Emulsions specimen preparation methods

Microscopy in Food Science is in an exciting state of flux. Traditional techniques of specimen preparation and observation will continue to give essential data on the structure of foods. However, the emphasis in the future will probably lie in the development of faster methods and in the quantification of individual components, both aiming at definition of structre /function relationships. This will be true of particulates as they relate to sensory scores and to the characterization of dispersed phases in emulsions and foams. At the same time, the use of microchemical methods should become more common as a means of... 

The major structural unit of interest in emulsions, microemulsions, colloids and latexes is the particle. It is well known that the particle shape, size and distribution of a latex controls the properties and end use applications. Many latexes are manufactured with a controlled and sometimes monodisperse distribution of particle sizes. Polymer liquids, in the form of emulsions and adhesives, are wet and sticky, and therefore specimen preparation for electron microscopy is very difficxilt. As a result of the importance of the determination of particle size distribution, microscopy techniques have focused on specimen preparations which do not alter this distribution or which alter it as little as possible. Methods have included special cryotechniques (Section 4.9), staining-fixation methods (Section 4.4), microtomy (Section 4.3) and some simple methods (Section 4.1) such as dropping a solution onto a specimen holder. This section is meant to provide a brief survey of the types of microscopy applications which have been foimd useful in the evaluation of emulsions and latexes. 

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