Investigation into the preservation methods of a food product

Investigation of preservation methods of food, This article consists of 11  pages and 2587 words. In order to have full access to this article, email us at thedocumentco@hotmail.co.uk

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Introduction

Food preservation is a process that has followed since a long time, and with time the techniques used to prevent food are changing. The term food preservation is used to define the process in which the food protected from spoiling. (Simon, 2015)There are some ways in which food preserved from canning the food items to pickling, freezing, drying, irradiation, smoking, pasteurizing, adding additives such as chemicals or picking the food to make sure that they are not spoiled. (Gallagher & James, 2015)

In the modern age, people depend on food produced and grown by other people, and therefore, they look for such product in the market. They even want to consume foods that are out of season, and they can do so only when they food is properly preserved.

There can be broadly speaking two major causes that result in spoilage of food, the food can attack by microorganisms which may include molds and bacteria, and another reason could be oxidation, which cause the critical biochemical compound and result in destroying the plants and animal cells.

(Anita, 1997) These techniques used by different manufacturers to preserve their products and food items is to make sure that they can reduce or to eradicate these agents which result in spoilage of food products.

The focus of this report is to study and analyze different ways in which firstly milk is preserved to make butter and then what manufacturers do to make sure that the butter preserved in a way that the consumer can consume the best quality of their product.

The report also includes the number of factors that affects the overall process of preservation, which includes the chemical, biological and the physical factor. Here, biological factors are the intrinsic factors responsible for effecting the preservation and the physical factors are the intrinsic factors that affect the preservation of milk to make butter. The report also includes the practical findings of butter manufacturing which undertaken in the processing halls of Reasehealth College focusing on the parameters and the requirements for the effective preservation of milk and butter.

Manufacturing of Butter

As per an article published by the University of Guelph, regarding butter manufacturing, the main ingredient of butter is the fats that are what butter is essential. The most available form of butter on the market is made up of sweet cream, and then salt is added to it to give flavor. Traditionally, butter produced from milk cream that was left to sour naturally. The entire process of butter making involved the use of hand to churn butter. At that time, too, the major concern was the spoilage of butter due to its sensitive nature, and it was prone to get infected by a microorganism present in the environment. (Mc Gree, 2004)

With time and knowledge and experience gained, the modern butter making process use some techniques to treat the physical factors such as hygiene, acidifying of bacteria and treating it with heat to save the product from spoilage. The most common technology used for manufacturing butter is known as continuous churn which has used since the 20^th century. ( Jost, 2002)

Constituents of Butter

Butter is an emulsion of water in oil which comprises of > 80% fats from milk, along with containing tiny drops of water. It is available for the consumers in forms of salted or without salt to cater to the needs of every consumer. The texture of the butter is a result of kneading and working with it during the butter manufacturing process while keeping the temperature appropriate.

The main constituents of butter which salted include fat between 80 to 82%, water between 15.6 to 17.6%, salt approximately 1.2% along with some calcium, proteins, and phosphorus which constitute together to around 1.2%. Along with all these, the butter also contains vitamin A, E, D and fat soluble. The qualities of butter at it best are when it has a uniform color, is dense and tastes well. It must be smooth, and the water droplets must be well dispersed, leaving the butter to look dry.

Stages Involve in Butter Manufacturing

The butter manufacturing process involves some different stages. One of the most commonly used equipment for manufacturing butter is known as the continuous butter maker.

As per the article published by Kosher (2014), the stages involved in the process of manufacturing butter include the following:

Stage 1: Manufacturing of Cream: At this stage, the process followed by pasteurized cream which is without homogenization, 38 to 40% of the milk fat extracted by pasteurizing the milk at 80-degree centigrade for 15 seconds. The important criteria at this stage for attaining the best quality of butter are to make sure that the raw milk and other material used should be of best quality.

Stage 2: Treating the Cream: The second stage involves cream treatment. At this stage, the cream aged in a chill temperature for a minimum of four hours. The aim is to make sure that the cream is at the correct ratio of liquid which required for crystallizing the fat in the milk fat globule.

Stage 3: Preheating the Cream: At the third stage, the cream preheated by bringing it to the temperature which is appropriate for churning. It must keep into consideration that the higher the fat content in the butter the lower must be the temperature. At this stage, the manufacturer needs to make sure that the temperature is perfect as the cold cream will take a lot of time to churn, and cream at hot temperature will take the too short time to churn. In both cases, essential fat content in the butter will lose.

Stage 4: Filling cream in Churn: At the fourth stage, the cream filled into the churn. The manufacturer needs to make sure that the churn only half filled as it will allow that the concussive effect to take place during churning and will incorporate air.

Stage 5: Churn to Breakpoint: At this stage, the cream churned to the breakpoint. At this stage, air incorporated in cream, the foam built which then collapse and form butter grains. These butter grains than float on the buttermilk. This process needs to take place within 40 to 45 minutes. The grain size must be appropriate, as too small grain with the large surface area will result in poor drainage with high moisture trapped in the butter, and too large grains will result in a large amount of moisture trapped in the butter.

Stage 6: Drain:  The sixth stage is the drain stage where the maximum amount if buttermilk is drained out. The manufacturer makes sure that the amount of butter milk’s fat is no more than 0.7%.

Stage 7: Wash: The seventh stage involves washing the butter constituents with chilled water to make sure excess buttermilk removed, and the butter grains cooled to the right temperature. At this stage, the manufacturer needs to make sure that the water is of the best quality, biologically and chemically.

Stage 8: Add Salt: Salt is added at the eighth stage, at 1.5 to 2 %, adding it as evenly as possible. The salt needs to dissolve in the fraction of the water.

Stage 9: Work to give texture: At this stage, the butter is worked upon to give it the right texture and to distribute and dissolve the salt in the butter mass evenly. It is to be made sure that the butter mass is moisture free as moisture in the mass would result in spoilage due to organisms.

Stage 9: This is the test stage where the salt and moisture of the butter test. The test is done to make sure that the butter contains no more than 15.8% of moisture which is within the legal limit of 16% and 1.8% of salt.

Stage 10: Packaging of Butter: The butter then packed into small packs of retail requirements or the butter preserved in bulk packages for reworking and using in other products. The packaging must be done to make sure it is moisture free, have no air pockets, and have close contact with the liner of the pack to make sure there are appropriate conditions to control the formation of mold growth and condensation.

Stage 11: Storage: The butter store at 4-degree centigrade, and if the storage required for longer time periods, it is between -15 to -20-degree centigrade. The manufacturer must test and grade the butter before storing it for longer time periods……