ABSTRACT
	
A great part of structured foods can be considered, in a simply way, as constituted by an insoluble matrix (which can be composed, for instance, for protein or carbohydrates), water and some soluble solids (added or not). The relationships between these components, their interactions, and the way they change along some industrial processes are factors that can determine their properties. 
Up to now, the models used for the description of these foods inside the Food Industry are based in too many simplifications about their structure; foods are considered as one-phase, homogeneous and isotropous.  Under this view, SAFES (Systematic Approach to Food Enginering Systems) methodology has came up as a tool for describing structure-property relationships in foods and  their connection with the processes, with a suitable level of complexity, in terms of their phases, components and thermodynamic state. 
	In the present Thesis, an analysis of the structure-property-process relationships in foods with a structure composed by protein (meat and cheese), or composed by carbohydrates (cassava and chickpea), related with adsorption/desorption processes, drying, osmotic dehydration or rehydration followed by cooking has been done.
During this work, the structural complexity of the used foods has been analyzed, by means of suitable tools (SAFES), as well as their behavior during the processes, obtaining the corresponding mathematical models. The model proposed by Fito et al. (2001) has been validated for salted meat systems. Moreover, a thermodynamic model for the prediction of water activity in cheese has been developed. 
The dehydration process in cassava has been studied, being noticed a distinctive behavior of this root compared with other starchy systems. Finally, the results obtained in chickpea rehydration/cooking studies have been analyzed, identifying the mechanisms which act and the way they are coupled, as well as the corresponding kinetics. For instance, in chickpea rehydration, a "moisture advance front" has been identified (in a macroscopic and a microscopic level), being established, in the base of its final quality traits, the optimum rehydration/cooking time.