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Unit 1 The Science of Food
Many food scientists are at work developing substitutes for natural
ingredients that are healthier or less expensive. Examples include
sugar and salt substitutes, nondairy creamers and toppings, and fat
replacers. Such substitutes help reduce the need for dietary changes
by people with conditions like diabetes and heart disease.
Food scientists also develop food analogs, which are natural or
manufactured substances used in place of foods or food components.
For instance, some vegetable proteins can be made into products that
look and taste like meat. One of these food analogs is bacon chips
made from soybeans. This product looks and tastes like real bacon.
Unlike real bacon bits, however, the food analog has a long shelf life
and does not require refrigeration.
New Processing Techniques
Some of the food processes used to develop food products that
meet the needs of today’s busy consumers were developed through
research while others evolved naturally. Changing a raw agricultural
product into a processed food may require one or more of these
common food processes. See 1-7.
Alterations can make a food product quite different from its
original source. For example, corn may be ground, powdered,
liquefi ed, fermented, puffed, dried, fried, or popped. These
processes can result in products that look and taste totally unlike
corn. Food scientists are working on new production processes to
achieve greater food variety and choices.
Some production processes were
developed by food scientists working for
the National Aeronautics and Space
Administration (NASA) space program.
For example, new dehydrated food products
and some special packaging techniques
expanded food choices and helped reduce
packaging costs. Space program discoveries
led to vacuum packaging techniques, Tefl on
coatings, and freezer-to-oven cookware. The
space program has inspired improved water
purifi cation methods and microwave vacuum
drying systems for agricultural crops.
Newer food processes developed by
food scientists have a number of advantages.
For example, using microwave vacuum
drying to preserve rice limits energy use.
The system is environmentally clean, and
there is little or no sound pollution. Fire
hazard is also reduced. In addition, the rice
is dried without hardening or damage, and
nutrients are preserved.
Common Food Processes
blanching increasing nutrient content
canning liquefying
chopping milling
cleaning mixing
cooking packaging
cutting pasteurizing
dehydrating powdering
drying salting
fermenting smoking
freezing vacuum packing
heating washing
1-7 Many of the ways to develop processed food are familiar
techniques used in home kitchens.