One of the booming industries of modern era is the food industry particularly the food processing industry. Food ranks top most in the basic need of man. It is required for normal functioning of body and for healthy growth.
Food safety concern deals with supply of food that is safe for the consumer. Rising liberalization of agro industrial markets and the world wide integration of food supply chains require new approaches and systems for assessing food safety. Food processors and retailers are sourcing their ingredients worldwide and it can be hard to track the source or produce of a particular ingredient. Retailers buy their produce from all over the globe. International trade in high value food products (fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, fish, live animals and meat, nuts and spices) has expanded enormously in the last twenty five years. Presently, concern for food safety is one of the topmost priorities of all the countries across the globe. This concern is ever increasing with every new report on unsafe food ingredient or food itself linking their consumption to animal or human adverse health effect (Arthur, 2002).
According to WHO (1984) food safety can be defined as the assurance that food will not cause harm to the consumer when it is prepared or eaten according to its intended use. The food safety encompasses safety of the food at every step in the food cycle from production, processing at farm level, storage, transportation, distribution, retail and preparation of food at household or establishments (Robert and Steward, 2003a).
Impact of Global Trends on Food Safety
Food business in the new economy is a global business. Food that is produced in one part of the world is being processed, distributed and consumed in different parts of the world. This regional, national and global food chain has required parallel changes in food science and technology including food preservation. Environmental changes like climate change also impact food safety by altering the microbial ecology of the environment accompanied with emergence of newer food pathogens, which are not contained within a single country (Lichtenberg, 2003). Increased food export and import as a result of globalization has compounded the safety problems.
Food Safety Issues
These are broadly classified as biological, chemical and physical. The biological hazards are living micro organisms and parasites. The chemical hazards are naturally occurring poisons and other chemicals include additives, colours, flavours, dry residues, fertilizers, pesticides, food contact material and packaging materials. The physical contaminations are glass, hair, metal, stones, wood, plastic, bone etc. Heavy metals like lead, cadmium, arsenic and pollutants resulting from human activity occur as contaminants in food (Robert and Steward, 2003b).
Food Safety and Nutrition
The age old idea of an “adequate diet” to provide enough nutrients to ensure survival of an individual has become obsolete. The current trend is to replace the concept of “adequate nutrition” with “optimum nutrition”. The terms like “functional foods”, “foods for specific health use” or “specific health promoting foods” have been coined suggesting that foods may have a beneficial action on certain functions in the organisms that goes beyond their nutritional effects.
Nutrients are now being used not only to correct the nutrient deficiencies but for other functions. This has led to development of products collectively called as “nutraceuticals”.
Nutraceuticals in Demand
These may be categorized into three categories. They are functional foods, functional beverages and dietary supplements. Functional food is a generic term that has been linked to health benefits. In India, functional food and functional beverages have started gaining momentum because of aggressive marketing by the fast moving consumer goods players (Ernst & Young/FICCI, 2009). Some of nutraceuticals that are marked in India are products enriched with micronutrients and functional ingredients having therapeutic or medicinal value, dietary supplements in powder or liquid forms, functional ingredients in capsule form, ready to drink beverages etc. The three important parameters which decide the salability of food product are consumers taste preferences, health claims and convenience (Gibson and Williams, 2003).
Regulation
The regulatory authorities face the challenge that has arisen from growing scientific understanding about the role of dietary nutrients and bioactive nonnutrients in foods. The health claim is different from nutrient content claim or nutrient functional claim and in many countries falls into the gray regulatory area between food and medicinal claims The health claim can be of two types “generic” health claim that is claim that can be applied to a range of food stuffs and “Product specific” health claim which applies to a single product or product range. The claim can be “direct” that is food itself has some property or can be indirect claim that is food having a particular ingredient has some beneficial property (Hasler, 2005).
Indian Regulation
The functional foods, nutraceuticals novel foods etc are dealt in section V of the New Food Safety and Standard Act 2006. These products will be approved by specific scientific panel. The framework for regulation is given in the new Act.
Safe Food Manufacture
India is one of the important food producers in the world and Indian food processing industry is one of the largest industries in the country. The Indian food industry is estimated to be of value of USD 200 billion and is expected to grow to USD 310 billion by 2015. The Indian food processing industry is worth estimate if USD 70 billion (Ernst and Young/FICCI, 2009). The Ministry of Food Processing, Government of India has identified the following segments within the food processing industry. They are (i) dairy, fruits and vegetable processing (ii) grain processing (iii) meat and poultry processing (iv) fish cultivation (v) packaged foods, beverages and packaged drinking water. The primary food processing (packed fruits and vegetables, flour, rice, tea, spices milk etc.) constitutes nearly 60 percent of processed foods. The dairy sector ranks first in terms of processed foods with several products namely dairy whitener, cheese, ice-cream, butter and clarified butter. The market is expected to grow at 15-20 percent over the next three years (Annual Report, Ministry of Food Procuring, GOI, 2003-04).
India produces the widest range of fruits and vegetables in the world. Major processed items are fruit pulps and juices, fruit based beverages, canned fruits and vegetables, jams, squashes, pickles and dehydrated products other processing industries are those pertaining to meat and poultry, marine products, grain and production of beer and other alcoholic beverages (Annual Report, Ministry of Food Procuring, GOI, 2003-04).
Drivers of Growth and Constraints to Innovation
This sector will flourish in the years to come due to changing lifestyles, food habits, thrust on organized food retail, urbanization and notable change in consumption pattern in India. Presently the growth rates for fruits, vegetables, meats and dairy have risen significantly.
