Food Processing

Food processing is a set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. The food processing industry utilizes these processes. Food processing often takes clean, harvested or slaughtered components and uses them to produce attractive and marketable food products. Similar processes are used to produce animal feed.

Common food processing techniques include:

· Removal of unwanted outer layers, such as potato peeling or the skinning of peaches;

· Chopping or slicing, e.g. diced carrots;

· Mincing and macerating;

· Liquefaction, such as to produce fruit juice;

· Fermentation, e.g. in beer breweries;

· Emulsification;

· Cooking, such as boiling, broiling, frying, steaming or grilling;

· Deep frying;

· Baking;

· Mixing;

· Addition of gas such as air entrainment for bread or gasification of soft drinks;

· Proofing;

· Spray drying;

· Pasteurization;

More and more people live in the cities and are far away from the production areas of food. In many families both husbands and wives are working and therefore there is little time for the preparation of food based on fresh ingredients. The food industry offers products that fulfill many different needs: from peeled potatoes that only have to be boiled at home to fully prepared ready meals that can be heated up in the microwave oven within a few minutes.

III. Answer the questions.

1. What is “food processing”?

2. What products does food processing often take?

3. Which common food processing techniques can you mention?

4. Is it now popular to prepare food based on fresh ingredients? Why?

5. What does the food industry offer?

IV. Match the parts of the sentences.

V. Find the English equivalents:

Набор методов и технических приемов; для потребления людьми и животными; пищеперерабатывающая промышленность; удаление ненужных внешних слоев; приготовление пищи из свежих продуктов; может быть подогрета в микроволновой печи.

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