This shared space between the Food Science and Applied Plant Science programs houses and maintains sophisticated instrumentation in a protected clean environment, and offers analytical support to courses (Intro to Food Science, Food Chemistry, Food Analysis, Food/Dairy Processing, Food Product Development, etc.) and student mentored research activities. To view more photos of the product development and other facilities click here.

Featured Facilities 

  • Texture Technologies Texture Analyzer (TA.XTPlus): Provides a measure of food textural characteristics using a variety of application-specific probes and geometries (three-point bend; Warner-Bratzler knife (meat tenderness); spreadability rig; cone, cylinder and puncture probes; knife blade (noodles), etc.
  • LECO Nitrogen Combustion Analyzer: Measures the protein content of liquid or dry foodstuffs (3-4 minute run time), and is a recognized official method for food labeling purposes.
  • Newport Scientific Rapid Visco Analyzer (RVA): Generates a functional viscosity profile of starch containing materials (isolated starches; modified starches; potato flakes, granules, and products; cereal grains; flours; etc.) over the course of a defined heating/cooling regime.
  • Agilent 1260 Infinity II Quaternary HPLC (with diode array, refractive index, fluorescence detectors): Provides separation and quantification of individual chemical constituents (e.g., vitamin C, acrylamide, caffeine, sugars, etc.) within a complex food extract or mixture to quantify their respective amounts within a given food.
  • TA Instruments Differential Scanning Calorimeter (Discovery DSC25): Detects and measures thermal transitions within food systems related to water (ice melting/crystallization,) starch (gelatinization/retrogradation), lipids (melting/crystallization), proteins (denaturation), etc.
  • Atomic Absorption Spectrophotometer (Thermo Fisher): Assays the mineral analysis of foodstuffs (Na, K, Ca, etc.).
LECO Nitrogen Combustion Analyzer

LECO Nitrogen Combustion Analyzer

TA Instrument Discovery DSC

TA Instrument Discovery DSC

students working in the instrument lab

       

students working in the instrument lab
Agilent High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC)

Agilent High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC)

students working in the instrument lab