Conventional food systems are the most common type and generally include food production and the retention of hot and refrigerated food before food service. Conventional food systems can cook all their food from scratch, or they can buy partially prepared or fully prepared food. If Rick chooses a conventional food system for his establishment, this would mean that he would have greater flexibility in the menu and would perceive the quality of the food; however, the food and labor costs associated with conventional food systems are higher. Commisato food systems, also known as centralized feeding systems, are produced when central kitchens produce a large quantity of food that is transported for service to other, smaller kitchens.
This type of food system is more effective on a large scale, since food can be purchased in bulk for less money. However, the temperature and packaging of the food being transported must be controlled to protect food safety. If Rick chooses a economate-type food system for his health center, this would allow him to use less labor and would allow for a better consistency of the food served. However, it can lead to work monotony, as employees generally perform tasks in the style of an assembly line and transportation costs can be high.
Prepared food systems, also known as “cooking and cooling”, are food systems that prepare food and cool it or freeze it, and then reheat it when it's time to serve it. In this type of food system, employees can purchase partially prepared or fully prepared food. If Rick chose a prepared food system for his health center, he could schedule food preparation at convenient times and batch cook large quantities of food that could later be overheated. However, this may limit the availability of the menu, as fresh produce would not be ideal for this type of preparation and preservation.
Food safety could also be a cause for concern, as these large batches of food are prepared at the same time. The food industry is a complex global network of diverse companies that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. The term food industries encompasses a series of industrial activities aimed at the production, distribution, processing, conversion, preparation, preservation, transportation, certification and packaging of food products. Today, the food industry has diversified a lot, with manufacturing ranging from small, traditional, labor-intensive family businesses to large, capital-intensive and highly mechanized industrial processes.
Many food industries rely almost entirely on local agriculture, produce, or fishing. Only subsistence farmers, those who survive on what they grow, and hunter-gatherers can be considered outside the realm of the modern food industry. The dominant companies in the food industry are sometimes referred to as Big Food, a term coined by writer Neil Hamilton. Most of the food produced for the food industry comes from staple crops that use conventional agricultural practices.
Agriculture is the process of producing food, food products, fiber and other desired products by growing certain plants and raising domestic animals (livestock). On average, 83% of the food consumed by humans is produced through land-based agriculture. Other food sources include aquaculture and fishing. Agronomy is the science and technology of the production and use of plants for food, fuel, fiber and land recovery.
Agronomy encompasses work in the areas of plant genetics, plant physiology, meteorology and soil science. Agronomy is the application of a combination of sciences. Today's agronomists are involved in many topics, such as food production, creating healthier foods, managing the environmental impact of agriculture, and extracting energy from plants. The food industry has a major influence on consumerism.
Organizations, such as the American Academy of Family Physicians (AAFP), have been criticized for accepting monetary donations from companies in the food industry, such as Coca-Cola. These donations have been criticized for creating a conflict of interest and favoring interests such as financial gain. Since World War II, agriculture in the United States and the entire national food system as a whole has been characterized by models that focus on monetary profitability at the expense of social and environmental integrity. Regulations exist to protect consumers and somehow balance this economic orientation with public interests for food quality, food safety, food safety, animal welfare, environmental protection.
Food preparation is another area where the change over the past few decades has been dramatic. Today, two sectors of the food industry are apparently competing for the retail food dollar. The grocery industry sells fresh, mostly raw products for consumers to use as ingredients in home cooking. The food service industry, on the other hand, offers prepared foods, either as finished products or as partially prepared components for final assembly.
Restaurants, cafes, bakeries and mobile food trucks provide opportunities for consumers to buy food. Modern food production is defined by sophisticated technologies. Agricultural machinery, originally driven by tractors, has virtually eliminated human labor in many areas of production. Biotechnology is driving many changes, in areas as diverse as agrochemicals, plant breeding and food processing.
Many other types of technology are also involved, to the point where it is difficult to find an area that does not have a direct impact on the food industry. As in other fields, information technology is also a core force. Food production, processing and marketing systems in developing countries are complex. Food production systems are highly fragmented and depend on a large number of small producers.
The current agricultural structure limits farmers' ability to comply with national and international food safety standards. While this may have socio-economic benefits, since large quantities of food pass through a multitude of food handlers and intermediaries, it increases the risk of exposing food to unhygienic environments, contamination and adulteration. The literacy rate of most farmers and food handlers in developing countries is low; this limits the number of farmers able to adopt modern and more sophisticated agricultural practices, food hygiene and the good food handling practices needed to comply with more stringent food safety requirements. Wholesale markets for fresh food products have tended to lose importance in countries undergoing urbanization, including Latin America and some Asian countries, as a result of the growth of supermarkets, which buy directly from farmers or through preferred suppliers, rather than going through Markets.
The main food safety problems are due to the poor handling and storage of food after harvest and also to inadequate facilities and infrastructure, such as the absence or scarcity of drinking water supply, electricity, storage facilities, including cold rooms, networks transportation, etc. Therefore, separation methods, including gas chromatography (GC), high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and, to a lesser extent, capillary electrophoresis (CE), have been and continue to be the main analytical techniques applied in the separation and isolation of biological, clinical, environmental and Food samples. Ultra-processed food products are produced by combining primary food products and other secondary food products to create ready-to-eat foods and beverages with high sensory appeal, for example, pastries, candies, jams, soft drinks and ready meals. Food processing includes the methods and techniques used to transform raw materials into food for human consumption.
Let's now take a closer look at the different types of food production systems, many of which you're probably familiar with. In simple terms, organic agriculture is an agricultural system that seeks to provide fresh, tasty and authentic food, while respecting natural life cycle systems. Due to population growth and changes in consumption patterns, demand for dietary cereals is likely to increase by 30 to 40% over the next 25 years. Almost all of these approaches to food and agriculture systems reject pesticides and artificial fertilizers and are based on the efficient use of locally available resources.
Food production and processing is one of the most demanding sectors of human activity, in terms of safety and quality control, driven by the growing demands of global regulatory authorities and by greater public awareness. . .
