STUDENT INTRODUCTION

Food chemistry is a major part of a larger area of study known as food science. Food science is an interdisciplinary study involving microbiology, biology, chemistry, and engineering. Food science is the production, processing, distribution, preparation, evaluation, and utilization of food. Food chemistry encompasses the composition and properties of food components and the chemical changes they undergo during handling, processing, and storage. A food chemist must know chemistry and biochemistry and have knowledge of physiological chemistry, botany, zoology, and molecular biology to study and modify biological substances as sources of human food. Food chemists work with biological systems that are dead or dying (post-harvested plants and postmortem animal tissues) and study the changes they undergo when exposed to different environmental conditions. For example, during the marketing of fresh tomatoes, the food chemist must determine the optimal conditions to sustain the residual life in the fruit so they will continue to ripen and arrive at the supermarket as a high-quality product for the consumer. Vital to understanding food science is the knowledge of the primary components or compounds in food. These compounds are carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins. A major focus of this experiment book is to learn the chemistry and structure of these compounds in foods.

Food science also includes biotechnology, which is the use of biological processes to make new foods, enzymes, supplements, drugs, and vaccines. For thousands of years, people have been using microorganisms in the fermentation of beer, and in the making of cheeses, wines, and breads. Today biotechnology also encompasses genetically engineered foods. In genetic engineering, scientists splice genetic material from plants, animals, or bacteria and insert this genetic material into the DNA of other organisms. These new organisms are called genetically modified organisms (GMOs).

The experiments in each unit are intended as demonstrations only. The food items and products produced should not be consumed.

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