Food science is all about understanding what's in our food and how it's made. From farm to table, it covers everything from processing raw ingredients to ensuring our meals are safe and nutritious.

This field is crucial for feeding the world's growing population. Food scientists work on developing new products, improving food safety, and finding ways to make our food last longer while keeping it tasty and healthy.

Scope of Food Science

Defining Food Science and Technology

• Food science studies the physical, biological, and chemical makeup of food and the concepts underlying food processing
• Food technology applies food science to the selection, preservation, processing, packaging, distribution, and use of safe food
• Food scientists and technologists work in universities, government agencies, and food manufacturing companies to conduct research, develop new foods, and design processes to produce these foods

Food Processing and Preservation Methods

• Food processing involves transforming raw ingredients into food or transforming food into other forms for consumption by humans or animals
  • Includes various methods such as milling grain to make raw flour, cooking, and complex industrial methods used to make convenience foods (canned soup, breakfast cereals)
• Food preservation involves treating and handling food to stop or greatly slow down spoilage and prevent foodborne illness while maintaining nutritional value, texture and flavor
  • Includes methods such as heating, freezing, drying, salting, pickling, irradiation, high pressure processing (HPP), and modified atmosphere packaging (MAP)

Food Safety and Security

Ensuring Food Safety

• Food safety ensures that food will not cause harm or illness to the consumer when it is prepared and/or eaten according to its intended use
• Food can become unsafe due to contamination by microorganisms, chemical contaminants (pesticide residues, cleaning agents), or physical hazards (metal shavings, broken glass)
• Food microbiology studies the microorganisms that inhabit, create, or contaminate food, including the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage
  • Microorganisms are important in food for their positive roles in food production (fermentation, cheese ripening) and negative roles in food spoilage and foodborne illness

Addressing Food Security

• Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social, and economic access to sufficient, safe, and nutritious food that meets their food preferences and dietary needs for an active and healthy life
• Dimensions of food security include availability, access, utilization, and stability
• Food insecurity can be caused by poverty, environmental degradation, political instability, and economic shocks (food price spikes)
• Addressing food insecurity involves measures to increase agricultural productivity, reduce poverty and inequality, and ensure access to markets and social protection programs

Nutrition and Sensory Properties

Studying Nutritional Value

• Nutrition is the study of nutrients in food, how the body uses them, and the relationship between diet, health, and disease
• The six classes of nutrients are carbohydrates, fats, proteins, vitamins, minerals, and water
• Nutritional value can be affected by food processing methods, storage conditions, and cooking methods
• Food chemists study the chemical composition and properties of foods to ensure processed foods contain the correct nutrients and sensory properties

Evaluating Sensory Properties

• Sensory evaluation is a scientific discipline used to evoke, measure, analyze, and interpret reactions to those characteristics of foods and materials as they are perceived by the senses of sight, smell, taste, touch, and hearing
• Sensory properties include appearance, aroma, taste, texture (mouthfeel), and sound
• Trained panelists or consumer panels can be used to evaluate sensory properties using methods such as discrimination tests (triangle test), descriptive analysis, and hedonic scales
• Sensory evaluation is used in new product development, quality control, shelf-life studies, and identifying consumer preferences and perceptions