APPLICATIONS OF MAGNETIC-RESONANCE-IMAGING IN FOOD-SCIENCE

The physical and chemical changes that occur in foods during growth, h arvest, processing, storage, preparation, and consumption are often ve ry difficult to measure and quantify. Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is a pioneering technology, originally developed in the medical field , that is now being used in a large number of disciplines to study a w ide variety of materials and processes. In food science, MRI technique s allow the interior of foods to be imaged noninvasively and nondestru ctively. These images can then be quantified to yield information abou t several processes and material properties, such as mass and heat tra nsfer, fat and ice crystallization, gelation, water mobility, composit ion and volume changes, food stability and maturation, flow behavior, and temperature. This article introduces the fundamental principles of MRI, presents some of the recent advances in MRI technology, and revi ews some of the current applications of MRI in food science research.