Constituents of Foods: Properties and Significance

Abstract

A knowledge of the constituents of foods and their properties is central to food science. The advanced student of food science, grounded in the basic disciplines of organic chemistry, physical chemistry, and biochemistry, can visualize the properties and reactions between food constituents on a molecular basis. The beginning student is not yet so equipped. This chapter, therefore, will be more concerned with some of the general properties of important food constituents, and how these underlie practices of food science and technology.