Thermal Analysis of Foods
1. Introduction
Most foods are subjected to variations in their temperature during production, transport, storage, preparation and consumption, e.g., pasteurization, sterilization, evaporation, cooking, freezing, chilling etc. Temperature changes cause alterations in the physical and chemical properties of food components which influence the overall properties of the final product, e.g., taste, appearance, texture and stability. Chemical reactions such as hydrolysis, oxidation or reduction may be promoted, or physical changes, such as evaporation, melting, crystallization, aggregation or gelation may occur. A better understanding of the influence of temperature on the properties of foods enables food manufacturers to optimize processing conditions and improve product quality. It is therefore important for food scientists to have analytical techniques to monitor the changes that occur in foods when their temperature varies. These techniques are often grouped under the general heading of thermal analysis. In principle, most analytical techniques can be used, or easily adapted, to monitor the temperature-dependent properties of foods, e.g., spectroscopic (NMR, UV-visible, IR spectroscopy, fluorescence), scattering (light, X-rays, neutrons), physical (mass, density, rheology, heat capacity) etc. Nevertheless, at present the term thermal analysis is usually reserved for a narrow range of techniques that measure changes in the physical properties of foods with temperature, e.g., mass, density, rheology, heat capacity. For this reason, only these techniques will be considered in this lecture.
2. Temperature Dependent Properties of Foods
Initially, it is useful to highlight some of the physical changes that occur in food components when the temperature is varied.
2.1. Density
The density of pure materials, which do not undergo phase transitions (e.g., melting, crystallization or evaporation), usually decrease as the temperature is increased. This is because the atoms in the material move around more vigorously when they gain thermal energy, and so the space between the molecules increases. The mass of a material is independent of temperature (provided evaporation or condensation do not occur), and so an increase in volume with temperature leads to a decrease in density (since r = m/V). Knowledge of the temperature-dependence of the density of a food material is often used by engineers to design processing operations, e.g., containers for storing materials or pipes through which materials flow. In materials that do undergo phase transitions the variation of the density with temperature is more dramatic. A solid usually has a higher density than a liquid, and so when a solid melts or a liquid crystallizes there is a significant change in density superimposed on the normal variation of density with temperature. The use of density measurements to monitor melting and crystallization of materials will be discussed later.
2.2. Phase Transitions
The term phase transition refers to the process whereby a material is converted from one physical state to another. The most commonly occurring phase transitions in foods are melting (solid-to-liquid), crystallization (liquid-to-solid), evaporation (liquid-to-gas), condensation (gas-to-liquid), sublimation (solid-to-gas) and glass transitions (glassy-to-rubbery). When a material changes from one physical state to another it either absorbs or gives out heat. A process that absorbs heat is an endothermic process, whereas a process that evolves heat is an exothermic process. The overall properties of foods may be drastically altered when key components undergo phase transitions, and so it is important to have analytical techniques for monitoring these processes. These techniques utilize measurements of physical properties of a material that change when a material undergoes a phase transition, e.g., molecular structure, molecular mobility, density, rheology, heat capacity.
2.3. Gelation
Many foods contain components that are capable of forming a gel when the food is heated or cooled under appropriate conditions. Most food gels are three-dimensional networks of aggregated or entangled biopolymers or colloidal particles that entrap a large volume of water, to give the whole structure "solid-like" characteristics. The physical properties of gels, such as appearance (transparent or opaque), water holding capacity, rheology and stability, depend ultimately on the type, structure and interactions of the molecules or particles that they contain. Common examples of foods in which gelation makes an important contribution to their overall properties are eggs, starches, jellies, yogurts and meat products. In some foods a gel is formed on heating (heat-setting gels), whilst in others it is formed on cooling (cold-setting gels). Gels may also be either thermo-reversible or thermo-irreverisble, depending on whether gelation is reversible or not.