Food processing is a sunrise sector in India and essential to reduce the losses and increase the profitability of farmers. Vast literature is being generated in food processing area based on different studies conducted related to their sorting and grading, storage, packaging and preservation, value addition. This information is compiled in the form of books and bulletins after a certain gap of time.
The up to date and concise information is generally given by the scientists in the meetings and conferences through power point presentations. The power point is very effective to convey large information to the people much more effectively compared to the text written in the books.
These presentations are either lost in the conferences or in the laptops of the presenters. The power point can combine text as well as pictures very effectively so one slide can tell one chapter of a story and sometimes 2-3 slides can cover whole history. Hence attempt has been made in this publication to compile the presentations of Dr. R. T. Patil, Former Director, Central Institute of Post Harvest Engineering and Technology, Ludhiana which were given as lectures and some specially prepared for this publication. This is a first attempt in publishing where the content is narrated through the power point slides in the form of a book. We hope that this publication will be effective in taking the message of post harvest managment and value addition similar to story telling through children’s book. The book will be useful for scientists, academicians, students, policy makers and especially to the extension workers for effective dissemination of this information to end users.
Dr. R.T. Patil is a former Director of Central Institute of Post-Harvest Engineering and Technology (CIPHET) under ICAR which is a nodal institute to undertake lead researches in Post Harvest Management and Valu e Additi on. He is presently holding the post of Director Technocrats Institute of Technology, Bhopal a leading engineering educational institution in central India. Dr. Patil has B. Tech. degree (Ag. Engg) from MPKV Rahuri, M. Tech (Crop Process Engineering) from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur, India and PhD in Bio Process Engineering from University of Saskatchewan, Canada and finished 2 years of Post Doctoral Fellowship at Washington State University, Pullman (USA). He has 33 years of research experience in food process engineering. He has contributed many books/bulletins and book chapters in this area. His expertise is on drying and dehydration, novel product development, physical properties and advanced extrusion processing. Dr. Patil has so far developed 23 research prototypes, 7 process protocols, 5 pilot plants and contributed to one US patents and seven Indian patents. He published more than 200 papers published in national, international journals and in the proceedings of national and international conferences. He is a recipient of Best Graduate thesis award of Canadian Society of Agricultural Engineers for his PhD, Team award from Ministry of Education, Government of Poland for Thermal Processing of Bio Materials, Eminent Engineer award of Institution of Engineers (India) and Team award of Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers for developing pomegranate aril extracting machine. He was elected as Director (Food Process Engineering) of ISAE during 1998-2000 and three times Vice President ISAE and presently also holding the post of Vice President of Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers for 2012-15. He was Chairman of important committees of Government of India namely BIS FAD 16, Committee to examine and redraw specifications for grain storage structures, committee evaluate the quality of rice in Punjab, Chattisgarh and Orissa. He was Vice President, Association of Food Scientists and Technologist, India. He has widely travelled to Serbia, Malaysia, Afghanistan, Turkey, Thailand, Germany, Netherlands, US and Canada and has delivered invited presentations on post harvest technology. He was member of board of management, academic council and research advisory council of many ICAR institutions and Agricultural universities. He is a chief editor of E-newsletter of ISAE and Associate Editor of Journal of Agricultural Research of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences. Dr. Patil is a fellow of National Academy of Agricultural Sciences, Indian Society of Agricultural Engineers and Institution of Engineers (India).