Kinds of processed foods and the skills needed

Processed foods come in several kinds:

• Minimally processed: still fresh (cleaned, cut, refrigerated).
• Preserved: keep their character (frozen or dried peas, canned fruit).
• Manufactured: lose their original character (pickles, jams, squashes, papads, wadis).
• Formulated: many ingredients mixed into a product that keeps (bread, biscuits, ice cream, kulfi).
• Food derivatives: a purified part of a food (sugar from cane, oil from seeds; oil hydrogenated into vanaspati).
• Functional foods: have health benefits (probiotics).
• Medical foods: for people with a disease (low-sodium salt, lactose-free milk).

Working with food as a material needs knowledge of: which foods are in season, their properties, nutrition, cost, quality, hygiene and safety.

Product development needs: cooking in large quantities, product specifications, quality control, sensory testing (taste, smell, look), manufacturing systems, labelling and packaging, and HACCP (a food safety system).

Recipe development needs cooking skill, accurate measuring, recipe design and hygiene. From fresh-cut to formulated, each kind of food needs its own skills.