Food science is a multidisciplinary field that includes chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition, microbiology and engineering to provide the scientific knowledge needed to solve real problems associated with the many facets of the food system. Basically, the study of how microorganisms interact with food, food microbiology focuses on bacteria, molds, yeasts, and viruses. The areas of special importance for product development are food safety and quality. Food safety is concerned with preventing pathogens in food.
It's almost impossible to eliminate microorganisms from any food, but many steps can be taken to slow their growth or inactivate them. What food science is doing in the field of food safety is developing rapid and highly sensitive techniques to identify the pathogenic microorganisms and toxins they produce in food, and to develop packaging and processes that inhibit their growth and reduce their survival rate. Not all microorganisms are harmful, but some cause food spoilage. The key to controlling spoilage is to kill as many bacteria as we can without also harming the quality of the food in which they reside.
Food microbiology is one of the most important fields of food science when it comes to product development, especially in this era of litigation. When designing a development plan for a new product, it is essential to consider the microbial quality of each component and how that may affect the overall quality of the product, and to determine how to process the product so that it has a sufficient shelf life. As far as product developers are concerned, food engineers develop the concepts that processors use to convert raw materials into safe and durable food. In the development of menus, engineers may not play a direct role, but processors do.
The way an ingredient is processed can have a dramatic effect on the taste, color, safety and shelf life of foods. Consider high-pressure processing (HPP) and its effect on the fresh fruit and vegetable juice industry. HPP is a non-thermal pasteurization or “cold pasteurization” process developed to allow the production of fruit and vegetable juices without any of the harmful effects of heat treatments, such as changes in taste, texture or color. The nutritional profile of juices is not altered by the process, so there is no need to fortify them.
Nutritionists often associate thermal processing with harmful effects on the nutritional quality of food, but not always. Recent work at Cornell University showed that heating tomatoes increases the level of a cancer-fighting phytochemical called lycopene. Winsight is a leading B2B information services company focused on the food and beverage industry, providing information and market intelligence to business leaders on every channel that consumers purchase food and beverages (convenience stores, grocery retailers, restaurants and non-commercial food services) through media, events, data products, consulting services and trade shows. First, it involves the study of the physical, biological and chemical composition or composition of different foods; and second, it involves all the underlying concepts of food processing.
Upon graduation, she would be known as a food scientist and her goal would be to improve food production. Once a food is understood, the tools of a sister field (called food technology) are applied to mass-produce desirable food products. Product designers are realizing and working to include these foods or their bioactive components in new products. Food technologists can develop an HPP process that preserves the natural vitamin A content in, for example, an avocado puree.
On the other hand, food engineers create the concepts that food processors use to transform raw materials into healthy and long-lasting foods. Sensory science uses people to describe and evaluate the flavors, textures, appearance, and other attributes of foods. Some food scientists spend their time learning about the properties of an individual food through laboratory analysis. All foods are biochemical because, in most cases, foods or their raw ingredients are or were living entities.
Amy wasn't sure why food science was listed as a topic she could specialize in, so she turned to the Internet for more information. .
