An adverse reaction to a food or food component that involves the immune system is called as food allergy. Food allergies are most often immunoglobulin E (IgE) mediated but may also be non-IgE or cell-mediated. On exposure of a sensitive individual to a particular food, the allergen stimulates lymphocytes to produce the IgE-antibody and attached to the surface of the mast cells in different tissues of the body. However, non-IgE mediated food allergy is observed in the first few years of life and it is an easily treatable clinical entity. Food allergy is of several types but Type I, Type II, Type III and Type IV are of key importance. The most common foods having allergens are peanuts, milk, eggs, tree nuts, fish, soybean, wheat etc and these foods account for about 90% of all allergic reactions in humans. People suffering from food allergy can undergo several problems such as digestive disorders, respiratory and circulatory symptoms, skin reactions and sometimes anaphylactic shock. Food processing such as ultrafiltration in milk, steam cooking of kiwi fruits and peeling of peaches may reduce the food allergens up to a certain extent. Therefore, it is utmost important to create awareness in people towards food allergy and save the precious life.

Alcoholic beverages form an important component of culture and traditions of many civilizations for thousands of years. The people in tribal and rural areas of Himachal Pradesh still practice the preparation of many traditional fermented beverages that form an important component of their socio-cultural life. Chhang, sura, chakti, kinnauri, chulli, etc. are some popular beverages that are quite unique in terms of raw material and the fermentation process. Despite of immense social, economic and medicinal importance as described by the local consumers, most of these beverages are prepared at home scale,limiting their popularity to particular region only. Commercialization of these products with scientific interventions for improvement in quality and methods of production may help in bringing these beverages from household confines to population at large. This will provide an opportunity to the locals to generate a tradable commodity and income generation.

Indigenous or traditional fermented foods have been prepared and consumed world over including South Asia for hundreds of years and are strongly linked to cultures and traditions of millions of people around the world, especially in rural communities. A food is considered fermented when one or more of its constituents have been acted upon by selected microorganisms or their enzymes to produce a significantly altered final product desirable for human consumption. Most fermentations are caused by molds, yeasts, or bacteria, either singularly or in combination. The origins of most fermentation technologies have been lost in the mists of history. Some products and practices no doubt fell by the wayside; those that remain today have survived the test of time. Indigenous Fermented food products are important components of the diet as staples, adjuncts to staples, condiments, and beverages. There a need to protect our traditional technology and foods that are very valuable. In this review we have given a brief account on traditional/indigenous fermented foods (preparation methods, microbes involved, biochemical changes and preservation techniques) especially of Andhra Pradesh (AP), India.

The aim of this study was to to know the scenario of habit of consumption of fruits and vegetables amongst consumers and implement the concept of smoothie as an easy, nutritive and innovative form of their consumption. Smoothie is a liquid refreshing drink usually taken as health- conscious supplement for a healthy living. Smoothie contains either whole or different parts of fruit and vegetable. Fiber and juice are not separated from each other thus, increasing nutritive as well as digestive properties of the smoothie. Fruits and vegetables have low energy value but high nutritive physiological value. They are mainly constituted of starch and dietary fibers. They contain appreciable amount of micro-nutrients such as iron, calcium, phosphorus, magnesium, sodium and chromium. Fruits and vegetables are also rich in phytochemicals. These phytochemicals helps in reducing the possibilities of cancer. To increase the uptake of phytochemicals, food industries offer an alternate source of utilization of fresh fruits and vegetables as smoothie. To create distinct flavour and ease in consumption corresponding fruit juices or concentrates can also be used. The natural pigments and antioxidants present in fruits and vegetables also helps in glowing and smooth skin, also increasing better functioning and immunity of the body.

Cellulose is the most abundant biopolymer found on earth present in the form of agricultural, agro-industrial and food waste residues which also have hemicellulose and lignin associated with them. This is also known as lignocellulosic biomass and its disposal is a major global concern as most of it is presently subjected to burning or buried in soil thus leading to environmental pollution and global warming. Some residues are traditionally used as animal fodder, substrate for mushroom cultivation, pulp and paper making, composting, amalgamation and mulching in soil, fuel for domestic and industrial applications etc. It has the potential to act as a renewable and near zero cost substrate for the economical production of high value compounds. They can act as sustainable alternative sources of bioenergy to replace fossil fuels and the production of value added products including industrial enzymes, organic acids, microbial polysaccharides, biofertilizers and fine chemicals is likely to promote bioeconomy by valourisation of lignocellulosic biomass. This piece of work discusses the traditional ways of management that are employed for making use of the agricultural residues. The potential of lignocellulosic resources for bioconversion into high value compounds emphasizing on its economic importance for production of fuels and chemicals by simultaneously minimizing the contribution to environmental pollution because of burning and land filling has also been reviewed.

