No abstract

Management of stored product insects is a major concern and widely researched topic in the food and grain processing and storage industry. In the scenario of estimated utilization of produces exceeding the production, postharvest losses should be properly controlled to feed the growing population. The prevailing disinfestation techniques are forced to meet regulatory standards and market demands. The resistance developed by insects, environmental concerns, and occupational hazards lead to the vanishing of many chemicals used in insect and pest management programs. Some of the major disinfestation techniques such as the use of chemical fumigants, ozone, irradiation, dielectric heating, extreme temperature treatments, and bio rational approaches are discussed, particularly on the storage of cereal grains and its products, as they contribute to a significant proportion of food consumed worldwide. Newer techniques such as nonthermal plasma and metabolic stress disinfestation and decontamination for stored pest control are developed and evaluated in different parts of the world. The knowledge about the mode of action of these disinfestation techniques is important to avoid the cross-resistance and multiple resistance developed by insects with frequently used techniques. Various alternatives to conventional fumigants are discussed in this review as there is a growing demand for toxic-free, environment-friendly, and, at the same time, efficient techniques.

Composite biscuit was made from breadfruit/wheat flour. Dehulled breadfruit was sorted, washed, sun dried, milled and sieved to get flour. The breadfruit/wheat flour was mixed in the ratio 0:100%, 10:90%, 20:80%, 30:70%, 40:60%, 50:50% and 60:40% respectively and used to produce biscuits. Proximate analysis, sensory and quality evaluations were carried out on the biscuits. The proximate composition of the biscuits ranged in values with moisture from 7.18 to 8.39%, protein 8.39 to 15.53%, fat 9.02% to 19.78%, ash 0.99 to 1.3% and carbohydrate 56.38 to 73.21%. significant differences (p < 0.05) existed in odour, taste, texture, aroma, colour and general acceptability of the biscuits. Spread ratio of the different formulations ranged from 4.54 to 6.14 while the break strength ranged from 139.0 to 299.79kg.

Drying is one of the most common methods of food preservation.When a hygroscopic material is dried, two mechanisms are involved: convective evaporation from the surface and internal diffusion of moisture to the surface. Due to the moisture removal, the cellular structure will be collapsed, affecting the internal diffusion and resulting in material shrinkage (Mahiuddin et al., 2018). The thickness of the material significantly affects the drying rate and shrinkage (Mujumdar, 2015). Thermal (hot air) drying is the most commonly used drying technique in industries, because of its simple operation. However, it is highly energy intensive and adversely affects product quality (Kudra, 2004). The product quality could be significantly improved with non-thermal drying techniques. Electrohydrodynamic (EHD) drying is a promising non-thermal technology with a simple equipment design, relatively small energy consumption, and low cost of operation. EHD operates at ambient temperature, producing low-density non-thermal plasma. Being accelerated in the electric field, non-thermal plasma creates the ionic wind, which disturbs the boundary layer and enhances convective evaporation of water from the surface of food material. Surface drying establishes a concentration gradient inside the food material, which is the driving force of water diffusion to the surface (Singh et al., 2012). The non-thermal nature of EHD drying makes it highly suitable for the drying of heat-sensitive materials.A systematic review on the energy efficiency of EHD drying was given by Martynenko et al. (2021b). The specific energy consumption of, EHD drying is only 14.7-2700 kJ/kg, depending on the