Chapter 2
I Technology Transported; 1788-1840
II Technology Established; 1840-1940
III The Coming Of Science
IV From Science To Technology: The Post-war Years
V Products And Processes
i Frozen Foods
ii Instant and Convenience Foods
iii Dairy Technology
iv Packaging
VI Conclusion
VII Acknowledgements
References
Index
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Instant and Convenience Foods
Instant foods are those which are prepared for use by the addition of water or milk and thus they include all manner of mixes, from the outdated ice-cream mixes to present day 'instant' puddings. Probably the best known is instant coffee. This technology was brought to Australia in 1949 by the Nestle company.[183] It was essentially the spray drying of a hot water percolate. Over the years the technology has been extended and improved; by stripping coffee flavours for add back later; by extracting under pressure, thus raising the temperature and hydrolysing complex carbohydrates to increase to yield; by stripping unwanted flavours from the higher yield liquors. These overseas modifications have also been introduced into Australian manufacturing.Milk powder is an old product but was not easy to reconstitute and from the 1950s many patents have been taken out overseas for processes for the more or less successful manufacture of easily reconstitutable powders. The most common method has been the moistening of spray dried powder to cause it to clump and the subsequent drying of the clumps which then wet more easily than the original powder. More recently, spray drying has been stopped at about 7 per cent moisture and the powder dried out to about 3 per cent in a fluid bed drier. Both these variations are practised here but the details of operation have had to be modified for Australian milks and this work has been done by CSIRO, which has also superintended the manufacture of easily reconstitutable powders for export to recombining plants in Asia (see p. 68).[184]
Organisations in Australian Science at Work - Nestle Co.
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Australian Academy of Technological Sciences and Engineering |  |
© 1988 Print Edition page 134, Online Edition 2000
Published by Australian Science and Technology Heritage Centre, using the Web Academic Resource Publisher
http://www.austehc.unimelb.edu.au/tia/135.html