ABSTRACT
226Since the publication of the first edition of this chapter in 1992 and the second in 2007, there has been a major shift in focus within the food industry, in response to both new consumer dynamics and technological advances in processing, along with demographic and economic societal changes. In recent years, there has been a continually incr easing consumer demand for not only high-quality foods with nutritional benefits, but also products that would substantiate “clean labels” (i.e., “chemical-, hormone-, GMO-free”, “organic”, “natural”, etc.) and products that would address changes in life-style logistics (e.g., fresh and refrigerated snacking occasions and complete meals, single portions, etc.) (Sloan, 2015, 2017). In addition, advances in more efficient and versatile methods of food processing and preservation have occurred exponentially over the past few decades, such that food scientists also need to adjust their focus on new and improved models to aid the development process for new product generation. With the advances in scientific findings concerning stability and bioavailability of vitamins and various pigments/nutrients, and updated analyses, these models may be impacted. These factors all play a part in new and sometimes complex challenges in predicting the best approaches to producing high quality food. However, there will still be constants; the quality of processed foods will still depend upon the integrity of the raw materials, changes occurring during processing and subsequent storage that may result in potential losses and decreased bioavailability, and above all, microbiological safety standards.
