ABSTRACT
Predictive modeling to describe biological kinetics could be said to have started with Gompertz in 1825 (Betts and Everis 2005) and microbial modeling with the work of Monod in the 1940s (Baranyi 2004). There are complex predictive models that can apply to microbiology, such as models that describe the growth, survival, or destruction of pathogens or spoilage microbes. The Food MicroModel was one such model (Jones 1993; McClure et al. 1994). The frequency and duration of microbial contamination events in food-processing environments has also been modeled (Powell 2006). Other nonmicrobial models have been developed for modeling food process design or operations (Hills 2001) and the distribution chain (Sloof 2001). Models have also been developed for the heat and mass transfer dynamics that occur during the processing of foods or the kinetics of D and z values (Nicolai, Verboven, and Scheerlinck 2001; Van Boekel and Tijskens 2001). Still others have modeled cooling and freezing processes (Pham 2001). Finally, quality, sensory considerations, and organoleptic shelf life are the subjects of another group of models (Wilkinson and Tijskens 2001; Hills 2001).
