X rays tell stirring tale about fat. (Food Science).In a novel example of physics probing beneath the veneer of everyday phenomena, scientists have used X rays to look at the microstructural details of fats as they're mixed and cooled during food manufacturing. The size, shape, and stability of fat crystals in foods affect such qualities as margarine's spreadability and ice cream's feel in an eater's mouth, says Gianfranco Mazzanti of the University of Guelph The University of Guelph is a medium-sized university located in Guelph, Ontario, established in 1964. While the U of G offers degrees in many different disciplines, the university is best known for its focus on life sciences, based in part on a long-standing history of in Ontario. Chocolate makers seed their products with fat crystals of certain structures to encourage batches to come out with consistent properties. In new experiments, Mazzanti, Alejandro G. Marangoni of Guelph, and Stefan Idziak of the University of Waterloo The University of Waterloo (also referred to as UW, UWaterloo, or Waterloo) is a medium-sized research-intensive public university in the city of Waterloo, Ontario, Canada. The school was founded in 1957. in Ontario mimicked conditions in food-processing plants. There, the blades of powerful mixing machines subject food ingredients, including fats, to intense shear forces, which tear the substances. Food scientists hadn't previously investigated the dynamic response of fat microstructure mi·cro·struc·ture n. The structure of an organism or object as revealed through microscopic examination. microstructure Noun a structure on a microscopic scale, such as that of a metal or a cell to such processing, Mazzanti says. To produce industrial-strength shearing in a small laboratory apparatus, the researchers poured milk fat into a gap only millimeters wide between two concentric cylinders about the size of Italian espresso cups. Then, they spun the inner metal cylinder at speeds of up to 1,000 revolutions per minute. Using X rays generated by a synchrotron synchrotron: see particle accelerator. synchrotron Cyclic particle accelerator in which the particle is confined to its orbit by a magnetic field. The strength of the magnetic field increases as the particle's momentum increases. at Brookhaven National Laboratory Brookhaven National Laboratory, scientific research center, at Upton (town of Brookhaven), Long Island, N.Y. It was founded in 1947 by Associated Universities, a management corporation sponsored by nine eastern U.S. universities. in Upton, N.Y., the team recorded diffraction patterns as the fat underwent shearing and solidified into crystals at varying cooling rates. Preliminary analysis of the X-ray data indicates that strong shear and rapid cooling can lead to crystals that are initially only nanometers across but quickly swell to tens of micrometers. The larger crystals appear to be shaped like plates. Marangoni says the team may have glimpsed a type of seed crystal that the motions of food processing Food processing is the set of methods and techniques used to transform raw ingredients into food for consumption by humans or animals. The food processing industry utilises these processes. just happen to produce. Learning how such seed crystals form may lead to means of controlling their structure and, ultimately, those tangible properties that diners Diners can mean:
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