History of food tech

What was discovered 500,000 years ago?

The use of fire in relation to foods. That it increased digestibility.

Quick timeline of food discovery

1. Fire made it more digestible

2. Trial and error to find the variety and amount of edible foods.

3. Cultivating products → more nutritious and allowed people to remain in one location.

4. Pottery allowed for different methods of cooking and storing.

5. Different methods of conservation

6. People became more aware of potentially harmful ingredients.

Different ways of food preservation used

• Heating → Did not kill microorganisms but ensured a temporary limit to the number of microorganisms in the food product.

• Smoking → Dries food and absorbs chemical preservatives into the food.

• Drying of food → Using the sun, reduces water activity and microbial activity resulting in improved conservation.

• Drying was also done by adding salt the enhance water extraction.

What happened 4000 BC?

• The separation of ingredient by grinding and concentration processes.

• Concentration → in milk could lead to removal of water and hence increased content of fat and protein.

• Grinding → For wheat grains from the chaff. Allowed for porridge and dough.

• Wheat grains → fermentation → beer.

• Fermented dough → sour dough

Who discovered what is behind fermentation?

Louis Pasteur

• Discovered that the fermentation process in bread dough is caused by a fungus: yeast.

Examples of fermented foods:

• Sauerkraut

• Tempeh (soybeans)

• Sour milk (yogurt)

• Cheese

• Wine

First specialist

The miller

• For milling of grain a considerable amount of time and energy is needed.

• The needed energy could most effectively be obtained by using either help of wind or hydropower.

Following specialists

Brewer, baker, butchers

What did Nicolas Appert discover?

Food products could be conserved by heating them in an air-tight sealed container.

Sailors and food

Sailors ate a lot of conserved food that lacked vitamin C giving them scurvy.

What did Louis Pasteur do?

In 1890 he developed a process to reduce spoilage in wine and beer. Which also affected the taste of these products.

Unrefined vs. Refined ingredients

Unrefined ingredients are foods which have been minimally processed from their natural state, as opposed to refined ingredients which have been heavily processed.

Concentric shells

Indicate the most important disciplines that play a role within the field of food technology. These are FCH, FPH, FHM, FMB, FPE, and FQD