Food science

Food science is both the fundamental science and the applied science of food. Its scope begins at the overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and goes through the scientific elements of food safety and food processing, therefore guiding the development of food technology.

The study of food brings together a number of different scientific fields. It draws on ideas from a variety of scientific disciplines, including chemistry, physics, physiology, microbiology, and biochemistry. The field of food technology borrows ideas from other disciplines, such as chemical engineering.

The development of new food products, the design of processes to produce these foods, the selection of packaging materials, shelf-life studies, sensory evaluation of products using survey panels or potential consumers, and microbiological and chemical testing are all activities that food scientists engage in. Food scientists may also investigate more basic phenomena that are directly connected to the manufacturing of food items and the characteristics of such goods.

According to the definition provided by the Institute of Food Technologists, 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 consumption of the general public." In its most basic form, food science may be explained as "the use of fundamental sciences and engineering to investigate the physical, chemical, and biological characteristics of foods and the principles of food processing," which is taken from the textbook Food Science.