Recently, you might have noticed the significant rise in the field of Applied Biological Sciences. In fact, many individuals have become more interested in this field due to its dynamic and interesting nature and of course its direct implications to a human being’s life.
Most of us would think of Biomedical Science when one talks about Applied Biological Sciences. This is normal because it is one of the most popular branches. However, tailing it is the Food Science and Agriculture, which has also been gaining a lot of attention recently. This branch though is wide-ranging and interdisciplinary, and thus, requires a comprehensive discussion. This is what this course aims to do – provide you with an overview of the Food Science and Technology, where the world of Sciences meets the world of food.
Food Science Defined
First and foremost, let us discuss and try to explain what food science is. To give you a glimpse of what it is about, allow us to define it in a way that is easy to understand and uncomplicated. Food science is another area in applied sciences that involves the basics of biochemistry, chemical engineering, and physical sciences in order to be able to understand the biological, chemical, and physical nature of food. To make it even simpler to comprehend, food science (or some call it food science and technology) is the study involving the manufacturing, processing, treatment, preservation, and distribution of food.
Like every other field in applied science, the main objective of food science ti to be able to understand the principles and the processes involved in food, from the manufacturing up until the distribution. Understanding these processes will allow the team to come up with steps, suggestions, and other processes that would improve the food quality for the consumers – the general public. Therefore, the next time you see a food item while doing your grocery, just put in mind that it has undergone scrutiny from a food scientist, food technologist, or food engineer or all of the above. This is to help ensure that what you are feeding your body is not toxic and poisonous.
Food Science, Food Technology & Food Engineering
A lot of people, especially those who are not familiar with this field, get confused with terminologies and the scopes covered in food science, food technology, and food engineering. Truth be told, these three are overlapping; however, there are few subtle differences. We will not be explaining each in detail but allow us to illustrate the three the best we can, so you will have a picture. The following have been adopted form research gate.
- Food Technology: Talks about how one can use fire to cook food
- Food Science: Discuss the effects of burning wood. That is, it can produce heat, water, and carbon dioxide. To add further, it also explains how heat denatures the proteins in food.
- Food Engineering: This explains why building a fireplace and chimney can make cooking easier without having to fill the room with smoke.
Hopefully, the illustrations above would make it a bit clearer. But for the purpose of this article, let us all take the three as one and use Food Science & Technology moving forward.
The Need For Food Science & Technology
One fact cannot be denied: All forms of life need food to survive. It is a basic necessity, especially for human beings, just like clothes, shelter, education, and healthcare.
If you take a look at it, the majority of the food items are biological in nature. However, the processes involved after, including harvesting, processing, distribution, storage, and preparation, are complex. It requires someone to have a broad-based knowledge and training in order to understand the entire process and to be able to solve problems.
The person responsible for making our food safe and nutritious are called food scientists. They are also the ones responsible for coming up with innovative packaging. In other words, food scientists are the ones doing the dirty job so we can maximize our food resources and minimize waste of resources.
Because of the advent of technology, and of course, the existence of food scientists, the evolution of the food system worldwide has been tremendous. These and so much more are thanks to food science and technology. In fact, because of this field of applied sciences, our processed food items have become healthier to consume and move conveniently too for everyone!