ABSTRACT
The development of chemical engineering occurred in part because the fundamental laws of cause and effect associated with chemical transformations and phenomena were expressed quantitatively and codified. For food engineering, significant progress occurred in engineering design of food processes when these same fundamental principles were applied to complex mixtures of chemicals and biochemicals called food. Unfortunately, with food the mixtures are very complex and the chemical and thermodynamic parameters are not easily estimated from first principles or easily determined experimentally. Although this situation has led to empiricism, nonetheless, knowledge of physical-chemical principles is essential to enhance our understanding of unit operations and behavior of foods.
