Modelling chemical and physical deterioration of foods and beverages

Foods are perishable and there are many factors that can deteriorate the quality and safety of food products during storage and distribution. These can be categorized into chemical and physical factors. To minimize the degradation of food during processing or storage, kinetic models which describe degradation rates and the dependence of intrinsic factors (i.e., critical factors) on extrinsic factors such as temperature and moisture content must be determined. The essential purpose of kinetic models is, first to describe sufficiently a set of experimental data obtained, and second to use the models for prediction, process control, optimization and simulation of food processing, packaging and storage operations.