As you can understand in this module you will develop some more critical points regarding food processing and the several features of food processing that raise questions about nutritional quality, worker health, environmental impact and food safety.

Then, we'll focus on the path followed by food products from the factory to consumer.
Firstly you will be interested in the different modes of transportation of foodstaffs: roadways, railways, water and air transportation, considering the advantages and disadvantages of each one.
Secondly you will be introduced in the different types of distribution channels and the main protagonists involved in this process.
Thirdly, you will focus on the commercialization of food products, along the complex itinerary from market research to product promotion.
Finally, you will be aware of the complex process that lies behind the itinerary that food product goes through from the factory to the consumer's home, as well as of all the protagonists involved in it.

Let's start with some basic meanings, as these are presented to wikipedia so as to remember together some facts.

What's food Processing

Food processing is the transformation of agricoltural products into food, or of one form of food into other forms. Food processing includes many forms of processing foods, from grinding grain to make raw flour to home cooking to complex industrial methods used to make convenience food Some food processing methods play important roles in reducing food waste and improving food preservation , thus reducing the total environmental impact of agriculture and improving food security.

Primary food processing is necessary to make most foods edible, and secondary food processing turns the ingredients into familiar foods, such as bread. Tertiary food processing has been criticized for promoting overnutrition and obesity containing too much sugar and salt too little fiber and otherwise being unhealthful in respect to dietary needs of humans and farm animals.

Primary food processing

Primary food processing turns agricultural products, such as raw wheat kernels or livestock, into

something that can eventually be eaten. This category includes ingredients that are produced by ancient processes such as drying, threshing, winnowing and milling grain, shelling nuts, and butchering animals for meat. It also includes deboning and cutting meat, freezing and smoking fish and meat, extracting and filtering oils, canning food, preserving food through food irradiation, and candling eggs, as well as homogenizing and pasteurizing milk.

Contamination and spoilage problems in primary food processing can lead to significant public health threats, as the resulting foods are used so widely. However, many forms of processing contribute to improved food safety and longer shelf life before the food spoils. Commercial food processing uses control systems such as hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) and failure mode and effects analysis (FMEA) to reduce the risk of harm.

Secondary food processing

Secondary food processing is the everyday process of creating food from ingredients that are ready to use. Baking bread, regardless of whether it is made at home, in a small bakery, or in a large factory, is an example of secondary food processing. Fermenting fish and making wine, beer, and other alcoholic products are traditional forms of secondary food processing. Sausages are a common form of secondary processed meat, formed by comminution (grinding) of meat that has already undergone primary processing. Most of the secondary food processing methods known to human kind are commonly described as cooking methods.

Tertiary food processing

Tertiary food processing is the commercial production of what is commonly called processed food. These are ready-to-eat or heat-and-serve foods, such as TV dinners and re-heated airline meals.

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