Editing Food processing (section)

==Processing levels==

=== Primary food processing ===
[[File:03 Ban Bang Krathum Bananas.jpg|thumb|These whole, dried [[banana]]s in [[Thailand]] are an example of primary food processing.]]

Primary food processing turns agricultural products, such as raw [[Wheat|wheat kernels]] or livestock, into something that can eventually be eaten. This category includes ingredients that are produced by ancient processes such as [[Food drying|drying]], [[threshing]], [[winnowing]] and [[Grain mill|milling]] grain, [[Nutshell|shelling nuts]], and [[butchering]] animals for meat.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6wIxDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA430|title=Food Processing for Increased Quality and Consumption|last1=Grumezescu|first1=Alexandru Mihai|last2=Holban|first2=Alina Maria|date=2018-04-08|publisher=Academic Press|isbn=9780128114995|pages=430|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":0">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=c7swDwAAQBAJ&pg=PA30|title=Measurement, Modeling and Automation in Advanced Food Processing|last=Hitzmann|first=Bernd|date=2017-08-11|publisher=Springer|isbn=9783319601113|pages=30–32|language=en}}</ref>  It also includes deboning and cutting meat, freezing and smoking fish and meat, extracting and filtering oils, [[canning]] food, preserving food through [[food irradiation]], and [[Candling|candling eggs]], as well as [[Homogenized milk|homogenizing]] and [[Pasteurized milk|pasteurizing milk]].<ref name=":0" /><ref name=":1">{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=nB9jDAAAQBAJ&pg=PA21|title=Sustainable Food and Beverage Industries: Assessments and Methodologies|last=Ionescu|first=Gabriela|date=2016-05-25|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781771884112|pages=21|language=en}}</ref><ref name=":2">{{Cite book|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=z7mxV6X9lAYC&pg=PA278|title=Integrated Renewable Resource Management for U.S. Insular Areas: Summary|last=US Congress|first=Office of Technology Assessment|date=June 1987|publisher=US Government Printing Office|isbn=9781428922792|location=Washington, DC|pages=278–281|language=en|chapter=Chapter 8, Technologies Supporting Agricultural, Aquacultural, and Fisheries Development}}</ref>

Contamination and [[Food spoilage|spoilage]] problems in primary food processing can lead to significant [[public health]] threats, as the resulting foods are used so widely.<ref name=":0" />  However, many forms of processing contribute to improved food safety and longer [[shelf life]] before the food spoils.<ref name=":1" />  Commercial food processing uses control systems such as [[hazard analysis and critical control points]] (HACCP) and [[failure mode and effects analysis]] (FMEA) to reduce the risk of harm.<ref name=":0" />

=== Secondary food processing ===
[[File:Baking Bread Communal Oven, 2011.jpg|alt=A man using a bread peel to slide a round disk of raw flatbread dough into a brick oven|thumb|Baking bread is an example of secondary food processing.]]

Secondary food processing is the everyday process of creating food from ingredients that are ready to use. [[Bread making|Baking bread]], regardless of whether it is made at home, in a small bakery, or in a large factory, is an example of secondary food processing.<ref name=":0" />  [[Fermented fish|Fermenting fish]] and making [[wine]], [[beer]], and other alcoholic products are traditional forms of secondary food processing.<ref name=":2" />  [[Sausage]]s are a common form of secondary processed meat, formed by [[comminution]] (grinding) of meat that has already undergone primary processing.<ref>{{Cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1ZRCMRXbbwoC&pg=PA599|title=Handbook of Meat and Meat Processing, Second Edition|last=Hui|first=Y. H.|date=2012-01-11|publisher=CRC Press|isbn=9781439836835|pages=599|language=en}}</ref> Most of the secondary food processing methods known to humankind are commonly described as [[Cooking#Methods|cooking methods]].

=== Tertiary food processing ===
Tertiary food processing is the commercial production of what is commonly called ''[[processed food]]''.<ref name=":0" />  These are ready-to-eat or heat-and-serve foods, such as [[frozen meal]]s and re-heated [[airline meal]]s.