to temperatures that is sufficient to kill microorganisms.

The heating process is used to kill or inactivate pathogens and extend the life of the
food.

Heating is very effective as it improves eating quality.

Heating can be in the form of blanching or pasteurization as a mild process and baking,
roasting and frying as a more severe process.

Heating is important to make sure that the food is hot enough for the customer to
consume and secondly to verify whether the food has been cooked properly, for
instance meat products should be cooked properly during its preparation.
 Freeze drying preserve food by rapidly freezing it and then subjecting it to a high
vacuum which removes ice by sublimation. For example, freeze-dry beef stew.

Freeze drying is done in three stages where, first of all, there is the pre-freezing process,
and then we have the sublimation process known as the primary drying and finally
followed by the secondary drying process. The food must be firstly pre-frozen then it
should go through the sublimation process where ice is removed from the product and
then continuous drying must be done to remove excess of water.

Freeze drying bears no risk of contamination and also there is no need of using any
chemicals for preservation.

Depending on the product and packaging environment, freeze dried foods that are
canned can last up to twenty years and those that are stored in containers can last 6
months up to 3 years and this is good for commercial use. For example, coffee and
fruits.

 Sous vide is a low temperature cooking process of vacuum-sealing food in a bag and
then cooking it in a water bath.

Sous vide brings consistency, taste and flexibility to the food.

Sous vide makes it very easy to obtain a perfectly cooked meat, for instance from edge
to edge without loss of volume or moisture while cooking.

Another example with sous vide is that there is a precise temperature that provide
consistent results, such as sous vide makes it easier to achieve an ideal poached egg.

 Pasteurization, named after a French chemist, Louis Pasteur, involves heating food, such
as, liquid foods to a specific temperature for a specific time and then allowing it to cool
rapidly, for example, milk and beer.
The temperature used is usually less than 100 degree for the elimination of pathogens.
The method of pasteurization is very useful as it kills bacteria and makes the food safe
to eat or drink such as canned food.
 Food can be pasteurized either before being packed or after having been packed into
containers. Most liquid foods are pasteurized by a heating zone, hold tube and cooling
tube, afterwards the food is packed.

Milk is one of the most common products that pasteurized, and as it is an excellent
medium for microbial growth, pasteurization is needed to prolong the shelf life of milk
and making milk one of the safest foods that exist.

In commercial kitchens, we use milk widely in the pastry in preparation of cakes and
delicacies, thus with pasteurization it is safely to use milk in the kitchen.

 Irradiation is a technology that improves the safety and life span of a product by
eliminating microorganisms and insects.

With this process, the food is exposed to radiations, for example x-rays which kills
microbes and slows ripening of fruit, for instance.

However, if microbes have already left toxins on the food, the process would not be
useful and the product would not be safe to consume.

Irradiation can also be used to sterilize foods so that they can be stored for years
without refrigeration.

Some foods that are irradiated are seeds for sprouting, shell eggs and crustaceans.

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M3 Analyze the use of modern food preservation methods on current food
production practices providing specific examples.

1. Freeze-Drying:

Freeze drying in food production unit is a popular technique as products in their dried state or
when reconstituting them, we notice that the reconstituted products look and taste pretty
much like the original with using any chemicals.  Freeze-drying is commonly used for coffee,
fruit, juice, vegetables, herbs, food flavorings, fish, seafood, eggs, and dairy. These have
become popular as snacks and ingredients in other foods, such as breakfast cereals. Hence
production units, assembly-line kitchen really benefit from this procedure as they help them to
operate effectively as where they just have to reheat the product and present it on the plate.
Hence this helps the production unit to reduce costs in terms of worker’s wages as it will
require less people. For other types of production unit also it is an advantage as it helps them to
stock products for longer days where they will be able to use them later instead of doing
wastage. However this process is quite expensive as the equipment needed to carry out this
procedures are quite costly, hence proper maintenance must be done for the effectiveness of
these equipment.

2. Sous-vide:

The main advantage with sous-vide is that it helps to save time as it allows to prepare several
dishes at the same time where there is a guarantee that the product will not be overcooked or
dried out as the computerized temperature controller will help in balancing the temperature based
on the pre-set recipe. Time can also be saved when using sous-vide is by cooking in bulk and
tossing in the water bath, Hence in production unit where mass-production is being done, it
boosts the company to work effectively and rapidly. Money also can be saved because it helps in
planning the food ahead of time, cooking them all together and packing them helps in saving
money as aside from increased shelf life, packing food in serving sizes helps you lessen wastes
as well. Example of sous-vide is in gastronomic kitchen where they use raw lamb to be cooked
over 9 hours to achieve the finest quality of product. However Sous vide is criticized to be prone
to bacteria in the food production united but it should be in consideration that food requires to
get chilled quickly at about 3.5°c before it can be seared because food becomes prone to
bacteria only when it reaches the temperature danger zone which is 4.4°c to 60° c. Hence the
food must be chilled quickly where the less likely it will allow certain bacteria to grow.
3. Pasteurization

 Pasteurization is the process where fresh foods are heated briefly to high temperatures, to
kill off bacteria, then cooled rapidly, by greatly increasing the shelf life of packaged foods,
pasteurization has proved itself to be one of the most important food-preservation
technologies ever developed. A High-Temperature-Short-Time Treatment process uses
higher heat for less time to kill pathogenic bacteria, while a Low-Temperature-Long-Time
Treatment process uses lower heat for a longer time. Times and temperatures depend on
the type of food and the final result to be achieved, such as retaining food’s nutrients, color,
texture, and flavor. Thereby reducing pathogenic bacteria without the use of any
chemicals. Adding-on, in production units, pasteurization is used commonly to assure that
high quality of products is being given for clients, for example in restaurant where they
produced their own beer, it is important for them to follow the step of pasteurization as the
heat will have to kill the activated bacteria which is present in the yeast, Pasteurization is a
process which really facilitate the production unit where instead of using fresh local
products which will last for only some few days, they get to use products which can last
over 2 years. Pasteurization also helps in doing less wastage and saving money as
pasteurized products are less costly compared to local products. It also helps to have the
availability of getting non-seasonal product; or example litchi juice during winter seasons.

4. Food irradiation

Food irradiation is like an updated version of pasteurization where during this procedure,
the food is exposed to doses of ionizing energy, or radiation. At low doses, irradiation
extends a product’s shelf life. At higher doses, this process kills insects, bacteria and other
potentially harmful micro-organisms. There is a common misconception that irradiated food
is radioactive. The radiation used to process foods is very different from the radioactive
fallout that occurs after, Some of the benefits of this food processing technique include,
extended shelf life of products, as we already know that lot of chemicals are being used in
vegetables, Hence with the help of irradiation, vegetables tend to be more lasting and with
less pesticides, therefore increasing the quality of the food of the production unit where it
also help in less wastage. Irradiation also helps in maximizing time where the product is
already sterilized instead of losing time in cleaning products. Moreover it helps the unit to
save money as they will do less wastage.