Maharashtra HSC Multi-Skill Food Processing (NSQF) key terms

Any deliberate operation such as cleaning, grading, milling, heating, cooling, or fermenting that turns a raw agricultural commodity into a safer, more stable, or more usable food product for the consumer.

Sorting raw material or finished products into uniform categories by size, colour, maturity, or quality so that each lot behaves predictably in further processing and sells at a fair price.

The free moisture in a food, measured as the ratio of its vapour pressure to that of pure water; microbes need a minimum value to grow, so lowering it preserves food.

Briefly heating vegetables or fruit in hot water or steam, then cooling quickly, to inactivate enzymes, fix colour, remove air, and shrink the load before freezing or drying.

Heating a liquid food such as milk or juice to a set temperature for a set time to destroy disease-causing vegetative microbes, then cooling it; the product still needs refrigeration.

Heating sealed containers under pressure to a temperature high enough to destroy Clostridium botulinum spores, giving commercially sterile, shelf-stable food that needs no refrigeration until the pack is opened.

Preserving food by filling it into containers, sealing them hermetically, and heat-sterilising the sealed pack; the airtight seal keeps out air and recontamination during storage.

Removing most of the water from a food by hot air, sun, or vacuum so that spoilage organisms cannot grow; dried products are lighter, need less packaging, and store without refrigeration.

An unbroken series of refrigerated storage, transport, and display steps that keeps perishable food within its required temperature range from production until it reaches the consumer.

Any change in food that makes it unfit or unpleasant to eat, caused by microbes, enzymes, oxygen, moisture loss, or insects; spoiled food may smell, discolour, or turn slimy.

The period for which a packaged food keeps its expected safety, taste, texture, and nutrient value under stated storage conditions; it is fixed by testing and printed as a best-before or use-by date.

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points: a preventive system that identifies biological, chemical, and physical hazards at each process step and sets limits and checks where they can be controlled.

Good Manufacturing Practices: documented routine conditions and controls for premises, equipment, personnel, and processes that stop unsafe or substandard food from being produced.

Transfer of harmful microbes or allergens from raw food, hands, equipment, or surfaces to ready-to-eat food, often through shared chopping boards, cloths, or unwashed hands.

Practices of food handlers such as clean hands and clothing, short nails, no jewellery, covering wounds, and excluding ill workers, which stop people from introducing contamination into food.

A system that circulates detergent and sanitising solutions through pipes, tanks, and filling lines without dismantling them, so equipment is cleaned and disinfected hygienically between production runs.

The Food Safety and Standards Authority of India, the statutory body that frames science-based food standards and enforces them through licences, inspections, and labelling rules under the FSS Act, 2006.

Adding cheap, harmful, or unauthorised substances to a food, or removing valuable components from it, to raise profit; it is an offence under the FSS Act and is caught by simple detection tests.

Grinding cereals or pulses to separate the edible endosperm or cotyledon from bran, germ, and husk, then reducing it to flour, semolina, or dal of a chosen particle size.

Soaking paddy, steaming it, and drying it before milling; the treatment drives vitamins from the bran into the grain, eases milling, and gives firmer, less sticky cooked rice.

A process that forces a moist, mixed food mass through a shaped die under heat and pressure, producing snacks, pasta, or breakfast cereals of a chosen shape and texture in one continuous line.

The elastic protein network formed when wheat flour is wetted and kneaded; it traps gas from yeast, gives dough strength, and sets the crumb structure during baking.

The reaction between reducing sugars and amino acids at high heat that browns baked and fried foods and creates their characteristic roasted flavour and aroma.

Forcing milk under high pressure through fine valves so that fat globules break into tiny droplets and stay dispersed, preventing a cream layer from rising during storage.

Adjusting the fat and solids-not-fat content of milk, usually by adding skim milk or cream, so it meets a legal or product standard such as toned, double-toned, or full-cream milk.

The conversion of lactose in milk into lactic acid by starter bacteria, which lowers the pH, coagulates the milk protein, and gives curd or yoghurt its body, sour taste, and keeping quality.

The stiffening of muscle after slaughter as energy stores run out and fibres lock; if meat is cut or frozen before this stage passes, the flesh turns out tough and dry.

Treating meat or fish with salt, nitrite, sugar, and smoke, alone or combined, to lower water activity, slow microbial growth, and develop the colour and flavour of products such as ham.

Holding an egg in front of a strong light to check the size of the air cell, the yolk outline, and the presence of cracks, blood spots, or interior rot before packing or grading.

A gelled fruit product made by boiling pulp with sugar and acid so that pectin sets it; high sugar solids and low pH slow microbial spoilage after the jar is opened.

Sealing food in a pack in which the gas mixture is changed, usually with less oxygen and more carbon dioxide or nitrogen, to slow respiration, browning, and microbial growth.

First In, First Out: a stock rotation rule that issues or sells the oldest batch first, so stored food does not cross its date code and shelf life is used efficiently.

The ability to follow a food batch forward from the processor to the retailer and backward to the supplier, so a faulty lot can be recalled quickly and its cause identified.

Testing food with trained or consumer panels that score appearance, aroma, taste, texture, and overall liking under controlled conditions, giving an objective measure of product acceptability.

Cleaning the wastewater from a processing plant by screening, settling, biological digestion, and disinfection so that it can be safely reused or discharged without polluting water bodies.

The sales volume at which total revenue exactly equals total cost, so the business makes neither profit nor loss; every sale beyond this point adds to profit.

Items such as aprons, hairnets, gloves, masks, and safety shoes that protect workers from injury and stop them from contaminating the food being handled.