Introduction to Advanced Food Process Engineering

Book excerpt: Food materials are processed prior to their consumption using different processing technologies that improve their shelf life and maintain their physicochemical, biological, and sensory qualities. Introduction to Advanced Food Process Engineering provides a general reference on various aspects of processing, packaging, storage, and quality control and assessment systems, describing the basic principles and major applications of emerging food processing technologies. The book is divided into three sections, systematically examining processes from different areas of food process engineering. Section I covers a wide range of advanced food processing technologies including osmo-concentration of fruits and vegetables, membrane technology, nonthermal processing, emerging drying technologies, CA and MA storage of fruits and vegetables, nanotechnology in food processing, and computational fluid dynamics modeling in food processing. Section II describes food safety and various non-destructive quality assessment systems using machine vision systems, vibrational spectroscopy, biosensors, and chemosensors. Section III explores waste management, by-product utilization, and energy conservation in food processing industry. With an emphasis on novel food processes, each chapter contains case studies and examples to illustrate state-of-the-art applications of the technologies discussed.