1. What unusual aspect of water is responsible for it unique characteristics as both a liquid and as a solid? Give examples of how this property of water would affect food systems during processing.
2. The value of ∆G tells use what about chemical reactions? Give three situations and examples.
3. Chemical potential (μi) describes the reactivity of a component. What are two factors that tend to increase μi? Give an example of changes using a food system.
4. Many of the deteriorative reactions occurring food follow zero or first order kinetics. How are these different? If you increased the reaction temperature from 40° to 50°C, how would the rate of formation or product (or loss of reactant) differ for these two systems?
5. What is a covalent bond? Give an example. How can covalent bonds of a solute affect the entropy of an aqueous solution? (Think of different types and structures)
6. What non-covalent bonds are important in foods? How are the interactions caused?
7. Which type of bonding interaction is arguably the most important in a food processing? Give your rationale.
8. Describe three types of soft solids and how they function in a food system.
9. How can a food processor disrupt the interaction between water and a food polymer? What type of forces are involved and how do these different forces individually work?
10. What is viscosity? What characteristics of a hydrocolloid are most important for determining viscosity?
11. Do more flexible hydrocolloids produce greater viscosity than rigid hydrocolloids? Why? What causes hydrocolloids to be more rigid?
12. Why are dispersions important in food systems? Describe three physical properties of a dispersion and tell how you could modify those properties to change the functionality of a food.
13. How can a food processor take advantage of stress responses of a microbe to make food safer?
Provide a specific example.
14. How do processing methods, coupled together, act synergistically? Can you think of a situation in which quality or safety could be negatively impacted by combining a series of non-lethal methods together?