What is Food Science?

Food Science & Agricultural Chemistry at a glance

fruits2Food Science is a multi-disciplinary field involving chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition,

microbiology and engineering to give one the scientific knowledge to solve real problems associated
with the many facets of the food system. The basis of the discipline lies in an understanding of the
chemistry of food components, such as proteins, carbohydrates, fats and water and the reactions
they undergo during processing and storage. A complete understanding of processing and
preservation methods is required including drying, freezing, pasteurization, canning, irradiation,
extrusion, to name just a few. The ability to carry out analysis of food constituents is developed
along with statistical quality control methods. The microbiology and the safety aspects of food must
also be understood. Other topics covered include food additives, the physico-chemical properties of
food, flavor chemistry, product development, food engineering and packaging. Food science
integrates this broad-based knowledge and focuses it on food.

Food Science is still a relatively new and growing discipline, brought about mainly as a response to
the social changes taking place in North America and other parts of the developed world. The food
industry, which originally provided only primary products for final preparation in the home, finds
itself responding to market demands for more refined, sophisticated, and convenient products. The
demand for easy to prepare, convenience foods, poses major scientific and technological challenges
which cannot be met without highly trained scientists capable of understanding the complex
chemistry/biochemistry of food systems and knowledge of the methods to preserve them. This
increased reliance of society on ready-to-eat foods has led to greater responsibility for processors in
terms of quality, safety and nutrition. In order to ensure high quality and competitive products,
scientific principles and new technologies are being applied to food manufacturing and the body of
knowledge required has become that discipline called Food Science.