Food science

Applied science devoted to the study of food

Food scientists working in Australia A food science laboratory

Food science is the basic science and applied science of food; its scope starts at overlap with agricultural science and nutritional science and leads through the scientific aspects of food safety and food processing, informing the development of food technology.

Food science brings together multiple scientific disciplines.[1] It incorporates concepts from fields such as chemistry, physics, physiology, microbiology, and biochemistry. Food technology incorporates concepts from chemical engineering, for example.

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 products using survey panels or potential consumers, as well as microbiological and chemical testing.[2] Food scientists may study more fundamental phenomena that are directly linked to the production of food products and its properties.

## Definition

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The Institute of Food Technologists defines food science as "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".[3] The textbook Food Science defines food science in simpler terms as "the application of sciences and engineering to study the physical, chemical, and biochemical nature of foods and the principles of food processing".[4]

## Disciplines

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Some of the subdisciplines of food science are described below.

### Food chemistry

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Main article: Food chemistry

Food chemistry is the study of chemical processes and interactions of all biological and non-biological components of foods.[5][6] The biological substances include such items as meat, poultry, lettuce, beer, and milk. It is similar to biochemistry in its main components such as carbohydrates, lipids, and protein, but it also includes areas such as water, vitamins, minerals, enzymes, food additives, flavors, and colors. This discipline also encompasses how products change under certain food processing techniques and ways either to enhance or to prevent them from happening.

#### Food physical chemistry

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Main article: Food physical chemistry

Food physical chemistry is 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 engineering

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Main article: Food engineering

Food engineering is the industrial processes used to manufacture food. It involves coming up with novel approaches for manufacturing, packaging, delivering, ensuring quality, ensuring safety, and devising techniques to transform raw ingredients into wholesome food options.[7]

A pizza factory in Germany, an example of food engineering

### Food microbiology

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Food microbiology laboratory at the Faculty of Food Technology, Latvia University of Life Sciences and Technologies.

Main article: Food microbiology

Food microbiology is the study of the microorganisms that inhabit, create, or contaminate food, including the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage.[8] "Good" bacteria, however, such as probiotics, are becoming increasingly important in food science.[9][10][11] In addition, microorganisms are essential for the production of foods such as cheese, yogurt, bread, beer, wine and, other fermented foods.

### Food technology

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Main article: Food technology

Food technology is the technological aspect. Early scientific research into food technology concentrated on food preservation. Nicolas Appert's development in 1810 of the canning process was a decisive event. The process was not called canning then and Appert did not really know the principle on which his process worked, but canning has had a major impact on food preservation techniques.

### Foodomics

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Main article: Foodomics

In 2009, Foodomics was defined as "a discipline that studies the Food and Nutrition domains through the application and integration of advanced -omics technologies to improve consumer's well-being, health, and knowledge".[12] Foodomics requires the combination of food chemistry, biological sciences, and data analysis.

Foodomics greatly helps scientists in the area of food science and nutrition to gain better access to data, which is used to analyze the effects of food on human health, etc. It is believed to be another step towards a better understanding of the development and application of technology and food. Moreover, the study of foodomics leads to other omics sub-disciplines, including nutrigenomics which is the integration of the study of nutrition, genes, and omics.

### Molecular gastronomy

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Main article: Molecular gastronomy

Molecular gastronomy is a subdiscipline of food science that seeks to investigate the physical and chemical transformations of ingredients that occur in cooking. Its program includes three axes, as cooking was recognized to have three components, which are social, artistic, and technical.

### Quality control

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Main article: Quality control

Quality control involves the causes, prevention, and communication dealing with food-borne illness. Quality control also ensures that the product meets specs to ensure the customer receives what they expect from the packaging to the physical properties of the product itself.

A technician performing quality control

### Sensory analysis

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Main article: Sensory analysis

Sensory analysis is the study of how consumer's senses perceive food.

