Food Processing Industries – SS2 Marketing Lesson Note (Third Term)

Food processing is the activity of changing crops and animal products from their natural state into finished goods for future consumption. Food is also preserved to keep it in good condition for a long time, and stored safely until it is needed. This note explains food purchasing, processing, preservation, storage and safety.

Behavioural objectives

By the end of the lesson, students should be able to:

• explain the meaning of food purchasing, food processing and food preservation;
• describe how garri is processed from cassava;
• state six reasons for preserving food;
• explain food storage and safety;
• list examples of food storage facilities.

Why should family food be planned for?

Food is anything we eat to stay alive and maintain good health. It is the first basic need of life. For a family to feed well, a substantial amount of income is devoted to feeding. Food is very expensive and it easily goes bad.

Therefore, the purchase of family food should be planned. Necessary processing and preservation should be done to ensure that family food is safe and hygienic.

What is food purchasing?

Food purchasing is the activity of acquiring food through the exchange of money. For instance, a consumer goes to the market with money and offers it to the seller in order to get a particular food item. Food here includes vegetables, fruits, meat, fish, foodstuff and so on.

One needs to know much about the market and how to buy in order to make the most of one’s food budget.

What is food processing?

Food processing can be defined as all those activities whereby crops and animal products in their natural state are changed or transformed into finished goods for future consumption.

It is also the transformation of raw harvested food by physical or chemical means into foodstuff of other forms. After harvesting, crops and animal farm produce are usually worked on to remove chaff, husk, toxic substances and so on.

For example, to process garri, one first harvests the cassava, peels off the bark, washes, grinds, dries, removes the chaff, and fries to get garri.

What is food preservation?

Food preservation refers to the process and practice of treating food to keep it in good condition, and in a form as near as possible to its original state, for a long time.

It is also a process of treating and handling food to prevent or slow down spoilage, loss of quality and so on.

Reasons for preserving food

1. To minimise or possibly eliminate wastage and spoilage caused by microorganisms, pest attacks and the environment, so that food lasts long.
2. To convert the food to a form most convenient for storage, transportation and marketing.
3. In areas where food is produced in abundance, it is preserved for sale in cities or during food scarcity.
4. To keep the food from losing its quality and so enable it to fetch a higher market value.
5. Some foods are seasonal and need to be preserved in a form in which they can be used when they are out of season, for example maize and some vegetables.
6. To ensure an adequate supply of raw food materials for industries in the form in which the industries require them.

What are food storage and safety?

Food storage and safety involve keeping food items in a safe and suitable condition for future use. Some seasonal food items, like maize and some vegetables, need to be stored and kept safe for future use.

Examples of storage facilities

1. Storage containers
2. Food store
3. Refrigerator or freezer
4. Food storage cupboard, cabinet and shelves

Evaluation

1. Define food purchasing.
2. What is food processing? Describe how garri is processed.
3. State four reasons for preserving food.
4. List three examples of food storage facilities.

Assignment

Explain the meaning of food preservation and state two reasons why seasonal foods such as maize are preserved.