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Glossary of food technology terms
Additives: substances added to food to aid processing, preservation, to improve flavour or colour.
Adulteration: the adding of cheaper, inferior or less desirable materials to a food.
Aerobic: requires oxygen.
Aseptic: without contamination by micro-organisms, i.e. sterile.
Anaerobic: does not require oxygen.
ANZFA: Australia New Zealand Food Authority.
Aseptic packaging: is a system wherein the food product and the container are sterilised separately, and the containers are filled and sealed in a sterile environment.
Automated: a system where machines handle and control the processing from raw materials to the finished product.
Bacteria: a large group of single-celled micro-organisms which can be both harmful and helpful to food.
Blanching: process of immersing in hot water or heating in steam at 95°C for 1-5 minutes to reduce enzyme activity.
Centrifugation: a process by which liquid samples are spun around at high speed to cause the accelerated settling of particles in suspension.
Chemical inertness: substances or elements which do not react easily with any other substances or elements. Chemically inactive materials.
Co-extrusion: (or Co-ex film) is a multi-layer plastic film made by extruding two or more molten plastics and layering them together to produce a film on cooling. They are designed for many special-purpose packaging for flexible wraps, bags and pouches.
Consumer: any person who uses goods and services.
Contamination: a process by which harmful or unpleasant substances (such as strong odours, bacteria or poisons) get into or onto food.
Conventional cook-chill: this is when foods are cooked by conventional methods prior to aseptic packaging and chilling. These foods can be refrigerated for up to five days.
CPET: crystallised polyethylene terephthalate: a type of plastic suitable for microwave packaging. It is heat resistant to 220°C and transparent to microwave energy.
Degradability: the ability of materials to be broken down.
Dehydration: removal of water from the tissues of an organism.
Demographic: vital and social statistics concerning the population including distribution, ethnic background, marriage rates, birth rates, etc.
Ecological: to do with a branch of science which investigates the relationships among living things and their surroundings.
Effluent: liquid industrial waste.
Embargoes: bans placed on the importation of a particular product.
Emissions: discharge released into the atmosphere from processing.
Emulsifiers: substances which allow the mixing of two or more immiscible liquids (two liquids that don't mix together such as oil and water) to form a stable emulsion. Emulsifiers work by coating the surface of droplets of one liquid in such a way that they can stay dispersed in the second liquid.
Enzymes: chemical substances that act as catalysts in chemical reactions.
Evaporation: the loss of molecules from a liquid or solution as vapour.
Extrusion: forcing a viscous solution through a spinneret-like machine (similar to a shower head).
Filtration: the process of passing a liquid through a filter to remove any solid particles.
Flow diagram: (sometimes referred to as flow charts) links the sequence of processing operations as a series of units.
Food irradiation: a high-energy ionising radiation process used to preserve foods.
Food processing: using food as a raw material and changing it in some way to make a food product.
Food retailing: businesses where the consumer can buy food products.
Functional foods: foods that not only provide the expected nutrients, but also have a positive impact on health in either a curative or preventative manner.
HACCP: hazard analysis of critical control points; a quality management system that identifies critical points in production and sets up measures to ensure nothing to affect the safety of the product happens at these points.
Heat sealing: a method of sealing plastic containers by heating two adjoining layers or portions of the container until they melt together thereby forming a good seal.
HDPE: high-density polyethylene.
Hermetic: the sealing of a package that forms a closure that is absolutely impervious to micro-organisms, gas, water molecules and dust.
Homogenise: the process in which the size of the fat globules is reduced to small uniform particles, which are then distributed evenly throughout the liquid. For example, the cream in homogenised milk is distributed throughout the liquid rather than rising to the top to form a layer.
HTST: high temperature/short-time processing. A process by which food is sterilised at very high temperatures but only for a very short period.
Industrialisation: use of mechanisation and automation technology.
Immigration: the movement of people from one country, to live in another country.
Impervious: forms an impassable barrier.
Laminate: to combine two or more layers of material to form packaging. The layers are held together by an adhesive or heat bonding.
Legislation: law passed by parliament.
MAP: (Modified atmosphere packaging) is the term used for methods that will help to maintain the quality of a food product by changing the atmosphere inside its retail package. For example, reduce the availability of oxygen or manipulate the levels of carbon dioxide. It produces a gas mix to maximise shelf life.
Micro-organisms: organisms which are very small, usually containing only one cell and which cannot be seen by the human eye.
Moulds: a group of multi-cellular fungi which grow in thread-like strands called hyphae. Moulds can grow on foods and damage them but some are introduced into foods to give added flavour, e.g. in some cheeses.
Multiculturalism: a policy and a set of strategies of State and Commonwealth governments of the 1970s to encourage cultural diversity and tolerance in society.
Niche: a small and specialised market.
NHMRC: National Health and Medical Research Council.
Organic farming: food produced without the use of synthetic chemicals and with concern for the environment.
Palatability: pleasant to taste, being acceptable.
Pasteurisation: is a process designed to destroy pathogenic bacteria in liquid foods by using high temperatures. Milk is sterilised by holding it at a high temperature for a period of time.
Pathogenic: harmful to the human body.
Perishable: having a short shelf-life; food that spoils quickly and needs careful storage.
Pesticides: chemicals used to kill pests.
PET: polyethylene terephthalate, a light-weight clear plastic with acceptable barrier properties to gas and water vapour.
Preservation: any process used to slow or stop the progress of spoilage. It allows easier distribution and transport and the food can be stored for longer before use.
Primary production: plants and animals produced by the agricultural and fisheries sector.
Processing: treating a food in such a way as to change its nature and properties in order to preserve it, to improve its eating quality or to make useful ingredients.
Recycled: to use again.
Retailer: sells goods or services to the consumer for personal use.
Scavengers: materials that remove gases from packaging including oxygen scavengers, ethylene scavengers, carbon dioxide scavengers and water vapour absorbents.
Shelf life: the expected length of time a food will maintain its best quality.
Sous vide: a process in which food is prepared, vacuum packed, cooked to pasteurise (sterilise) the food and chilled. These foods can be refrigerated for up to sixty days.
Specific-purpose foods: foods produced for a specific purpose such as, to supply military personnel, for space explorations, to supply food for areas of temperature extremes or to supply high-protein biscuits for famine areas, and more recently, foods developed for a more specific health purpose in the general population.
Stabilisers: substances which allow food compounds which do not mix well to be mixed and stay in a homogeneous state.
Sterilisation: a process in which foods are treated to kill all forms of micro-organisms and spores. Foods can be sterilised with high temperature treatment or with ionising radiation.
Sublimation: to change, when heated, from a solid state to a vapour without going through the liquid state.
Susceptors: are strips of material, usually metallised polyester film/paper laminate, attached inside a microwave package to concentrate heating over the foods that need to be browned. A de-metallising process applied to the laminate is able to remove different amounts of the metal to ensure even cooking for different components or for different areas of a product.
Tamper evidence: devices attached to food packages that indicate if a package has been opened or not.
Tariff: a tax imposed on imported goods.
UHT: ultra high temperature.
Vacuum: a place or region containing no solid, liquid or gas.
Value-added: the processing of products so that their selling price is higher than that of the raw materials from which they were made.
Yeasts: single-celled fungi which reproduces by budding.
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