Formulation in Food Science

When we are faced with the challenge of converting food produce into processed food for the purpose of preserving it for future use, storage, portability or to form an entirely new product of our choice, then we look for a way of doing this to arrive at some kind of positive result.

In formulation, we seek a systematic method to convert food into convenient handy items that are safe to eat.
In formulating food, a hand book on cookery could serve as the starting reference literature to begin a research. This is because traditionally and from times past we have experimented with materials around us to feed recognizing them as eatable and having a traditional way of preparing it. This we will understand is true as we know that most industrially processed food have their origin as being home made food.

Mixing one or more active ingredients together with other material (eg solvent) in effect is what formulation is.
For instance, in developing countries fruit harvest is outrageous because they are mostly no industries to do something about it. And it can’t be kept for as long as possible because they are perishable. They also can’t be refrigerated naturally as we do with some items. And then we are faced with this challenge of making something out of this excesses that we have.
Some fruits can easily be converted to fruit juice and stored in the refrigerator for a while. Others are rich in pectin and make a good gel in jam. And so the choice will be ours depending on what we want to make out of it.

A step further from these home made items could be to fortify it with matching vitamins, thus enriching it.
Another idea will be to add stabilizer to enhance consistency.
By doing this we are gradually moving away from the home made stuff into the industry we desire to set up on our home discovery scale.
Next we think of employing preservative allowable for such products.
By going on comprehensive research and much studying on the particular product we are anticipating we sure will come up with a positive method convincing enough to start our experiment.

Possible knowledge we may have after the research are;
• The standard allowable by law of the various ingredients and reagent we are using. And we will get to know that only those products conforming to standards are allowed into the market for consumption.
• Type of material that is good for packaging the product. This should be taken seriously as certain packaging material could react with the product packed in it to become poisonous. The effect of packaging materials on processed food is demonstrated in preserves like jam. Jam cannot be stored in plastic jar because there is a chemistry that go on between the jam and the composition of the plastic that poison the jam after some time. Except for modern day plastic jars that are said to be manufactured for this purpose capable of preventing the poisoning effect. But on a general note, it is safe method to pack jam in glass jars.

• The shelf life; you will be able to know from research the predicted shelf life of what you are making.
• Hygiene in the production process.
• Professional method of formulating at the various stages involved.

In conclusion, our step by step quest to recreate available material into what we anticipate as the end product with the knowledge we gain theoretically, research and by experimenting sure will lead to a successful formular for that product.
This is true for which ever product you want to make. Be it food or any other product.