Ten years after the publication of the first edition of Fundamentals of Food Process Engineering, there have been significant changes in both food science education and the food industry itself. Students now in the food science curric ulum are generally better prepared mathematically than their counterparts two decades ago. The food science curriculum in most schools in the United States has split into science and business options, with students in the science option following the Institute of Food Technologists' minimum requirements. The minimum requirements include the food engineering course, thus students en rolled in food engineering are generally better than average, and can be chal lenged with more rigor in the course material. The food industry itself has changed. Traditionally, the food industry has been primarily involved in the canning and freezing of agricultural commodi ties, and a company's operations generally remain within a single commodity. Now, the industry is becoming more diversified, with many companies involved in operations involving more than one type of commodity. A number of for mulated food products are now made where the commodity connection becomes obscure. The ability to solve problems is a valued asset in a technologist, and often, solving problems involves nothing more than applying principles learned in other areas to the problem at hand. A principle that may have been commonly used with one commodity may also be applied to another commodity to produce unique products.
While continuing the tradition of expansive coverage, Fundamentals of Food Process Engineering, Third Edition, has been fully updated and revised. The new edition of this classic text emphasizes problem solving, including technological principles that form the basis for a process so that the process can be better understood and the selection of processing parameters to maximize product quality and safety can be made more effective. In addition, the book contains new, hard-to-find data needed to conduct food process engineering calculations.
New sections reflecting the current state of technology include:
- enthalpy change calculations in freezing based on the freezing point depression
- evaporative cooling
- interpretation of pump performance curves
- determination of shape factors in heat exchange by radiation
- unsteady state heat transfer, kinetic data for thermal degradation of foods during thermal processing
- pasteurization parameters for shelf-stable high acid foods and long-life refrigerated low acid foods
- high pressure processing of fluid and packaged foods
- concentration of juices
- environmentally friendly refrigerants
- modified atmosphere packaging of produce
- sorption equations for water activity of solid foods
- osmotic pressure and water activity relationships
- vacuum dehydration
- new membranes commercially available for food processing and waste treatment
- supercritical fluid extraction
Written for the upper level undergraduate, Fundamentals of Food Process Engineering, Third Edition, is also a solid reference for the graduate food engineering student and professional.
About the author
Romeo T. Toledo is a Professor and the Director of the Food Processing Research and Development Laboratory at the University of Georgia – Athens’ Department of Food Science and Technology.
