Food processing equipment guide

In SPORE 41 we featured Tools for agriculture - a co - publication between CTA and Intermediate Technology that provides readers with a guide to appropriate equipment for smallholder farmers. The publishers recognized the need for a similar guide to appropriate equipment for small-scale food processing and this companion volume, Small-scale food processing has just been published. The production capacity by small producers and the availability of services (electricity, clean water, gas, servicing and maintenance facilities) will obviously vary in different countries and between regions of the same country. Similarly the amount of money available for investment will also vary considerably. The authors have therefore included, wherever possible, a range of equipment from simple hand-operated tools which are often suitable for local manufacture, through to larger factory-produced machines that require the above services but are still small-scale by industrial standards. One of the main aims has been to include equipment manufactured in developing countries to promote direct South-to-South trade relations. In food processing the intervals between unit operations in a process are much shorter than the intervals between different stages of agriculture. It is therefore necessary to select equipment for a particular stage that has a similar throughput to other pieces of equipment used in stages that precede and follow it. Delays in the process may otherwise be caused by one piece of equipment that is too small, and food may consequently spoil. It is therefore important to look at the whole process when deciding on the equipment required. For this reason each chapter in Part One of Small-scale food processing has a description of the preservation principles for selected foods in each commodity group, observations on suitability for small-scale processing and a description of the process and the equipment required. In Part Two, the directory is arranged in 68 sections, in each of which the main features of equipment are described and the range of equipment available is listed. Small-scale food processing edited by Peter Fellows and Ann Hampton 158pp ISBN 185339 108 5 Pbk price UKL30.00 published by CTA and Intermediate Technology Publications Available from CTASmall-scale food processing edited by Peter Fellows and Ann Hampton 158pp ISBN 185339 108 5 Pbk price UKL30.00 published by CTA and Intermediate Technology Publications Available from CT