Future Crops and Processing Technologies for Sustainability and Nutritional Security

Our current food system faces challenges across the board - from ensuring food security and reducing environmental impact to managing costs and minimizing waste. Fortunately, cutting-edge food processing technologies play a critical role in paving the way for a more sustainable future. Taking a two-track approach, Future Crops and Processing Technologies for Sustainability and Nutritional Security presents sustainable technologies and emerging crops that are capable of ensuring nutritional security. There are various crops that are nutritious but under-utilized. Crops covered in the book are those that are climate resilient and exhibit less use of water and zero discharge to environment, such as millets and legumes like chickpea, groundnuts, and pigeon pea.

KEY FEATURES:

• Provides a comprehensive literature review on the opportunities and challenges in achieving sustainability and nutritional security
• Presents compatible, relevant crops to address both sustainability and nutritional security
• Discusses the emerging technologies/crops/food products to justify sustainability and potential to ensure nutritional security

This book also provides information on all aspects related to the processing and use of sustainable technologies and crops. The use of technologies like 3D printing, novel drying method, high pressure processing, high-voltage treatments, and the proper combination of conventional methods are addressed.

Dr. Soumya Ranjan Purohit, Assistant Professor at Tezpur University, Assam. He has five years of Teaching and Research Experience. Dr. Purohit completed his doctoral studies at Indian Institute of Technology Kharagpur and Post-doctoral research at South Dakota State University, USA. His research interest is food bioprocessing with particular emphasis on sustainability. Dr. Purohit is a recipient of the DST-IN Fellowship for doctoral research in 2013, Newton Bhabha Fellowship from the British Council for visiting research program at the University of Reading UK in 2017. Currently, he is the PI of projects funded by DST-Start up research grant. He has published research papers in high-quality peer-reviewed journals, book chapters, and has filed patents. Dr. Purohit has visited many countries to present research outcomes in annual meetings and conferences. He is also a member of Institute of Food Technologist USA (Carbohydrate Division) and Association of Carbohydrate Chemist and Technologist.

Dr. Vasudha Sharma, Assistant Professor in the Department of Food Technology, Jamia Hamdard, New Delhi, India. Dr. Sharma obtained her PhD in Food Process Engineering from IIT Kharagpur and has more than 10 years of teaching and applied research experience in food processing technologies. She has published widely in the areas of functional foods, non-dairy probiotics, sustainable food technologies, process optimization and nanobiosensors for food safety. Dr. Sharma has guided 4 PhDs, and more than 50 M.Tech students for their dissertation. She has over 32 research publications, 16 book chapters, 2 books, 5 popular articles and 2 patents granted. Dr. Sharma has completed 2 funded projects and currently she is the principal investigator of DST-SHRI project on processing and value addition of millets. Dr. Sharma has received Centre for Quality and Food Safety (CQFS) Award for Food Safety. Mentor in 2022 & CQFS Food Safety Award 2021 on World Food Safety Day; and has served as Member of National Level Expert Committee for drafting academic curricula for Food Safety education in India.

Dr. Meena Kumari, Assistant Professor, Amity University, Noida Dr. Meena is working as an Assistant Professor at Amity University, Noida, Uttar Pradesh, India. Her research area is focused on bioavailability of nutrients from foods. She has done her Ph.D. from CSIR-Central food technological research institute, Mysuru, Karnataka. She had published papers in peer reviewed international SCI journals. She had also presented papers at various national and international conferences. She has been awarded for the best oral presenter at 46 th National conference of Nutrition Society of India. Dr. Meena has also served as a reviewer for some international journals. She also had organised 2 International Conferences and various events at University level. She is a life member of some prestigious professional bodies including, NSI, AFSTI and Indian society of clinical nutrition.

Ms. Joanna Kane-Potaka is a marketing expert with global leadership in public, private sectors and with non profit organizations including four CGIAR centers - WorldFish, Bioversity, International Water Management Institute (IWMI), and most recently at International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT) as the Assistant Director General of External Relations. She began her career as an agricultural economist and later moved into market research in agribusiness and spent most of her career in international development. Bringing her professional experience in Asia, Africa, Australia and Europe with specific expertise in strategic marketing, communications, business development, knowledge management, and uptake of scientific research, Joanna works towards having big impact-on health of the people and the planet. She founded the Smart Food Global Movement, recognized by USA and Australian governments in the top 10 global food innovations in 2017.

Dr. Muthukumarappan has established himself as a global leader in research and mentoring within the food processing sector. He has obtained 65 grants, totaling over ＄20 million, as a Principal Investigator and co-PI. His scholarly output includes over 250 peer-reviewed publications and more than 350 regional, national, and international presentations. His international recognition stems from his pioneering work in nonthermal processing, rheological properties, and the thermo-chemical conversion of biomass. Dr. Muthukumarappan’s research encompasses fruit juices’ rheological properties, coproducts’ value addition, and efficient biomass conversion. His contributions to setting national and international standards in bioprocessing and bioenergy have been influential. Further, Dr. Muthukumarappan’s leadership extends to developing commercial processes for the dairy industry, notably the ProFrac process, which efficiently separates high-value proteins from complex mixtures like cheese whey. This innovation has significantly enhanced profitability and energy efficiency in the U.S. dairy sector.