Magnetic resonance imaging applications in food research

Monitoring the Formation of Ice During Food Freezing by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

“…The spectrometer was tuned to the hydrogen nuclear frequency (25.96 MHz). A spin-echo pulse sequence was used for imaging (6 …”

“…Rall et al (1) used a cryomicroscope to look at extracellular and intracellular ice formation in mouse embryo cells. Advances in magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) now make it possible to view phase transitions in vivo (6)(7). Food molecules such as water, lipids, and proteins contain 1 H nuclei which can be distinguished by their NMR chemical shifts.…”

A General Survey of Chocolate Confectionery by Magnetic Resonance Imaging

“…This family of techniques is now widely used in food research and industry (1)(2)(3)(4) and has been used in chocolate confectionery for more than 30 years. Since protons in a solid environment have a shorter spin-spin relaxation time (T 2 value) than protons in a liquid one, it is possible to differentiate liquid and crystalline fat; consequently, wide line (5) and pulsed (6)(7)(8)(9)(10)14) NMR has been used to determine the fat content and the solid-to-liquid ratio of fat in cocoa butter, cocoa butter/ milk fat mixtures and chocolate.…”

Three Dimensional Imaging of Chocolate Confectionery by Magnetic Resonance Methods

“…Magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) (7) is a completely noninvasive and nondestructive technique which is now a powerful tool for medical diagnoses (8). However, there is also a large range of nonclinical applications, including those related to food research (9)(10)(11). In particular, MRI has already been applied to chocolate confectionery (12)(13)(14)(15); it can distinguish between different polymorphic forms of chocolate (12), or follow the migration of foreign fats into chocolate in composite confectionery (14).…”