### Careers in Food Science

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The five most common college degrees leading to a career in food science are: Food science/technology (66%), biological sciences (12%), business/marketing (10%), nutrition (9%) and chemistry (8%).[13]

Careers available to food scientists include food technologists, research and development (R&D), quality control, flavor chemistry, laboratory director, food analytical chemist and technical sales.[14]

The five most common positions for food scientists are food scientist/technologist (19%), product developer (12%), quality assurance/control director (8%), other R&D/scientific/technical (7%), and director of research (5%).[13]

## By country

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### Australia

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Main article: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation

The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) is the federal government agency for scientific research in Australia. CSIRO maintains more than 50 sites across Australia and biological control research stations in France and Mexico. It has nearly 6,500 employees.

### South Korea

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The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology, or KoSFoST, claims to be the first society in South Korea for food science.[15][non-primary source needed]

### United States

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In the United States, food science is typically studied at land-grant universities. Some of the country's pioneering food scientists were women who attended chemistry programs at land-grant universities which were state-run and largely under state mandates to allow for sex-blind admission. Although after graduation, they had difficulty finding jobs due to widespread sexism in the chemistry industry in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Finding conventional career paths blocked, they found alternative employment as instructors in the home economics departments and used that as a base to launch the foundation of many modern food science programs. [citation needed]

The main US organization 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). [citation needed]

## See also

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* Food portal
* Science portal
* Technology portal
* Biology portal

* Aseptic processing
* Cooking
* Dietary supplement
* Food fortification
* Food grading
* Food rheology
* Food storage
* Foodpairing
* Ingredient-flavor network
* Nutraceutical
* Space food

## Publications

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### Books

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Food Science is an academic topic so most food science books are textbooks.

### Journals

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* Applied Food Biotechnology
* Chemical Senses
* Food and Bioprocess Technology
* Food Chemistry
* Food Research International
* Food Quality and Preference
* Journal of Dairy Science
* Journal of Food Science
* Journal of Sensory Studies
* Journal of Texture Studies
* LWT – Food Science and Technology
* Trends in Food Science & Technology

## Notes and references

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1. ^ Ward, Janet D.; Ward, Larry T. (21 May 2013). Principles of Food Science. Goodheart-Willcox Company, Incorporated. ISBN 978-1619604360.
2. ^ "Food Science Activity Guides". IFT.org. Archived from the original on March 27, 2015. Retrieved February 2, 2015.
3. ^ Heldman, Dennis R. "IFT and the Food Science Profession." Food Technology. October 2006. p. 11.
4. ^ Potter, Norman N.; Hotchkiss, Joseph H. (1998). Food Science. Food science texts series (5th ed.). Springer. ISBN 9780834212657.
5. ^ John M. de Man.1999. Principles of Food Chemistry (Food Science Text Series), Springer Science, Third Edition
6. ^ John M. de Man. 2009. Food process engineering and technology, Academic Press, Elsevier: London and New York, 1st edn.
7. ^ Expert, E. R. P. (2023-03-21). "Food Engineering (Goals, Processes, Practices, and Technologies)". www.erp-information.com. Retrieved 2023-10-09.
8. ^ Fratamico PM (2005). Bayles DO (ed.). Foodborne Pathogens: Microbiology and Molecular Biology. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-00-4.
9. ^ Tannock GW, ed. (2005). Probiotics and Prebiotics: Scientific Aspects. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-01-1.
10. ^ Ljungh A, Wadstrom T, eds. (2009). Lactobacillus Molecular Biology: From Genomics to Probiotics. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-41-7.
11. ^ Mayo, B (2010). van Sinderen, D (ed.). Bifidobacteria: Genomics and Molecular Aspects. Caister Academic Press. ISBN 978-1-904455-68-4.
12. ^ Cifuentes, Alejandro (23 October 2009). "Food analysis and Foodomics". J. Chromatogr. A. 1216 (43): 7109. doi:10.1016/j.chroma.2009.09.018. hdl:10261/154212. PMID 19765718.
13. ^ a b "2019 IFT Employment and Salary Survey Facts and Figures - IFT.org".
14. ^ "What kind of careers do Food Scientists have?". Washington State University. Archived from the original on 20 March 2022. Retrieved 1 September 2021.
15. ^ "Korean Society of Food Science and Technology (KoSFoST)". KoSFoST. Archived from the original on 22 October 2021. Retrieved 11 December 2016.

