Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Next gen diet- dried vegetables & fruits

International Conference and Exhibition on Food Processing & Technology

November 22-24, 2012 Hyderabad International Convention Centre, India

Priyanka Karnatak and Aayushi Mohan

Posters: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

In this era where packed and artificial foods have made up its stand in the taste buds, there is still something like dried fruits and vegetables infused with sugar or soaked with salt still leading a way to healthy diet. Drying is an excellent way to preserve foods that can add variety to meals and provide delicious, nutritious snacks. One of the biggest advantages of dried foods is that they take much less storage space than canned or frozen foods and being infused with vitamins, minerals, fibres, calcium, magnesium?etc also promote the health of an individual. Dehydration is the removal of the majority of water contained in the fruits and vegetables and is the primary stage in the production of dehydrated fruits and vegetables. Several drying methods are commercially available and the selection of the optimal method is determined by quality requirements, raw material characteristics, and economic factors. There are three types of drying processes: sun and solar drying; atmospheric and sub atmospheric dehydration. Dried fruits are brought into being by drawing out the water content, either by sun drying or using specialized machines. Once in their dried phase, the fruits can be stored for a longer period of time. Wide ranges of fruits and vegetables dehydration machinery are being manufactured. These machines are used in various applications of food processing industry. Fabricated from best quality material, some of the machines are solar dryer, tray dryer, infra red drying machine and mesh belt drying machine. Governments, NGOs and private companies should consider food drying as the next step after the establishment of farms and urban agriculture projects as an integral part of value chain solutions.

Biography :

Priyanka Karnatak is pursuing B.Tech Agricultural Engineering from Govind Ballabh Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttrakhand. She has published one paper in Saving Humanity (Swami Vivekananda Perspective) on Sustainable Energy- a necessity and has attended International Conference on Youth for Integral humanism, January 12-13, 2012. Apart from being interested in computer languages, she has keen interest in the field of literature, and food processing and technology. She is in organizing committee of SPRINKLER, branch chapter, Agricultural Engineering at Pantnagar University and has organized many events so far.