Here is your opportunity to tell me what you would like me to be publishing here! Please email me here – dave@digivu.co.za or simply make a comment at the end of the post. Everyone who makes an input can supply me with information, which will be posted on www.digivu.co.za – what about using this as an advert?

You will have noticed I’ve been posting a bit more of non food processing bits and a bit slower in the last while – but remember you can access the information in many ways.

1) Remember though you can look at particular types of posts by going down to the bottom left and clicking a category, or even by entering an expanded URL.

eg food processing – http://www.digivu.co.za/category/food-processing/
African Businesses – http://www.digivu.co.za/category/african-foodbiz/
waste – http://www.digivu.co.za/category/waste/
biofuels – http://www.digivu.co.za/category/biofuels/

2) You can search the site/blog from the the “Search Just The Blog” google search box.

3) Scan bookmarks I make to interesting articles under “STORIES NOT POSTED” to the left or in more detail from News buttons in the top menu.

4) You can email for free assistance – see “Free Q&A Service” in the top menu.

5) You can also watch other of my channels like Facebook & twitter although I need more feedback on whether these are at all useful.

This short and broad review with many references may be a starting point in understanding the technology.

The review briefly describes several applications applications in Food processing, Packaging, Nutraceutical delivery and Safety & sensing.

I identifies the issues around safety that result from a lack of knowledge of the effects of nano sized fabricated materials and recommends a cautious approach.

The article has a bibliography which includes several website links which allows for further investigation even if the reader doesn’t have access to the more academic journals.

This presentation was picked off the internet, it is by jiwang_awan and is published under a Attribution Non-commercial Creative Commons Lisence.

5t seems to be a nice introductory set of information that explains food processing processes and how they link to changes in foods.

I am aware that many of the people who could benefit from the information I am publishing have difficulty in downloading files from the INTERNET due to the cost of being online. I in fact mentioned this in a recent blog which was based on a very practical drying manual which can be downloaded.

While GOOGLE says they, with HSBC, are going to bring cheap satellite based INTERNET connectivity to Africa, this will take time and we still need to see what options exists at present.

One solution is offered by Web2Mail.com.

The service allows you to receive any webpage as an attachment to an email. So long as you have a pop mail account getting the information into your computer will be much quicker than going online to download the information. This will be particularly useful where you want to download an online document.

There used to be many of these kind of services but they have mainly closed down claiming that they were not being used effectively.

We are investigating the possibility of the Blog supplying documents featured here by email, on request from users. This, however, requires that we get permission from the owner of the information.

Another thought is that seeing that most of what is discussed here essentially has a developmental focus, it should be possible to get assistance is sourcing documents from extension officers and NGOs who have better connectivity.

A while back I published posts which gave a link to a news item and explained the story in a sentence or two, eg

I am now using the Delicious social bookmarking system to replace this feature of the DIGIVU Blog. Using Delicious will allow me to provide more information – this is one of those web 2.0 things I discuss in “SAFPP Networking Tools – growing”.

You will find it in the left hand column under the heading NEWS NOT BLOGGED.

Under here there are a number of categories (General Agribusiness and Food Products as on 17/09/2008) which list titles of news items. Hovering the cursor over the title, reveals my comment and an extract from the webpage. Clicking the title takes you to the webpage.

Clicking on the Delicious name (eg SAFPP and FoodProd) opens all the bookmarks in Delicious while clicking “add me to your network” allows you to access all bookmarks from your delicious account.

I believe now is an appropriate time to focus on drying and solar energy. Drying is the simplest and one of the most effective methods of preserving food, allowing it to be stored without cost and equipment. The energy of the sun is free to anyone able to use it effectively. In the current situation where energy and food are both expensive and likely to continue increasing for some years the sun and solar drying of food is a very useful technology.

Although we will cover some of the basics over the next while, I want, in this post, to illustrate how simple it is to dry. I use a document distributed by Echonet to illustrate what can be done with little effort and little cost.

This pdf document is an extremely useful and practical manual for the solar drying of foods. It presents a simple drawing and describes a method of construction based on specified materials. As is obvious from the photograph below, this is not a flash and expensive piece of equipment from industry, but rather a device anyone with a little mechanical aptitude could construct and even redesign to make use of other materials which might be locally available.

As well as information on how to build the dryer the manual contains detailed information, originally from the University of Georgia, on drying and how to dry. The information covers the basics including hygiene, pretreatment, determining dryness and conditioning but also provides fruit by fruit and vegetable by vegetable information on preparation, drying conditions, storage and even how to reconstitute.

I am continuing to try and get permission to email the documents I discuss to those requesting copies and having difficulty with connectivity – however, for now it is probably best to make contact through the website and request that the document is emailed.

There is one other option, which is to use the web by email system that I will describe in a future post.

This manual is a publication of Agromisa and covers the preservation of fruit and vegetables. It is available as a free pdf for online download and in print at a cost of 8.49 Euro from Agromisa.

The images below are clips from the manual and presented to help in illustrating the nature of the information.

• detailed background information is presented on spoilage and how various preservation methods operate
  
• practical information on fruit and vegetable preparation for preservation is provided
  
• heating, drying, pickling, salting and jam making are covered with practical and applicable information
  
• while equipment designs are not provided illustrations provide enough detail to allow a mechanically minded person to construct equipment
  
  
• some information is also provided on setting up an enterprises based on the technology described
  
• practical details (temp, dryer loading, losses, moisture & dryness test) are provided for a range of products
  

This article which is part of the UK ciderwiki which is a free resource aimed at promoting real apple cider.

It describes in detail how to make a apple juice press using wood, cloth and a hydraulic jack.

This is really detailed as can be seen from the few pictures below and would allow anyone with woodworking skills to make a press.

Basically the crushed fruit is wrapped in cloth (called cheeses) and stacked in the press. Pressure is then places on the stack forcing the juice through the cloth producing a cloudy apple juice.

This video shows a press working – the operating conditions are not what the would need to be for a juice making operation!

It seems to me that this kind of press would work well with many fruits – pineapple & cashew apple as well as deciduous and citrus fruits.

The first and a series which simply links to the websites of Food Processing Companies in Africa. It is hoped that the industry can benefit from a knowledge of who’s doing what – either through the establishment of new businesses or through trading.

Homefoods produces palm oil, Gari and jams & jellies.

contact details:

Location:
150/11, Off Odokor – Mallam Road,
Accra, Ghana W/A

Postal:
P.O. Box KA 16519,
Airport – Accra
Ghana – West Africa

Telephone:
(00233) 21-303914

Fax/Tel.
(00233) 21-318119

E-mail :
info@homefoodsghana.com

Another in the series which simply links to the websites of Food Processing Companies in Africa. It is hoped that the industry can benefit from a knowledge of who’s doing what – either through the establishment of new businesses or through trading.

Suneor SA is Senegal’s major processor of peanuts producing peanut oil as well a vinegar.

contacts:

Suneor
32-36 rue du Dr Calmette
BP 639 Dakar
Tel.: 00221 33 849 17 00
Fax : 00221 33 823 67 88