ABSTRACT
Food is a complex biological and chemical system. Many of its constituents are stable only in a comparatively narrow range of temperature, and many of the reactions that modify or completely change its constitution are sensitive to very slight variations in temperature. The thermocouple thermometer is versatile and convenient. It is used in a great many temperature measurement and control applications in science and industry both because of its generally small expense and because the thermoelectric voltage that it generates is readily adapted to monitoring and control instrumentation. Thermistors have been in use since the late 1940s for such purposes as thermal switches in electronic circuits. Since then, they have been known as devices possessing low cost, extremely high temperature coefficients of resistance, and mediocre stability. The bimetallic thermometer is notable rather for its ubiquity than for its accuracy. This type of thermometer is inexpensive and rugged.
