Historical Background
ISOPOW is a non-profit scientific organization and Standing Committee of IUFoST, whose activities aim at progressing the understanding of the properties of water in food and related biological systems, and the exploitation of this understanding in improved raw materials, products and processes in the food, agrofood or related industries.
Objective and Scope
The first Symposium was organised in Glasgow, Scotland in 1974, with the pioneering initiative of the late Pr. Ron B. Duckworth and of Dr. Lou Rockland. Since then, ISOPOW meetings promoted the exchange of knowledge between scientists involved in the study of food materials and scientists interested in water from a more basic point of view and the dialogue between academic and industrial scientists/technologists. The comprehension of the properties of water in foods, enriched by approaches from polymer and materials sciences, and by the advances of analytical techniques, made us to detect unsolved questions and the need to go deeply into them. Food materials, biological and pharmaceutical scientists have recognised that water plays an important role on the structure, functionality and stability of biomaterials. The ubiquitous water molecules are small and simple, but they develop complex interactions and present unusual properties for unprepared observers. We thus aim to overlap areas of different fields of research which have in common problems faced by how and why water behaves as it does.
Previous Meetings and Publications
All organised under the auspices of International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST), 12 previous meetings, held in various locations reflected the world-wide dimension of ISOPOW and the interdisciplinary characteristics of the subject, as so as the interest both form industrial and academic ambients. Most of the meetings have resulted in the publication of books.
Previous symposia
- ISOPOW 1 Glasgow (UK), 1974
- ISOPOW 2 Osaka (Japan), 1978
- ISOPOW 3 Beaune (France), 1983
- ISOPOW 4 Banff (Canada), 1987
- ISOPOW Practicum I Penang (Malaysia), 1987
- ISOPOW 5 Peniscola (Spain), 1992
- ISOPOW Practicum II Puebla (Mexico), 1994
- ISOPOW 6 Santa Rosa (USA), 1996
- ISOPOW 7 Helsinki (Finland), 1998
- ISOPOW 8 Zichron Yaakov (Israel), 2000
- ISOPOW 9 Mardel Plata (Argentina), 2004
- ISOPOW 10 Kasetsart University (Thailand)
- ISOPOW 11 (Mexico), 2010
- ISOPOW 12 (Sweden), 2013
- ISOPOW 13 (Switzerland) 2016
ISOPOW Publications
- Water Relations of Foods, 1975, R.B. Duckworth, ed., Acad. Press, 716 p.
- Water Activity: Influences on Food Quality, 1981, L.B Rockland and G.F. Stewart, eds., Acad. Press, 921 p.
- Properties of Water in Foods, 1985, D. Simatos and J.L. Multon, eds., Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, 693 p.
- Food Preservation by Moisture Control, 1988. C.C. Seow, ed., Elsevier Applied Science.
- Water in Foods, 1994, P. Fito, A. Mulet, and B. MacKenna, eds., Elsevier Applied Science, 541 p.
- Food Preservation by Moisture Control, 1995, G.V. Barbosa-Canovas and J. Welti-Chanes, eds., Technomic Pub. Co, 874 p.
- The Properties of Water in Foods, 1998, D.S. Reid, ed., Blackie Academic and Professional, 512 p.
- Water Management in the Design and Distribution of Quality Foods, 1999, Y. H. Roos, J. B. Leslie and P. J. Lillford, eds., Technomics Pub. Co, 602 p.
- Water Science for Food, Health, Agriculture and Environment. 2001, Z. Berk , P. Lillford, J. Leslie and S. Mizrahi. Technomics Pub. Co 315 p.??- Water Properties of Food, Pharmaceutical, and Biological Materials. 2005, M. P. Buera, H. R. Corti, J. Welti-Chanes, and P.J. Lillford, eds.,CRC Press-Taylor and Francis, 747 p. Contents
