ABSTRACT
Dehydration, or drying, is one of the unit operations most commonly used for food preservation. It has been used since prehistoric times because it allows for food products with longer lives. As time went on, the demand for food increased as population increased, which resulted in the increased importance of preservation by drying within the food sector. The development of the drying industry has been linked to the demand for foods to feed soldiers in wars around the world. Dehydration is especially useful for military purposes, since it reduces the weight and size of foods. The advances achieved within the military field have been transferred to the drying industry in general, yielding greater advances of the food drying industry as a whole.
