What is food science and technology?

Food science is the scientific understanding of the composition of food under various conditions. This seemingly straightforward definition, however, hides a complex multidisciplinary subject involving a combination of sciences and a knowledge of the composition of food materials and their physical, biological and biochemical behaviour including:

  • interaction of food components with each other and/or with other elements or materials (e.g. oxygen, packaging materials)
  • nutrition
  • sensory properties
  • enzymology
  • microbiology
  • pharmacology and toxicology and
  • the effects of manufacturing, processing and storage
  • new areas of research, e.g. nutrigenomics, metabolomics, proteomics and nanoscale sciences

Food technology is the application of food science to the processing of food materials into safe, wholesome, nutritious, tasty and attractive food products. Food technology draws upon and integrates the application of other technologies to food, such as packaging, materials science, engineering, instrumentation, electronics, agriculture and biotechnology.

Back to top