ABSTRACT
Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC) is a thermal analysis technique that has found many useful applications in both pharmaceutical and food research. The technique is used extensively in the engineering of materials and in testing the quality and purity of materials. Some examples of materials studied by DSC include metals, waxes, soaps, greases, and lubricants. DSC is used to study, among other things, the resistance of these materials to environmental stresses and to determine their tolerances to extremes of temperature. In the eld of food research, DSC has found useful application in the study, inter alia, of the physical and chemical properties of fats, carbohydrates and proteins. The technique provides an effective tool for monitoring both the thermodynamic and kinetic properties of these food
components in a variety of matrices. Most foods are subjected to some form of thermal treatment during harvesting, processing and preparation (e.g., steaming, roasting, pasteurization, sterilization, refrigeration, and freezing). These treatments of ten result in changes in the functional and physicochemical properties of food, which can have a signicant impact on the quality of the nished product [1].
