Ready to Eat food took its own sweet time to enterthe Indian market. Today, apart from manufacturing, India is also exportingready to eat Indian food. Ready-to-eat food as animal or plant derived foodthat is cooked, frozen, washed, cooked for hot holding, cooled, and processedto be consumed directly or after heating.
It is a category of convenience food where thepreparation time is extremely short and convenient, to where the product is preparedin advance and can be eaten as sold depending upon the requirement of the usersand the weather conditions. These foods meet the specific needs of convenience,nutritional adequacy, shelf stability, storage, distribution to the centers andhave become very popular.
Convenience food, or tertiary processed food, isfood that is commercially prepared (often through processing) to optimise easeof consumption. Such food is usually ready to eat without further preparation.It may also be easily portable, have a long shelf life, or offer a combinationof such convenient traits. Convenience foods can include products such ascandy; beverages such as soft drinks, juices and milk; fast food; nuts, fruitsand vegetables in fresh or preserved states; processed meats and cheeses; andcanned products such as soups and pasta dishes. Additional convenience foodsinclude frozen pizza, chips such as potato chips, pretzels, and cookies.
