Why We Eat Food

Why We Eat Food

In the past we would not have the luxury of such considerations, we

had to eat to survive and we had to eat whatever was available. Today,

we have a huge choice of food products, places to eat and methods of

cooking.

Regarding food as a commercial commodity rather than a necessity has

seen the development of a huge food industry and the idea of Food

Technology.

Food Processing

Developing new products today involves a lot of research,

experimentation, testing and trailing. A small scale recipe for a

chicken korma cannot simply be multiplied up and used on a production

line to create tens of thousands of meals. Large scale machinery may

affect food in a different way to a domestic cooker, causing meat to

become tough or a sauce too runny. The changes that are needed may

only be subtle but they can make the difference between a profitable

new product and a costly failure.

Processing foods can also involve preserving them and the latest

techniques include accelerated freeze-drying, irradiation and the

production of dried fruits that do not require soaking. Processed food

has changed dramatically as the needs of consumers have altered and as

advances in food technology.

Food Safety

Food safety is not a new phenomenon but its emphasis has definitely

changed. In the past a lack of knowledge caused problems such as sour

milk or inedible meat. However, today it is the scale of food

production that has the potential to cause a food safety issue.

In 1990 a Food Safety Act was introduced that placed a much greater

emphasis on temperature control, monitoring and the maintenance of

records. 'Quality' is now a new key word in the food industry and it

has become everyone's responsibility. Total quality management is a

system often employed to involve all workers in the quality assurance

procedure.

Healthy foods

Since we now have such a wide choice of foods available to us in the

western world, consumers have started to become concerned about the