A Kinetic Model for Describing the Heterogeneity of Susceptibility to Chemical or Physical Change

Molecules in foods and food ingredients exist in a variety of states, each of which has a different susceptibility to chemical and physical change. A model was proposed for the change in behavior over time based on the assumption that the free energy of activation in relation to the rate constant obeyed a Gaussian distribution. This model could well explain the unique behaviors observed in the thermal inactivation of immobilized enzymes, formation of aldehydes from lignin by alkaline nitrobenzene oxidation, autoxidation processes of microencapsulated lipids, flavor release from microcapsules, and desorption of proteinaceous deposits fouled on stainless steel surfaces.