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.[3] Food scientists may study more fundamental phenomena that are directly linked to the production of food products and its properties.
Definition
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".[4] 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".[5]
Disciplines
Some of the subdisciplines of food science are described below.
Food chemistry is the study of chemical processes and interactions of all biological and non-biological components of foods.[6][7] 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 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 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.[8]
Food microbiology is the study of the microorganisms that inhabit, create, or contaminatefood, including the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage.[9] "Good" bacteria, however, such as probiotics, are becoming increasingly important in food science.[10][11][12] In addition, microorganisms are essential for the production of foods such as cheese, yogurt, bread, beer, wine and, other fermented foods.
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.
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".[13] 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 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 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.
Sensory analysis is the study of how consumer's senses perceive food.
Careers in Food Science
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%).[14]
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.[15]
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%).[14]
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
The Korean Society of Food Science and Technology, or KoSFoST, claims to be the first society in South Korea for food science.[16][non-primary source needed]
United States
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]
A chemist is a graduated scientist trained in the study of chemistry, or an officially enrolled student in the field. Chemists study the composition of matter and its properties. Chemists carefully describe the properties they study in terms of quantities, with detail on the level of molecules and their component atoms. Chemists carefully measure substance proportions, chemical reaction rates, and other chemical properties. In Commonwealth English, pharmacists are often called chemists.
Physical science is a branch of natural science that studies non-living systems, in contrast to life science. It in turn has many branches, each referred to as a "physical science", together is called the "physical sciences".
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to agriculture:
Biochemists are scientists who are trained in biochemistry. They study chemical processes and chemical transformations in living organisms. Biochemists study DNA, proteins and cell parts. The word "biochemist" is a portmanteau of "biological chemist."
The branches of science known informally as omics are various disciplines in biology whose names end in the suffix -omics, such as genomics, proteomics, metabolomics, metagenomics, phenomics and transcriptomics. Omics aims at the collective characterization and quantification of pools of biological molecules that translate into the structure, function, and dynamics of an organism or organisms.
Food engineering is a scientific, academic, and professional field that interprets and applies principles of engineering, science, and mathematics to food manufacturing and operations, including the processing, production, handling, storage, conservation, control, packaging and distribution of food products. Given its reliance on food science and broader engineering disciplines such as electrical, mechanical, civil, chemical, industrial and agricultural engineering, food engineering is considered a multidisciplinary and narrow field.
Lactobacillales are an order of gram-positive, low-GC, acid-tolerant, generally nonsporulating, nonrespiring, either rod-shaped (bacilli) or spherical (cocci) bacteria that share common metabolic and physiological characteristics. These bacteria, usually found in decomposing plants and milk products, produce lactic acid as the major metabolic end product of carbohydrate fermentation, giving them the common name lactic acid bacteria (LAB).
Food microbiology is the study of the microorganisms that inhabit, create, or contaminate food. This includes the study of microorganisms causing food spoilage; pathogens that may cause disease ; microbes used to produce fermented foods such as cheese, yogurt, bread, beer, and wine; and microbes with other useful roles, such as producing probiotics.
The Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) is an international, non-profit scientific society of professionals engaged in food science, food technology, and related areas in academia, government and industry. It has more than 17,000 members from more than 95 countries.
Food chemistry is the study of chemical processes and interactions of all biological and non-biological components of foods. The biological substances include such items as meat, poultry, lettuce, beer, milk as examples. 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. An example of enhancing a process would be to encourage fermentation of dairy products with microorganisms that convert lactose to lactic acid; an example of preventing a process would be stopping the browning on the surface of freshly cut apples using lemon juice or other acidulated water.
Zoltan I. Kertesz was a Hungarian-born American food scientist who was involved in the early development of food microbiology and food chemistry. He was also an active member of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT).
George F. Stewart was an American food scientist who was involved in processing, preservation, chemistry, and microbiology of poultry and egg-based food products. He also became the first president of the International Union of Food Science and Technology (IUFoST) after it was formed at the 1970 conference in Washington, D.C., from the International Congress of Food Science and Technology.
Robert E. Berry is an American retired food scientist who was involved in citrus research with the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) Agricultural Research Service (ARS) before becoming Editor-In-Chief of the Institute of Food Technologists' (IFT) Journal of Food Science (JFS) from 1990 to 1998.
Microbiology is the scientific study of microorganisms, those being of unicellular (single-celled), multicellular, or acellular. Microbiology encompasses numerous sub-disciplines including virology, bacteriology, protistology, mycology, immunology, and parasitology.
Khem Shahani (1923–2001) was an Indian microbiologist who conducted pioneer research on probiotics.
Food physical chemistry is considered to be a branch of Food chemistry concerned with 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 applications of physical/chemical techniques and instrumentation for the study of foods. This field encompasses the "physiochemical principles of the reactions and conversions that occur during the manufacture, handling, and storage of foods."
The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to applied science:
Foodomics was defined in 2009 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". Foodomics requires the combination of food chemistry, biological sciences, and data analysis.
Food and biological process engineering is a discipline concerned with applying principles of engineering to the fields of food production and distribution and biology. It is a broad field, with workers fulfilling a variety of roles ranging from design of food processing equipment to genetic modification of organisms. In some respects it is a combined field, drawing from the disciplines of food science and biological engineering to improve the earth's food supply.
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