FOOD PROCESSING AND COOKING SHARE MANY COMMON GOALS, SUCH AS PRESERVING FOOD, IMPROVING TASTE, AND INCREASING FOOD NUTRITIONAL VALUE. WITH CHANGING LIFESTYLES, THERE HAS BEEN AN UNDENIABLE INCREASE IN CONSUMPTION OF PROCESSED FOODS AS WELL AS INCREASES IN NON-COMMUNICABLE DISEASES IN THE PAST SEVERAL DECADES. THIS HAS LED SOME TO SPECULATE THAT PROCESSED FOOD CONSUMPTION RESULTS IN NEGATIVE HEALTH CONSEQUENCES. HOWEVER, THERE IS A LACK OF COMPREHENSIVE KNOWLEDGE THAT COMPARES SIMILAR FOODS THAT HAVE BEEN INDUSTRIALLY PROCESSED OR PRE-PROCESSED (E.G. FROZEN OR REFRIGERATED PRODUCTS THAT NEED TO BE PARTIALLY PREPARED AT HOME) WITH HOME COOKING TO UNDERSTAND THE IMPACT OF PROCESSING OR PREPARATION METHOD ON FOOD PHYSICAL PROPERTIES (E.G. TEXTURE, MOUTHFEEL), CHEMICAL PROPERTIES (E.G. COMPOSITION OF MACRO- AND MICRO-NUTRIENTS), AND NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES (DIGESTIBILITY OR AVAILABILITY OF NUTRIENTS IN THE HUMAN BODY AFTER THE FOOD IS CONSUMED). THE OVERALL GOAL OF THIS PROJECT IS TO DEVELOP A COMPREHENSIVE ASSESSMENT OF THE IMPACT OF PROCESSING OR COOKING METHODS ON THE PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF A BROAD RANGE OF FOOD PRODUCTS. THE OUTCOMES OF THIS PROJECT WILL PROVIDE A HOLISTIC UNDERSTANDING OF THE PHYSICAL, CHEMICAL, AND STRUCTURAL PROPERTIES OF FOOD AS A FUNCTION OF PROCESSING OR COOKING METHODS AND THEIR INFLUENCE ON THE NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF FOODS, INCLUDING PROTEIN AND STARCH DIGESTION AND THE RELEASE OF MICRONUTRIENTS.TO ACHIEVE THESE GOALS, THIS PROJECT INTEGRATES ADVANCES IN THERMAL AND NON-THERMAL FOOD PROCESSING, TO COMPARE THESE PROCESSING TECHNIQUES WITH CONVENTIONAL (HOME) COOKING METHODS TO DEVELOP FOODS WITH A RANGE OF STRUCTURAL AND CHEMICAL PROPERTIES. THIS RANGE OF FOOD PRODUCTS, INCLUDING PROTEIN- AND CARBOHYDRATE-RICH FOODS, FRUITS, VEGETABLES, AND JUICES, WILL BE ANALYZED USING STATE-OF-THE-ART APPROACHES TO ASSESS THEIR PHYSICOCHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS AND NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES. THE PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES OF FOODS ANALYZED IN THIS RESEARCH WILL INCLUDE TEXTURE, RHEOLOGY, PARTICLE SIZE, PROXIMATE ANALYSIS (COMPOSITION), AMINO ACID AND FATTY ACID PROFILES, AND SALT CONTENT. THE NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF FOODS WILL BE MEASURED USING DYNAMIC DIGESTION MODELS TO QUANTIFY THE RELEASE RATE OF MACRONUTRIENTS, STRUCTURAL BREAKDOWN, MICRONUTRIENT BIOACCESSIBILITY, AND TOTAL MACRONUTRIENT DIGESTION. THE RESULTING DATA WILL BE ANALYZED USING MACHINE LEARNING MODELS TO EVALUATE THE ROLES OF PROCESSING METHODS AND THE FOOD PROPERTIES ON THE FOOD NUTRITIONAL PROFILE. THESE MACHINE LEARNING MODELS WILL BE ABLE TO CLASSIFY FOODS INTO DIFFERENT CLASSES (E.G. POOR, LOW, MEDIUM, HIGH) OF NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES BASED ON FOOD COMPOSITION AND PROCESSING. THIS INFORMATION WILL BE USEFUL FOR FOOD PRODUCERS, AS IT WILL ALLOW THEM TO OPTIMIZE THEIR FOOD PROCESSING AND FORMULATION TO IMPROVE THE NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES OF PROCESSED AND PRE-PROCESSED FOODS. AS A RESULT, THE AMERICAN FOOD CONSUMERS WILL ALSO BENEFIT BY HAVING A,N INCREASED SUPPLY OF FOODS WITH BETTER NUTRITIONAL QUALITY, AS WELL AS WITH KNOWLEDGE IN THE DIFFERENCE IN NUTRITIONAL QUALITY BETWEEN PROCESSED AND HOME COOKED FOODS. THE FOUNDATIONAL SET OF KNOWLEDGE DEVELOPED IN THIS PROJECT WILL ALSO BE ABLE TO ADDRESS GAPS IN FOOD CLASSIFICATION BY PROVIDING A COMPREHENSIVE DATA SET THAT LINKS PROCESSING METHOD AND PHYSICOCHEMICAL PROPERTIES (INCLUDING COMPOSITION) TO FOOD NUTRITIONAL PROPERTIES. ULTIMATELY, THIS PROJECT SEEKS TO IMPROVE OUR UNDERSTANDING OF THE IMPACT OF FOOD PROCESSING ON FOOD NUTRITIONAL QUALITY TO INCREASE THE AVAILABILITY AND CONSUMPTION OF HEALTHY FOOD.