Microscopy of Food and Foreign Body Identification (1560), May 5–9, 2025 In-Person
COURSE OUTLINE & SYLLABUS
Course schedule: 8:00 a.m. – 5:00 p.m. Monday – Thursday, and 8:00 a.m. – 12:00 p.m. Friday.
This course taught in-person, at McCrone Research Institute in Chicago, was developed for scientists and technicians in the food and allied industries who are called upon to study food ingredients in new product research and development, quality control, competitive analysis, and cases of suspected contamination. There is no prerequisite for this course and students are encouraged to bring their own projects and samples to the classroom to work on and share.
This course taught in-person, at McCrone Research Institute in Chicago, was developed for scientists and technicians in the food and allied industries who are called upon to study food ingredients in new product research and development, quality control, competitive analysis, and cases of suspected contamination. There is no prerequisite for this course and students are encouraged to bring their own projects and samples to the classroom to work on and share.
Topics will include:
- Class lessons and experiments spanning 4 1/2 days with intensive study of the microscopical characteristics and will introduce the student to:
- The proper use of stereo, polarized light, phase contrast, and fluorescence microscopes for food microscopy
- The microscopic anatomy of plants used as food
- The microscopic histology of meat, bone, and other animal protein sources.
- The microscopical and microchemical characterization and identification of proteins, lipids, starches, gums, spices.
- Characterization and identification of spray-dried products and additives (e.g. gluten, soya protein, etc).
- Identification of potential food contaminants such as "black particles", hairs, glass, blood, and metals.
- Localization of food constituents in finished products such as sausage, dough, baked goods, chewing gum, jam, etc.