Preface
The scientific basis needed to understand and predict food properties and
changes occurring in foods during processing, storage and use has been
enormously expanded over the past half-century. This has caused a
revolutionary change in the teaching of food science and technology,
especially by application of the disciplines of organic chemistry, biochem-
istry, and microbiology. With the possible exception of rheology, applica-
tion of the more physical disciplines has lagged behind. Many years’
experience in food research and teaching has convinced me—although I am
not a physical chemist—of the importance of physical chemistry and related
theories for food science and technology. Moreover, great progress has been
made during the past two decades in the study of physicochemical
phenomena in foods; yet these aspects often remain greatly underexposed.
The main reason for this deficiency is, in my opinion, that the teaching
of physical chemistry for food science majors is often inadequate. In most
universities, students have one introductory course in basic physical
chemistry; this is unsatisfactory for the following reasons:
- Many of the subjects are of little or no importance for foods or are
treated in too much theoretical detail (e.g., quantum mechanics,
statistical thermodynamics, much of spectroscopy).