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Principles of Food Science is designed to help you learn about
the relationships among science, food, and nutrition. Basic laws of
chemistry, microbiology, and physics are applied to the production,
processing, preservation, and packaging of food. You will explore the
characteristics of each component found in food. You will examine
the helpful and harmful effects of microorganisms on the food
supply. You will also fi nd out how the complex mixtures in foods
are combined and separated.
Throughout the text, you will fi nd features such as Recent
Research, Nutrition News, and Items of Interest. These features will
help you evaluate the impact of science and technology on the food
supply. You will also come across cooking, health, and storage tips
that connect the science basics to your daily encounters with foods.
Experiments at the end of each chapter will allow you to see how
scientifi c principles are involved in food preparation. These experiments
will help you build skills in teamwork, critical thinking, and problem
solving. Questions and activities in each chapter are designed to
help you expand your science vocabulary. These features will also
help you apply basic math and technical writing skills to real-world
food problems.
Understanding the relationship between science and food can help
you reach goals in life. This text explores the world of opportunities
in food science related careers. You can apply knowledge from this
class in such career roles as nutritionist, chef, food chemist, or process
engineer. Even if you decide a food science career is not for you, you
can use what you learn to become a creative home cook. You will
learn how to make wiser food choices and be aware of the health
impact of those choices. You will gain the knowledge needed to
evaluate future technological advances as they are applied to foods.
You will also understand how the scientifi c process is used to develop
new products in any fi eld.
Introduction