food processing

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July 6, 2024, 4:54 AM ET (The Hindu)
Workshop on investments in food processing business

food processing, any of a variety of operations by which raw foodstuffs are made suitable for consumption, cooking, or storage. A brief treatment of food processing follows. For fuller treatment of storage methods, see food preservation.

Food processing generally includes the basic preparation of foods, the alteration of a food product into another form (as in making preserves from fruit), and preservation and packaging techniques.

Slices of lemon pie topped with meringue.
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A number of food-processing innovations have even resulted in new products, such as concentrated fruit juices, freeze-dried coffee, and instant foods. Foods and food supplements have also been processed from such hitherto untapped sources as oilseeds (chiefly protein-rich soybeans and cottonseeds); mutant varieties of crops; leaves, grasses, and aquatic plants; and highly nutritious fish meal and concentrates.

The Editors of Encyclopaedia BritannicaThis article was most recently revised and updated by Adam Augustyn.