In the past, the application of physics and classical principles of chemical engineering,
seasoned with a dose of empiricism, were sufficient to explain phenomena in
food processing at the macrolevel. However, this approach has led to a marginal
contribution the fundamental principles of engineering sciences, sometimes justified
by the “complexity” of food materials.
Structure has been a most important variable disregarded by food engineers.
Further advances in the understanding of properties of foods, as well as in processing and fabrication, need to reduce the scale of analysis to that of basic building elements
and the cell. The myriad of microscopy, visualization, and image processing techniques
available, including noninvasive and real-time methods, will greatly assist in
this effort. Foods must also be understood in the way they are formed, transformed,
and broken down in the mouth. This trend will be greatly assisted by concepts,
techniques, and tools borrowed from biology and materials sciences. Last, but not
least, food engineers should be trained at universities and industries along these
lines, which tacitly imply multidisciplinary and teamwork.