ABSTRACT
Unit operations of the agricultural and food industries constitute the physical, chemical, or biochemical stages that integrate industrial processes by means of which agricultural products are handled or transformed. That these stages are the same as those found in the processes of chemical industries makes the knowledge and advances of unit operations of chemical engineering applicable to the agricultural and food industries when they are adapted to characteristics of the raw material (particularly natural products, which are generally perishable) and particular conditions (hygiene, cleanliness, etc.) normally required by agricultural-industrial processes. The importance of the concepts of process engineering is that they unify the techniques of industries normally considered separate. Thus, the basic principles common to all food industries are unified in a logical way despite their apparent diversity.
