ABSTRACT
As long as there have been microscopes, there have been scientists examining the structure of foods for both interest and application. The earliest food-engineering application of structural analysis was to assess foods for possible contaminants and adulteration; light microscopy (LM) particularly coming into its own in the late 1800s and the early years of the twentieth century (Clayton and Hassel 1909; Greenish 1903; Hassel 1857). With no small modesty Arthur Hassel (1857, p. 43) described his application of the microscope to this purpose as being “certainly the most practical and important use which has ever been made of that instrument.”
