A Pictorial Tour of the Food Engineering Laboratory, 1308 Bainer Hall

Our food engineering laboratory in the College of Engineering, 1308 Bainer Hall, is well equipped with a variety of instruments that are routinely used in conducting advanced research on food properties and processes. On this page you can view some of the projects with illustrations.

A Texturometer is used in studies aimed at determining textural properties of foods. This unit is particularly important in our studies as it is widely used in the food industry. In this photograph, Jacqueline is determining the textural strength of popcorn cakes. The Texturometer is used to measure shear forces, additional studies involve measurement of stress relaxation.

Another instrument useful for measuring rheological properties of liquid and semi-liquid foods is a Rheometer. We use a co-axial rheometer for such studies.

A differential scanning calorimeter is a versatile unit that is in continuous use in our laboratory. In a previous study we developed a method to adapt the DSC for measuring thermal properties of small-size samples of foods, e.g. thin crust layers of baked/fried foods. When DSC is used with the Rheometrics Solid Analyzer, we can study the glass transition phenomenon in foods. In this photograph, Clara is measuring specific heat of foods using the DSC.

Use of high velocity air can substantially reduce thawing time of frozen foods. Here Sam is measuring cooling times of foods in an impingement air apparatus.

Another impingement apparatus has been used for studies on thawing of frozen foods, here Brent and Arnab are measuring thawing rates of frozen foods under air impingement.

We have a variety of pilot plant equipment used for teaching and research projects. Here Dan and Erik are setting up a steam jacketed kettle.