## Further reading

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* Wanucha, Genevieve (February 24, 2009). "Two Happy Clams: The friendship that forged food science". MIT Technology Review.

## External links

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food at Wikipedia's sister projects

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Food science

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Food chemistry

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Food preservation

* Biopreservation
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Adulterants, food contaminants|

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Food additives|

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Intestinal parasites, parasitic disease|

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Microorganisms|

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Pesticides|

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Preservatives|

* Benzoic acid
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Sugar substitutes|

* Acesulfame potassium
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Toxins, poisons, environment pollution|

* Aflatoxin
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Food fraud|

* Bread
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Food processing|

* 4-Hydroxynonenal
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* Acrylamide
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Food contamination incidents|

* Devon colic
* Swill milk scandal
* Esing Bakery incident
* 1858 Bradford sweets poisoning
* 1900 English beer poisoning
* Morinaga Milk arsenic poisoning incident
* Minamata disease
* Moroccan oil poisoning disaster 1959 [ar]
* 1971 Iraq poison grain disaster
* Toxic oil syndrome
* 1985 Austrian diethylene glycol wine scandal
* United Kingdom BSE outbreak
* Australian meat substitution scandal
* Jack in the Box E. coli outbreak
* 1996 Odwalla E. coli outbreak
* 2006 North American E. coli outbreaks
* ICA meat repackaging controversy
* 2008 Canada listeriosis outbreak
* 2008 Chinese milk scandal
* 2008 Irish pork crisis
* 2008 United States salmonellosis outbreak
* 2011 Germany E. coli outbreak
* 2011 United States listeriosis outbreak
* Bihar school meal poisoning
* 2013 horse meat scandal
* 2015 Mozambique funeral beer poisoning
* 2017 Brazil Operation Weak Meat
* 2017–2018 South African listeriosis outbreak
* 2018 Australian strawberry contamination
* 2024 United Kingdom Shigatoxigenic E. coli outbreak
* Kobayashi red yeast rice scandal
* Food safety incidents in China
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* Foodborne illness
* outbreaks
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* United States

Regulation, standards, watchdogs|

* Acceptable daily intake
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Institutions|

* Centre for Food Safety (Hong Kong)
* European Food Safety Authority
* Food and Drug Administration
* Food Information and Control Agency (Spain)
* Food Standards Agency (United Kingdom)
* Institute for Food Safety and Health
* International Food Safety Network
* Ministry of Food and Drug Safety (South Korea)
* Spanish Agency for Food Safety and Nutrition

Related topics|

* Curing (food preservation)
* Food and drink prohibitions
* Food marketing
* Food politics
* Food preservation
* Food quality
* Genetically modified food
* Conspiracy theories

* Food portal Drink portal
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Artificial foods

Artificial fat substitutes|

* Olestra

Artificial protein substitutes|

* Acid-hydrolyzed vegetable protein

Artificial sugar substitutes|

* Acesulfame potassium
* Alitame
* Aspartame
* Aspartame-acesulfame salt
* Dulcin
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* Hydrogenated starch hydrolysates
* Neohesperidin dihydrochalcone
* Neotame
* NutraSweet
* Nutrinova
* Saccharin
* Sodium cyclamate
* Sucralose

Natural food substitutes|

* Cheese analogues
* Coffee substitutes
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* bacon
* list
* Milk substitutes
* Phyllodulcin
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Brands|

* Tang

Related topics|

* Food safety
* List of food additives

Food politics|

* Food power
* Food security
* Famine
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Institutions|

* International Association for Food Protection
* Food and Drug Administration
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