Step in Canning

                I would like to share with you about step in canning, which this topic is a part of Heat Treatment under food preservation. The step involve are, selection raw material, preparation of raw material, filling the container exhausting, sealing the container, heat processing, cooling, labelling and warehousing.

Under selection raw material, sorting is a step involve which to select good from damage or separations based measurable physical properties.

Grading is conducted to grade fruits according to quality and size.

Method are involve in selection raw material  are peeling, coring, slicing, and blancing.

Filling the container is done by make sure cans are sterilised prior. This is conducted either manually or mechanically. The important factors to consider for filling process is the headspace.

The exhausting process is done by removing air in the container before it is tightly closed or sealed.  It is important because to reduce O2 content of the headspace and to reduce strain of can.

Sealing the container

Heat Processing is important to inactivate both microbes and enzyme in can product.

The can are cooling immediately using running water with temperature not less 37˚C. The point I want to share is the cooling process need to evaporate off water that is trapped in can and to avoid rusting in can.

Labelling of food product can be conducted manually or mechanically. Finished can product are store in dry and well ventilated warehouse.

There all about the canning process. I hope you may enjoy with this knowledge.

Candied Fruits

                Food preservation is ones of our crucial subjects in our syllabus. All of the foods that we eat are derived from living matter; therefore they are subject to the natural process of decomposition. The main objectives of preservation is therefore to reduce or remove conditions that allow spoilage microorganisms to grow and to render the food stable over a period of time and do not cause any food borne illness. Enough with introduction, actually the main points of my post is to brief a simple method in the production of candied fruit that we have conducted last week under Ms.Hariyah instruction.

                The fruit that are used were peeled and cut into desired size and shaped. Then the fruit was cleaned with running tap water. After that, the fruit were cooked with 0.5% citric acid to soften the fruits. Then boiled it with concentrated sugar solution. Let it cooled for a while.

                Then, the cooled fruit + Conc. sugar solution was placed in sterilized container and let it stand for overnight .After 24 hours, we need to measure the˚ Brix and increased to 48˚Brix and on the second concentration were increased to 65˚Brix.

                In third day of observations, the fruit was coated with fine sugar then dried in drier cabinet until the fruit is no longer sticky.

                Now, the candied fruit are ready to eat....Bon appétit !!!

Intense Pulse Light

      Pulsed light is a new method intended for the decontamination of food surfaces using short, high frequency pulses of an intense broad spectrum.Pulsed Light technology is an alternative to thermal treatment for killing pathogenic and spoilage microorganisms in foods, including bacteria, yeasts, molds,and viruses. The treatment consists in applying a series of very short, high power pulses of broad spectrum light. In the United States, FDA has approved the use of

Pulsed Light for the decontamination of food or food contact surfaces, provided that

the treatment uses a xenon lamp with emission of wavelengths between 200-1000 nm,

with a pulse width not exceeding 2 ms. The key component of a Pulsed Light unit is a flash lamp is filled with an inert gas, such as Xenon, which emits broadband radiation that ranges from the UV cut off of the envelope material. A high-voltage,high-current electrical pulse is applied to the inert gas in the lamp, and the strong collision between electrons and gas molecules cause excitation of the latter, which then emit an intense, very short light pulse (1 μs to 0.1 s). 

                                                                                 
         The exact mechanisms by which Pulsed Light causes cell death are not yet fully understood, but it is generally accepted that UV plays a critical role in microbial inactivation. The antimicrobial effects of UV light on bacteria are attributed to structural changes in the DNA, increased cell membrane permeability of the cell membrane. Some studies also indicated observable injurious effects on yeast cells and mold spores following exposure to Pulsed Light.

        This post is actually a summarization of a novels of intense pulsed light, it also mentioned about this intense pulsed light is used for skin treatment.  

                                                                                  
        example of food that can be preserve by using intense pulse light;

                                                                CuP cAkeSS!!!!... hehehe