Some of the adversaries for growth of food processing industry in India are poor infrastructure in terms of cold storage, warehousing, improper quality systems and testing facilities, inefficient supply chain and too many middle men in food chain, high cost of transportation and inventory carrying cost, religious taboos, cultural preferences, economics such as cost, tax etc.
Critical Factors in Food Processing Industry
Although the Indian food processing industry’s growth potential cannot be disputed, certain key factors will promote the expansion. Quality maintenance throughout the production cycle will improve yield as well as ensure long shelf life. In case of vegetables, fruits and other perishables precooking facilities, controlled atmospheric storage and radiation facilities will ensure quality. In order to increase market penetration competitiveness and product innovation could be key factors. Innovation in production, packaging and product usage are other desirable factors (Annual Report, Ministry of Food Procuring, GOI, 2003-04).
Food Safety in Food Processing
Regulators all over the world are concerned with microbial contaminants like E.coli 0157:H7, Listeria monocytogenes and other pathogens in foods. This has led to the development of HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points) system in food processing units.
HACCP & ISO
HACCP and ISO can be both followed by a unit. HACCP focuses on product safety while the ISO standards focus on the overall quality management system. Established ISO compliant quality management system can be of advantage to implement HACCP plan.
HACCP and GMP (Good Manufacturing Practices)
Undoubtedly HACCP programs are designed and implemented to produce safe food and are preventive plans. However, the HACCP programs cannot guarantee that all foods will be safe. The GMPs includes all the conditions required for manufacturing, packaging or maintaining food hygiene in the manufacturing unit with proper facility, machinery design and maintenance. Some of the key factors in GMP are use of good quality raw materials that is contaminant free, hygienically maintained equipment and their periodic sanitization, sterile air in environs of processing area and training personnel to use safe food handling practices (Codex, 2003).
Technological Advantages and Food Safety
Newer packaging and processing techniques can be used to extend shelf life of many packaged foods. Packaging has undergone some innovative product developments to ensure food safety as certain components of packing like printing inks, labels, colours and seals can affect food quality. The atmosphere surrounding the food also influences its shelf life eg. high temperatures, humidity, undesirable odour from environment may affect the food quality (Rupp, 2003).
Innovative packaging like vacuum packaging, controlled atmosphere or modified atmosphere packaging (CAP or MAP) involves sealing package under vacuum or one time gas flushing and sealing. Active packaging includes additives capable of scavenging or absorbing oxygen, carbondioxide, moisture, odour and flavours. This may be in powder (of iron and calcium hydroxide) form in sachet. Intelligent packaging provides a means to monitor and relay information regarding the status of contents and verifies information. Food packaging manufacturers have developed several innovative intelligent packages that include time, temperature indicators,
Innovation in Analysis of Contaminants in Foods
The development of quick methods to detect microbial pathogens in foods is to prevent foodborne illness and to meet the regulatory and quality standards like HACCP programs. Rapid microbial detection methods are also useful in the recall of contaminated foods. Automated diluters help in preparation of samples fast. Automated plating also aid in distributing liquid samples on to the surface of a rotating pre-poured agar plate. Colony counting systems are in use very widely and the data is fed into the computer. The hydrophobic grid membrane filter (HGMF) technique is a membrane filter to count even low numbers of microorganisms by filtration of large volumes. This can be used for detection of coliforms, E.coli, E.coli 0157:H7 and Salmonella. An example of this system is ISOGRID system (Neogen, Inc., Lansing, MI) which is an automated instrument that can count cells in seconds (Diez-Gonzalez and Karaibrahimoglu, 2005).
Rapid biochemical assays are also available, many of which are validated by AOAC international Immunoassays based on antigen antibody Precipitation, Enzyme Limited Immuno Sorbent Assay (ELISA), immunochromatography, automated immune assays and electro immunoassays, polymerase chain, reaction (PCR) and other nuclear acid based tests are available to detect pathogenic microbes in foods(Diez-Gonzalez and Karaibrahimoglu, 2005).
The PCR, nucleic acid based techniques and immune assays are also used to detect the genetically modified foods and food allergens. Pesticide residues in foods are a global concern. The regulatory bodies all over world have monitoring programs to check the residues. Food matrices vary widely in composition and pose challenge to the analyst. The analytical process involves sample preparation, homogenization, extraction, cleanup, concentration and quantitation. GC, MS, LC/MS methods are used in detection. Efforts are on to develop cost effective mobile mini lab devices to conduct analysis in the field. Presently QuECHERS method is used for sample preparation followed by automated GC/MS and LC MS-MS analysis (Lehotay and Mastovska, 2005). Other contaminants like polyaromatic compounds (PACs) are analysed using High Resolution Gas Chromatography (HRGC) fast Gas Chromatography (GC) and multi-dimentional chromatography. Other sophisticated techniques used in food analysis are High Performance Liquid Chromatography (HPLC), Supercritical Fluid Chromatography (SFC) where supercritical carbon dioxide is the mobile phase and GC or LC detector is used. Spectroscopic techniques based on Ultraviolet (UV), Visible (Vis), infrared (IR), nuclear magnetic resourance (NMR), Atomic Absorption and Atomic Emission (AAS) are used (Hayward, 2005 and Tunick, 2005).
Conclusions
Food safety is a worldwide issue affecting hundreds of millions of people who suffer from foodborne diseases. In developed nations consumers are now well aware of food safety issues and in developing nations there is a need to create more awareness.
Innovation in food processing technology can prove advantageous to the consumers and contribute to food safety. Innovations in production of convenience foods packaged in a manner satisfactory to the consumer are beginning to occupy a centre place in food business. Products will have greater likeliness of success when food producers address consumer needs, respond to consumer concerns and offer tangible benefits.
