FOOD PROCESSING

any of a variety of operations by which raw foodstuffs are made suitable for consumption, cooking, or storage. 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. 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.