Food science

Food science is a study concerned with all technical aspects of foods, beginning with harvesting or slaughtering, and ending with its cooking and consumption, an ideology commonly referred to as "from field to fork". It is considered one of the life sciences and is usually considered distinct from the field of nutrition.

Topics

Activities of food scientists include the development of new food products, design of processes to produce these foods, choice of packaging materials, shelf-life studies, sensory evaluation of the product with panels or potential consumers, as well as microbiological and chemical testing. Food scientists at universities may study more fundamental phenomena that are directly linked to the production of food products and its properties. In the U.S., food science is typically studied at land-grant universities.

Food science is a highly interdisciplinary applied science. It incorporates concepts from many different fields including microbiology, chemical engineering, and biochemistry.

Some of the subdisciplines of food science include:

• Food safety – the causes, prevention and communication dealing with foodborne illness
• Food microbiology – the positive and negative interactions between micro-organisms and foods
• Food preservation – the causes and prevention of quality degradation
• Food engineering – the industrial processes used to manufacture food
• Product development – the invention of new food products
• Sensory analysis – the study of how food is perceived by the consumer's senses
• Food chemistry – the molecular composition of food and the involvement of these molecules in chemical reactions
  • Food physical chemistry- the study of both physical and chemical interactions in foods in terms of physical and chemical principles applied to food systems, as well as the application of physicochemical techniques and instrumentation for the study and analysis of foods
• Food packaging – the study of how packaging is used to preserve food after it has been processed and contain it through distribution
• Molecular gastronomy – the scientific investigation of processes in cooking, social & artistic gastronomical phenomena
• Food technology – the technological aspects
• Food physics – the physical aspects of foods (such as viscosity, creaminess, and texture)
• Food physical chemistry- physical and chemical aspects of foods, structure-functionality relationships in foods.

The main organization in the United States regarding food science and food technology is the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT), headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, which is the US member organisation of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST).

Some popular books on some aspects of food science or kitchen science have been written by Harold McGee and Howard Hillman.

In the October 2006 issue of Food Technology, 2006-07 IFT President Dennis R. Heldman noted that the IFT Committee on Higher Education gave the current definition of food science as follows: "Food Science is the discipline in which the engineering, biological, and physical sciences are used to study the nature of foods, the causes of deterioration, the principles underlying food processing, and the improvement of foods for the consuming public."

Publications

• Food and Bioprocess Technology
• LWT- Food Science and Technology

See also

• Aseptic processing
• Cosmetics
• Dietary supplement
• Food pairing
• Food and Nutrition Service
• Food technology
• Food fortification
• Food preservation
• Food rheology
• Food storage
• Food supplements
• Food microbiology
• Food chemistry
  • Food physical chemistry
• Food packaging
• Food engineering
• Nutraceutical
• Nutrification (also called food enrichment or fortification)
• Pharmaceuticals

References

• Wanucha, Genevieve. "Two Happy Clams: The Friendship that Forged Food Science". Food Technology. November 2009. p. 88.

External links

Food science organisations

• Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi
• Food Science Australia
• Institute of Food Technologists - United States
• Institute of Food Science and Technology - United Kingdom
• South African Association of Food Scientists and Technologists South Africa
• International Union of Food Science and Technology
• European Federation of Food Science and Technology

Food science education

See Food technology