Application of atomic force microscopy for food proteins

Food proteins are important nutritional substances for human health. To study the basic structural and mechanical information, atomic force microscopy (AFM) has been widely applied in food protein research. The purpose of this chapter is to summarize and discuss the application of AFM in food protein research. First, common extraction and sample preparation methods of food proteins are introduced. Second, the application of AFM for food proteins is summarized and reviewed according to different protein sources: grain, bean, peanut, milk, meat, seafood, and egg. All these discussions demonstrate that AFM is a powerful and versatile nanotechnology tool to obtain the basic structural and mechanical information of food proteins, which is important to illustrate their physicochemical and functional properties.