Instant Food : The very term 'instant food' means simple, fast and convenient food which

is easy and fast to prepare besides being hygienic, free from microbial contamination and also convenient to eat. Canned foods, convenience foods, fast foods, frozen foods, instant products, dried foods, preserved foods, etc. all come under instant foods or ready-to-eat foods.

Classification of Instant foods:

In order to know clearly about these convenience foods and to study it better, they can be classified as follows: 1. Canned foods: These are again classified as i. Canned fruits ii. Canned vegetables iii. Other canned products 2. Instant products: These are again classified as i. Instant mixes ii. Instant powders 3. Breakfast cereal foods: These are fruit based and non-fruit based

4. Dairy products: milk powders, dairy products like curd, cheese, cream, dairy desserts, etc., 5. Frozen foods: These are of three types i. Chilled foods (dairy products, eggs, meat) ii. Frozen foods (highly perishable foods) iii. Freeze dried foods (Coffee, meals for explorers) 6. Pasta foods: Vermicelli, noodles, macaroni, etc., 7. Weaning foods: Farex, Cerelac, Lactogen

8. Health conscious foods: depending upon age, health, gender etc., 9. New ideas: eg: Defatted groundnuts, tailored foods/fabricated foods, dehydrated fruits and vegetables

Reasons for their popularity: Emergence of industrial society i.e. metropolitan cities

Reduced domestic servants Womenfolk taking to job Emergence of nuclear families Prices of raw materials New products Drudgery of work Convenience Increasing income Standard of living Media

Scope:

Though there are so many instant foods available in our country, their popularity is increasing in a slow pace especially in the rural markets due to lack of awareness compared to larger cities where they are widely available and are also more popular. Even though after being economical and convenient, most of the consumers prefer the traditional types of foods which are fresh and natural without any preservatives or artificial ingredients. These convenience foods are preferred by mainly nuclear families where both husband and wife are working or by bachelors who wish to avoid hotel food or people who do not have time, patience or the expertise to prepare in a traditional method. A survey conducted showed that people did not prefer instant food because of the general feeling that these foods lose all the natural vitamins and minerals present in them after days of preservation and different treatments given to them during processing. There is a great role of the manufacturers and their marketers to remove this myth from the minds of the people and educate them with the usage of instant foods and strongly convey the message that even instant foods are wholesome and nutritious as the regular traditional foods. But instant foods have become popular with time because of less cost, time and energy saving, convenience in preparation and consumption in the busy and hectic life. It was a boon for working people who were able to save time, energy and money by using these foods. Various foods helped to prevent the age-old traditional method of long preparation of grinding, cooking or fermenting for hours and hence making the work faster. Even the manufacturers prepared the instant foods according to the taste of the consumers. For example, the weaning foods for infants were offered in different flavours like orange, wheat, vegetable, egg etc, depending on the customers' preference and acceptance. Few of the instant foods are even helpful to patients suffering from various diseases like the ragi powder for the diabetic or almond beverage or Horlicks/Boost for the growing or the weak people. The survey also revealed that most of the present trend young generation has changed their taste to the instant foods because of the Western influence and also to save time and energy due to which number of catering industries and manufacturers are increasing to cope with the demand. Hence, there is a great scope for these industries in the future based on the awareness of convenience and hygienic factors. Another advantage of instant foods is they occupy less space in the kitchen or pantry, the amount of drudgery involved is less and there is a tremendous potential for

commercial exploitation as it is a 'rising industry'.