Seedling mango (Mangifera indica L.) fruit is one of the important wild fruits which have got commercial importance due to its utilization in pickle preparation and other culinary purpose. In Himachal Pradesh (HP), it is widely distributed in the lower hills and plain areas with significant difference in the quality characteristics of fruits from location to location. The fruits of seedling mango were harvested from 24 different locations of six districts (Kangra, Una, Hamirpur, Bilaspur, Mandi and Sirmour) of HP and the results of their physical, chemical, sensory, physico-chemical and combined physico-chemical and sensory characteristics were analyzed using cluster analysis (SPSS). On the basis of this analysis of quality characteristics including higher acid-edible content indicator (2.36) and sensory quality, fruits of 10 locations were found suitable for pickle preparation viz. Kangra (Sulah and Bhawarna), Una (Una Sadar and Amb), Hamirpur (Bhoranj), Bilaspur (Ghumarwin), Mandi (Gopalpur and Pandoh) and Sirmour (Nahan and Ponta Sahib).

Guava, jamun and Aloe vera are valued for their nutritive and medicinal properties, but their utilization as drink is limited due to certain consumer repelling factors like poor appearance and grittiness of guava juice, high astringent taste of jamun juice and bitter taste of Aloe vera juice. Therefore, present study was designed to optimize the blending of guava pulp with jamun and Aloe vera juice for developing nutritious health drink. Different formulations, where jamun juice concentration varied from 10-50 per cent with two levels of fruit part (10 and 15%) and two levels of TSS (10 and 15oB) were tried for optimizing guava-jamun blended drink. Further, Aloe vera juice from 1 to 9.0 per cent was added to enhance the nutritive and functional value without compromising overall acceptability of the developed beverage. Out of different formulations, the drink prepared by blending guava-jamun in the ratio of 60:40 with 15 per cent fruit part (blended) and 15oB TSS was found the best on the basis of nutritional and sensory characteristics. Herbal fortification with Aloe vera juice @ 5 per cent was optimized for improving nutritional and medicinal properties of the developed beverage. Results revealed that the Aloe vera fortified guava-jamun health drink contained higher values of ascorbic acid (33.91 mg/100g), total phenolics (36.12 mg/100g) and antioxidant potential (13.40 % free radical scavenging activity) compared to control the sample (100% guava drink).

Spices or aromatic herbs are added to most of the lactic acid fruit and vegetable fermentation preparations to improve the flavour of the finished products. Aromatic compounds in these spices (including mainly terpenes and polyphenols) often have an antimicrobial effect which means that they can exert a selective role in the growth and activity of microorganisms during fermentation. Hence, investigations were carried out to study the effect of different additives on the lactic acid fermentation of radish. It was concluded from the studies that the acid production pattern in sequential lactic acid fermentation of radish are influenced by the addition of additives. There were also differences in acid production right from the beginning and differences were quite evident after 5 days of fermentation on addition of mustard as compared to other additives. It is clearly evident that addition of 2 per cent mustard produced the highest titratable acid. The addition of mustard seeds correspondingly enhanced the lactic acid bacterial count along with the titrtable acidity. Amongst the interactions, mustard (2 per cent) had the lowest (0.18%) reducing sugar followed by mustard 1 per cent. Based on the reducing sugar concentration it is concluded that it is concluded that, the use of mustard seeds had enhanced the fermentability of sugar into lactic acid. The low alcohol content in treatment with 2 per cent mustard might be due to its influence on the selective growth of lactic acid bacteria in mustard and its antimicrobial effect on other microorganisms thus, allowing lactic acid bacteria to grow and produce maximum lactic acid.

Quarg is a sparkling cheese having a smooth texture, barely bitter flavor and is a type of natural un-ripened and clean cheese. Quarg cheese contains more fat and lacks in whey protein which affects its nutritional quality, therefore it is essential to produce low fat quarg cheese using fat replacers. Initially two fat replacers were tried i.e. carragennan and Simplesse-100 @ 0.5 of quarg and after selecting one, its level was optimized. The optimized product was assessed for its storage stability. During investigation cheese was analyzed for its sensory, physico-chemical and microbial analysis. Maximum score was awarded to the quarg cheese prepared using 0.5 per cent Simplesse-100 when added to quarg after removal of whey. The superior product contained 0.62±0.03, 12.68±0.08, 3.33±0.02, 1.32±0.04, 17.87±0.02 % fat, protein, lactose, ash and total solids, respectively whereas, its pH was 4.36±0.06. During the storage, there were significant (p<0.05) differences in change in all the sensory qualities, proximate composition of fat replacer added quarg cheese.

Fruits are rich sources of nutrients, macro molecules, good source of energy and a reservoir of antioxidants. In the present study, an attempt has been made to prepare a RTS (Ready-to-serve) functional food. Sensory evaluation of various combinations, followed by screening of the best combination was performed. Proximate analysis such as pH, moisture content, ash content, total solid and Vitamin C content of the combination was estimated. Results of biochemical evaluation revealed that combination of mango: tomato in 50:50 followed by 60:40 proved to be the best combination. The phenolic and flavanoid content was the marker of the antioxidant status. The RTS proved to have a rich calorific value.