Foods: Experimental Perspectives - Hardcover

Margaret McWilliams

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0135209900 ISBN 13: 9780135209905

Publisher: Merrill Pub Co, 1996

Synopsis

An introduction to the world of food science, offering an understanding of the complexities of food from chemistry and physics perspectives. The book guides readers through difficult concepts, enabling them to apply principles and practices in their work. This edition has been completely revised.

About this title

From the Publisher:

A comprehensive introduction to food science and its chemical and physical bases. The author's accessible, student-friendly approach guides students through complex subject matter toward the clear understanding of food that is needed for success in university laboratory work and careers in food science. The Third Edition has been completely updated and expanded to examine in particular current concerns about food safety and recent research about water.

From the Inside Flap:

Preface

Food has always been a wonderful subject to study, but today's technological and social changes increasingly are adding to the excitement and challenges involved in feeding the world's people. Biotechnology is at the forefront of research that is directed toward modifying various foods to enhance health and/or improve quality. Food safety increasingly is leaping into the media as food marketing and preparation are modified by shifts in lifestyles and as microorganisms adapt to create seemingly ever more virulent strains invading foods.

The careers evolving from the study of food are extremely varied; they range from the agricultural realm into the technology of producing products for wholesale and retail markets, and the preparation of food in many types of commercial and institutional venues as well as in the home. The discoveries that are emerging from research into cancer and other prominent health risks have been stimulating interest in functional foods. This interest is spawning research by food technologists to develop foods consistent with health needs. Alternatives to the traditional sugars and fats are at the center of a flurry of research and product development in the food industry. Microbiologists are prominent participants in the food industry as concerns with food safety increase.

While I have been working on this revision, arguments and counter-arguments regarding genetically modified foods have been raging and are far from being resolved. Environmental concerns seem to be central to many of the debates regarding food production and the challenges of feeding a mushrooming world population healthfully. An educated and thoughtful public capable of separating emotion from scientific truths with a sound science base is essential if progress is to be made toward producing the optimum food supply to meet the needs of the entire world's people. I have had this situation in the forefront of my mind throughout the writing of this revision. My hope is that my readers will find this scientific approach interesting, stimulating, and helpful in understanding the highly complex world of food science.

This revision has been written to provide the sound scientific foundation food scientists, technologists, and dietitians need in order to confront the technical and communication problems they must solve as they work to bring commercially viable products to well-informed consumers in the marketplace. To be effective in the highly technical field of food science, professionals need a broad scientific and technical background, which ranges across the sciences. These sciences include chemistry (particularly organic), physics, and microbiology.

The first four chapters in Part I examine food research. Basic steps in the research process, including basic laboratory controls, research design, and the techniques and tools used by food scientists to evaluate products, are discussed. Statistical techniques are introduced to facilitate analysis of data and interpretation of significance.

Part II considers some of the physical perspectives underlying food science. Water, its various physical states and its activity are examined in Chapter 5. Energy applied to food preparation and the various states of matter, as well as types of dispersion are explored in the next chapter.

In Part III, the dynamic field of carbohydrates is discussed, with the focus on three types of carbohydrates: sugars and sweeteners, starch, and fiber (notably gums and pectic substances). Emphasis is given to the application of these diverse carbohydrate clusters to food products today. Particular attention is directed toward alternative sweeteners, to fiber types, and their uses.

The two chapters in Part IV examine fats and oils in detail. Chapter 11 presents the chemistry of these compounds and the changes that may take place when they are used in food preparation. A new chapter, Chapter 12, explores the production of fats and oils for various food applications. The selection of particular fats and oils for specific food applications is considered; emphasis is given to the functional roles fats and oils play. In addition, the numerous fat replacements are reviewed. Part V covers proteins, which play a key role in the structure of such protein-rich foods as milk and milk products, meats and other flesh foods, eggs, and baked products. Because of the unique nature of the various types of protein foods, considerable attention is directed toward the functionality and structure of each of these types of proteins.

The growing concern over food-borne illnesses emphasizes the need for a solid knowledge of microbiology and potential causes of and ways of preventing outbreaks of these illnesses. Chapter 19 provides a broadly based review of the several microbiological contaminants causing problems in this country today. The next chapter discusses ways of keeping food safe through adequate preservation methods, both in the home and commercially. The final chapter examines food additives in our food supply.

And now it is time for you to venture forth into the realm of food science and its applications. I hope you find this field of study as exciting as I do! ACKNOWLEDGMENTS

My special thanks go to the perceptive and hard-working reviewers who gave me such excellent suggestions and comments regarding preparation of this edition: Kwaku Addo, University of Kentucky; Janice B. Harte, Michigan State University; Manfred Kroger, The Pennsylvania State University; and Frost Steele, Brigham Young University.

About this edition

• Publisher: Merrill Pub Co
• Publication date: 1996
• ISBN 10: 0135209900
• ISBN 13: 9780135209905
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition number: 3
• Number of pages: 607