Economics of Food Processing in the United States aims to provide an economic overview of the food processing industries in the United States; to explore the firm-level implications of social, economic, technological, and institutional forces for selected food processing industries; and to uncover some of the implications for consumers, raw product producers, and the national economy of the major trends observed in food industries. The book begins by evaluating the major forces shaping demand, supply, prices, and trade in processed foods. It then considers major trends in technical processes; major forces in marketing, distribution, and structure; and major trends in regulation. The next few chapters explore these trends for five specific food processing industries, which represent major types of products processed: fruits and vegetables, meat, milk, grain and soybeans, and wine. After the specific industries have been examined, the final two chapters treat these industries in the context of the national and international economy. Students preparing for careers, researchers, and industry participants who study these firms and industries and the various approaches to solving their economic and management problems will benefit from the information in this volume and from its approach to presenting the dynamics of the food processing industries.

This book presents a wealth of perspectives on studying the manufacturing end of food processing industries, with a special focus on regions with a low industrial base and multiple missing markets, institutional finance being the most prominent example. Positioning food processing within the industrial ecosystem, which includes entrepreneurs, policymakers, business consultants and associations, the study first considers three different trajectories: for developed economies, for national territories like India, and for sub-national regions like Bihar. In turn, it shows how these trajectories intertwine in two dimensions: the region and the sub-sector. Successfully completing food-processing projects in any of these trajectories requires the identification and development of appropriate product networks that link basic processed items with advanced ones through a chain of value addition. Moreover, the supply-side narrative presented here identifies two types of costs: physical and non-physical costs of operation. For trajectories with skewed firm sizes (“missing middle”) and missing markets, which can be found in Bihar, the latter costs matter just as much as the former in terms of entrepreneurship. While efficiency in operations is studied for selected sub-sectors in Bihar’s food processing to assess the main sources of inefficiency in minimizing the physical costs of operations, non-physical costs are studied using the construct of region-based counterfactual thinking (rCFT) and its relationship with the perception of risk for entrepreneurs. rCFT offers a new concept for understanding the mindset of the entrepreneur, in which the regional identity plays a significant role. The empirical content is based on a primary survey of food processing in Bihar. Additional policy questions, such as the choice between spatial collocation of food parks or cluster-based development of unique sub-sectors, are explored through an analysis of the policy network that supports entrepreneurship. Issues arising from the government’s policy choices, particularly vertically targeted industrial policies, can influence industrial outcomes and are particularly relevant for regions like Bihar. While policy evaluation for Bihar’s processed food industry yields insights on policy targeting for decision-makers in the government, examples of parallel narratives from global experiences in comparable regions shed new light on industrial development in processed food, which should be of interest to business practitioners, academic researchers and policymakers alike.

Thermal technologies have long been at the heart of food processing. The application of heat is both an important method of preserving foods and a means of developing texture, flavour and colour. An essential issue for food manufacturers is the effective application of thermal technologies to achieve these objectives without damaging other desirable sensory and nutritional qualities in a food product. Edited by a leading authority in the field, and with a distinguished international team of contributors, Thermal technologies in food processing addresses this major issue.Part one of the collection begins with reviews of conventional retort and continuous heat technologies. Part two then looks at the key issues of effective measurement and control in ensuring that a thermal process is effective whilst minimising any undesirable changes in a food. There are chapters on temperature and pressure measurement, validation of heat processes, modelling and simulation of thermal processes, and the measurement and control of changes in a food during thermal processing. The final part of the book looks at emerging thermal technologies which becoming more widely used in the food industry. There are chapters on radio frequency heating, microwave processing, infrared heating, instant and high-heat infusion, and ohmic heating A final chapter considers how thermal processing may be combined with high pressure processing in producing safe, minimally-processed food products.Thermal technologies in food processing provides food manufacturers and researchers with an authoritative review of thermal processing and food quality.

Sustained developments in various branches of science and technology have resulted in considerable improvements in food processing methods. These new processing technologies have in turn contributed to enhancement of the quality and acceptability of foods. The aim of this book is to assemble, for handy reference, new developments pertaining to selected food processing technologies.Food processing methods covered include: NMR imaging, on-line NMR, on-line sensors, ultrasonics, synchrotron radiation to study fast events, membrane processing, bioseparation, high pressure processing, aseptic processing, irradiation, freezing, extrusion and extraction technologies. The book, adequately referenced and illustrated with numerous figures and tables, is a valuable reference for scientists, engineers, and technologists in industries and government laboratories involved in food processing, food research and/or development, and also for faculty, advanced undergraduate, graduate and postgraduate students from the Food Science, Food Engineering, and Agricultural Engineering departments.

This updated edition provides a review of the current major technologies that reduce energy cost and reduce environmental impact while maintaining food safety and quality.

Depending on the mechanisms involved in non-thermal technologies (such as ozonization, irradiation, ultrasound processing, plasma processing, and advanced oxidative processes), interaction with food molecules differs, which might lead to desirable reactions. Non-Thermal Technologies for the Food Industry: Advances and Regulations explores the possibility of using non-thermal technologies for various purposes such as shelf-life extension, reduced energy consumption, adhesion, and safety improvement. Further, it reviews the present status of these technologies, international regulations, and sustainability aspects in food processing including global case studies. Features: Provides a comprehensive overview of all the non-thermal processing technologies that have potential for use within food manufacturing Covers novel disinfectant technologies and packaging methods for non-thermal processing Includes electro-spraying and electrospinning; low-temperature drying techniques, cold plasma techniques, hydrodynamic cavitation, oscillating magnetic field processing, and so forth Focus on topics such as the valorization of agri-food wastes and by-products and sustainability Reviews ClO2 in combined/hybrid technologies for food processing This book is aimed at researchers and graduate students in food and food process engineering.

This book analyzes the economics of the food industry at every stage between the farm gate and the kitchen counter. Central to the text are agricultural marketing problems such as the allocation of production between competing products (such as fresh and frozen markets), spatial competition, interregional trade, optimal storage, and price discrimination. Topics covered will be useful to students who expect to have careers such as food processing management, food sector buying or selling, restaurant management, supermarket management, marketing/advertising, risk management, and product development. The focus is on real world-relevant skills and examples and on intuition and economic understanding above mathematical sophistication, although the text does draw on the nuances of modern economic theory.

Presents a common vocabulary to facilitate the indexing, retrieval and exchange of development-related information.

Applying the proven success of modern process engineering economics to the food industry, Food Plant Economics considers the design and economic analysis of food preservation, food manufacturing, and food ingredients plants with regard to a number of representative food processes. Economic analysis of food plants requires the evaluation of quantita

Giovanni Galizzi and Luciano Venturini The food industry has been characterized by several and profound changes in its structure and competitive environment in the last decades. Although it is not a research-oriented industry, there is no arguing that technological change and particularly product innovations are crucial determinants of ftrms' performance and In recent years food manufacturers have accelerated the consumers' welfare. development of new products, by using new ingredients, processing and packaging techniques. Thus, food markets are increasingly characterized by competitive environments where relevant flows of innovative products, quality improvements and new technologies provide new consumption trends, food habits, market opportunities and ftrms' strategies. However, the issue of product innovation in the food industries has been rather neglected by economists. Few works have explicitly addressed this issue. After the pioneering book of Buzzell and Nourse (1967), one can count few contributes. Connor (1981) examined the empirical determinants of new food products introductions. Padberg and Westgren (1979) provided crucial insights about the nature of food innovation through their notions of consumer inertia, technological redundancy and incremental product innovation. Some case-studies provide useful empirical materials, but they are generally sparse.