Food Mixing (eBook)

The mixing of liquids, solids and gases is one of the most common
unit operations in the food industry. Mixing increases the
homogeneity of a system by reducing non-uniformity or gradients in
composition, properties or temperature. Secondary objectives of
mixing include control of rates of heat and mass transfer,
reactions and structural changes. In food processing applications,
additional mixing challenges include sanitary design, complex
rheology, desire for continuous processing and the effects of
mixing on final product texture and sensory profiles. Mixing
ensures delivery of a product with constant properties. For
example, consumers expect all containers of soups, breakfast
cereals, fruit mixes, etc to contain the same amount of each
ingredient. If mixing fails to achieve the required
product yield, quality, organoleptic or functional attributes,
production costs may increase significantly.

This volume brings together essential information on the
principles and applications of mixing within food processing. While
there are a number of creditable references covering general
mixing, such publications tend to be aimed at the chemical industry
and so topics specific to food applications are often neglected.
Chapters address the underlying principles of mixing, equipment
design, novel monitoring techniques and the numerical techniques
available to advance the scientific understanding of food mixing.
Food mixing applications are described in detail.

The book will be useful for engineers and scientists who need to
specify and select mixing equipment for specific processing
applications and will assist with the identification and solving of
the wide range of mixing problems that occur in the food,
pharmaceutical and bioprocessing industries. It will also be of
interest to those who teach, study and research food science and
food engineering.