Book excerpt: As the complexity of the food supply system increases, the focus on processes used to convert raw food materials and ingredients into consumer food products becomes more important. The Handbook of Food Engineering, Third Edition, continues to provide students and food engineering professionals with the latest information needed to improve the efficiency of the food supply system. As with the previous editions, this book contains the latest information on the thermophysical properties of foods and kinetic constants needed to estimate changes in key components of foods during manufacturing and distribution. Illustrations are used to demonstrate the applications of the information to process design. Researchers should be able to use the information to pursue new directions in process development and design, and to identify future directions for research on the physical properties of foods and kinetics of changes in the food throughout the supply system. Features Covers basic concepts of transport and storage of liquids and solids, heating and cooling of foods, and food ingredients New chapter covers nanoscale science in food systems Includes chapters on mass transfer in foods and membrane processes for liquid concentration and other applications Discusses specific unit operations on freezing, concentration, dehydration, thermal processing, and extrusion The first four chapters of the Third Edition focus primarily on the properties of foods and food ingredients with a new chapter on nanoscale applications in foods. Each of the eleven chapters that follow has a focus on one of the more traditional unit operations used throughout the food supply system. Major revisions and/or updates have been incorporated into chapters on heating and cooling processes, membrane processes, extrusion processes, and cleaning operations.