It has been nearly a decade since the third edition of Engineering Properties of Foods was published, and food structure/microstructure remains a subject of research interest. In fact, significant developments have taken place in the area of high pressure processing (HPP), which has been approved for pasteurization of food by the Food and Drug Administration. Kinetic data related to HPP have proven important for validation of pressure-assisted pasteurization. Due to these developments, three new chapters have been added to the Fourth Edition:
- Food Microstructure Analysis
- Glass Transition in Foods
- Kinetics and Process Design for High-Pressure Processing
The text focuses on elucidating the engineering aspects of food properties and their variations, supplemented by representative data. Chapters have been updated and revised to include recent developments. The book presents data on physical, chemical, and biological properties, illustrating their relevance and practical importance. The topics range from surface properties, rheological properties, and thermal properties to thermodynamic, dielectric, and gas exchange properties. The chapters follow a consistent format for ease of use. Each chapter contains an introduction, food property definition, measurement procedure, modeling, representative data compilation, and applications.
M.A. Rao is a professor emeritus of food engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He focuses his research on the measurement and interpretation of rheological properties of foods. Many original articles, reviews, and book chapters were contributed by Rao and coworkers, including Rheology of Fluid and Semisolid Foods: Principles and Applications, 3rd edition. Professor Rao served as the scientific editor of the food engineering and physical properties section of the Journal of Food Science. He received the Scott Blair Award for Excellence in Rheology from the American Association of Cereal Chemists in 2000, the Distinguished Food Engineer award from IAFIS/FPEI-ASAE in 2003, and the Lifetime Achievement award from the International Association of Engineering and Food in 2011.
Syed S.H. Rizvi, PhD, is professor of food process engineering and international professor of food science at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. His teaching and research focus on engineering aspects of food processing and manufacturing operations. He has authored or coauthored over 135 research articles, coedited five books, and holds seven patents. A fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists, Professor Rizvi has received many awards in recognition of his teaching and research efforts, including the Chancellor Medal for Excellence in Teaching, State University of New York; International Dairy Foods Association Research Award in Food Processing; and Marcel Loncin Research Prize, Institute of Food Technologists. He also served as a Jefferson Science Fellow at the U.S. Department of State in 2007–08.
Ashim K. Datta, PhD, is a professor of biological engineering at Cornell University, Ithaca, New York. He obtained a PhD (1985) in agricultural (food) engineering from the University of Florida, Gainesville. His research interests are in the fundamental studies of heat and mass transport relevant to food processing―developing mechanistic, physics-based understanding and optimization of process, quality and safety. Prediction of food properties in the context of modeling is of particular interest to him. Dr. Datta is a fellow of the Institute of Food Technologists and member of the American Society of Agricultural and Biological Engineers and American Institute of Chemical Engineers. He has authored and co-authored two textbooks and two monographs on heat and mass transfer and its modeling, with application to food and biomedical processes.
Jasim Ahmed, PhD, is a research scientist of food process engineering at Kuwait Institute for Scientific Research, Kuwait. Structure/microstructure of food is the research focus of Dr. Ahmed. He is a professional member of the Institute of Food Technologists and life member of Association of Food Scientists & Technologists (AFSTI), India. He has authored or coauthored more than 100 peer-reviewed research papers, co-edited six books including Handbook of Food Process Design, Starch-Based Polymeric Materials and Nanocomposites: Starch Chemistry, Processing and Applications. Dr. Ahmed is one of the editors of International Journal of Food Properties, and he is on the editorial boards of several international journals.
