Food Engineering Education in Mexico, Central America, and South America

The teaching of food en- gineering (FE) in Mexico and Central and South America began more than 50 years ago, initially with pro- grams related to Chemical Engi- neering and Chemistry. The first programs clearly denominated as FE emerged during late 1960s and ear- ly 1970s; the support of the Organi- zation of American States (OAS) and United Nations (UN) in some cases and the Science and Technology for Development Program (CYTED), launched in the early 1980s, stimu- lated and strengthened the develop- ment of FE. Relevant developments on FE in Latin-America can be traced down to topics such as: eval- uation of physicochemical and transport properties, water activity, high and intermediate moisture foods, food drying, modeling and simulation of processes, hurdle technology, minimal processing, and emerging technologies. At present, FE Education in Latin-America inter- acts and coexists with the new par- adigms related to the design of preservation processes and the de- velopment of Biotechnology. Geographic, economic, and social situation of the region and its relation with the development of food engineering (FE).