ABSTRACT
The glass transition concept was advanced further by the development of state diagrams for foods. A state diagram is a stability map of different states and phases of a food as a function of water or solids content and temperature. This chapter provides the components of the state diagram by discussing macro- and micro-regions, and by explaining selected applications in determining food’s stability during processing and storage. The initial state diagram based on the freezing curve and glass transition provided four macro-regions: region I, region II, region III, and region IV. The chapter presents different characteristics of micro-region state diagrams and the prediction models of the phase or state boundary. The regions BQEV and BVLD are important in food processing and preservation, since many characteristics such as crystallization, stickiness, and collapse are observed in these regions.
