INTRODUCTION TO UNIT OPERATION

 INTRODUCTION:-

Food technologists use science to transform raw materials into palatable, healthy, safe, and convenient food products that can be consumed. They develop new food products for society by utilizing engineering principles in research and development, production technology, quality control, packaging, and processing.

Process:

A process is a set of activities or operations that take place in manufacturing equipment; induce a series of physicochemical and biological changes in the raw food materials, resulting in the production of useful consumer goods. With greater market acceptance, improved storage stability, ease of handling, and transportation, the resulting products are regarded as safe for consumption.

Example

When tomatoes, for instance, are taken from the field, they differ in size and color, so there is no uniform shape, size, or color. There is a possibility of foreign substances like pesticides, soil, and leaves contaminating the surface. Cooking with field-harvested tomatoes is not recommended. Therefore, we employ procedures like cleaning, sorting, blanching, and others to ensure its safety. Sorting and grading tomatoes before sending them to supermarkets can improve their marketability. To make pickles, puree/ketchup, and other products, we physically and chemically transform perishable tomatoes in order to preserve them for a long time. Peeling, deseeding, crushing, pulping, heat treatment, and other transformation processes are all included in the PROCESS FLOW CHART.

 Flow charts, also known as flow diagrams or flow sheets, are a graphical representation of the processes. In a nutshell, a flow diagram depicts the sequence of a process's major steps, as well as the movement of raw materials, finished goods, and byproducts. Schematic flow charts are used to show the processes, with each process written inside a "rectangle" or "box." As a result, flow diagrams are sometimes referred to as block diagrams.

Classification of Unit Operation

 Food products undergo various transformation stages to produce distinct outcomes. Cheese is made from milk through a chemical process. As a result, all unit operations fall into three broad categories. Physical: milling, grinding, sieving, mixing, fluidization, sedimentation, flotation, absorption, adsorption, extraction, rectification, evaporation, drying, extrusion, and other similar processes are all examples. Chemical: coagulation, refinement, and so on Biochemical: sterilization, fermentation, pasteurization, enzyme peeling, etc