Relevance of Scanning Electron Microscope and Nuclear Magnetic Resonance Technique in Food Research: A Review

The aim of this review was to investigate the relevance of scanning electron microscope (SEM) and nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) in research in the food industry. The microstructure of food is affected by food processing. The food components such as proteins, vitamins and starch are usually involved in irreversible changes during processing. The proteins are denatured most times while the water soluble vitamins are lost. A food processor needs to ensure that quality control is put into consideration during production process. Globalization has also made the world a global village whereby processed food products produced in one end of the globe finds its way to another end. Different processing methods affect processed food, hence instrumentation techniques such as the use of SEM and NMR comes in handy. The major limiting factor in their use and installation is cost because they are expensive equipment but have high level of accuracy. SEM and NMR are nondestructive analytical technique. The two Technology have been adopted in the investigation of microstructure of food. SEM has been used to view Salmonella biofilm, interaction between some fish products and the inner part of the packaging material. NMR instrumentation was first used for moisture measurement in foods.