Food Science can be defined as the application of the basic sciences and engineering to study the fundamental physical, chemical, and biochemical nature of foods and the principles of food processing. Food technology is the use of the information generated by food science in the selection, preservation, processing, packaging, and distribution, as it affects the consumption of safe, nutritious and wholesome food. As such, food science is a broad discipline which contains within it many specializations such as in food microbiology, food engineering, and food chemistry. Because food interacts directly with people, some food scientists are also interested in the psychology of food choice. These individuals work with the sensory properties of foods. Food engineers deal with the conversion of raw agricultural products such as wheat into more finished food products such as flour or baked goods. Food processing contains many of the same living cells. Thus, foods are for the most part composed of “edible biochemical,” and chemically affect foods and their biochemistry. Likewise, nutritionists are involved in food manufacture to ensure that foods maintain their expected nutritional content. Other food scientists work for the government in order to ensure that the foods we buy are safe, wholesome, and honestly represented.At one time, the majority of scientists, technologists, and production personnel in the food field did not receive formal training in food science as It is recognized today. This was because very few universities offered a curriculum leading to a degree in food science. Many of these institutions had departments that were organized along food science. Many of these institutions had departments that were organized along academic institutions continue to employ many persons who received their original technical training in dairy products. The food industry, government, and academic institutions continue to employ many persons who received their original technical training in dairy science, meant science, cereal chemistry, pomology, vegetable crops, and horticulture. Many others were trained as specialists in the basic sciences and applied fields of chemistry, physics, microbiology, statistics, and engineering. Such training has had the advantages generally associated with specialization. It also has resulted in certain limitations, especially for commodity –oriented individuals in segments of the food industry undergoing rapid technological change. Hence, the more general discipline of food science was established. Now, more than 40 universities in the United States and many more around the world offer degree in food science.
COMPONENTS OF THE FOOD INDUSTRY
The food industry may be divided into segments, or components, in various ways. One of the simplest is a functional division into the four major segments of raw material production manufacture, distribution, and marketing. Raw material production encompasses the technologies of farming, orchard management, fishing, and so on, including the selection of plant and animal varieties, cultivation and growth, harvest and slaughter, and the storage and handling of the raw materials. Manufacturing converts the raw agricultural products into more refined or finished foods. Manufacturing includes the numerous unit operations and processes that many consider to be the core of food technology. Distribution is involved in product form, weight and bulk, storage requirements and storage stability, and product attributes conducive to product sales. Marketing is the selling of foods in commerce and involves wholesale, retail, institutions, and restaurants. This overall division is artificial and the segments flow into one another. The food industry is so geared that there is a highly planned organization and rhythm to the functions of the segments. In a well-developed food industry, this involves planning and scheduling of all phases to eliminate or at least minimize both shortages and surpluses among farmer, manufacturer, and distributor. Thus, it is common for large companies to own and manage farms or plantations, processing and distribution facilities, and even the outlets for sale of their manufactured products to ensure smooth operations and high profits, in recent years, for example, many food manufactures have opened national restaurant chains. If the industry is divided according to function, then it is sometime helpful to know the relative value of the different functions. However, this is not simple to determine because there are great differences between products, as analysis of the percentage of customer’s dollar spent for production, processing, transportation, and selling of different foods has shown. Currently, in the case of beef, the greatest cost in in farm production and the smallest cost is in processing and packaging. In contrast, for canned tomatoes, the biggest cost is in processing and packaging, and farm production represents one of the smaller costs.A more common way of dividing the food industry is along major product lines. Table 2.2 gives the per capita dollar spent in 1990 on major food categories as well as the per capita consumption of these foods. Thus, of the consumer dollar spent for all foods to be consumed at home in 1990, about $0.27 went of meat, poultry, fish, and egg products, about $0.16 for fresh and processed fruits and vegetables, about $0.12 for dairy products, $0.15 for cereal products, and $0.30 for other products such as edible oils. These values do not necessarily reflect the tonnage or per capita consumption of each of the food categories, as the cost of a unit of each food differs greatly. Of all dollars spent for food, about 42% were spent on food consumed away from home.Food is most often consumed in a different form than that in which it is produced. For example, less than half of the 148 billion pounds of milk produced in the United States in 1991 was consumed as fluid milk. Approximately 17% went into the manufacture of butter, over 31% into cheese, about 9% into ice cream and other frozen desserts, and so on. As the yield is only about 4kg of butter per 100 kg of milk, and about 10 kg of cheese per 100 kg of milk, this amounted to some 0.5 million tons of butter, and approximately 2.3 million tons of cheese. Other examples of commodity conversions include the transformation of cereal grains into breakfast cereals, soybeans into edible oils, and cereal starches into sugar syrups. One way to define the food industry is to say that it converts or changes raw agricultural commodities into more finished foods.Americans have increased their consumption of fish and shellfish over the last decade but still consume less than in many other countries. Consumption in 1990 was approximately 15 pounds per person. This is 27% higher than it was in 1970-1974. The largest increases have come in fresh and frozen products, whereas canned fish rose only 11%. Lesser amounts are consumed in salted and smoked form. In 1991 the total domestic catch of fishery products for human consumption was 9.5% billion pounds of which 6.5 billion was for the fresh or frozen market, with 0.6 billion being canned. During the same period, the United States imported an additional 3 billion pounds.
ALLIED INDUSTRIES
Many companies which may not directly sell food are nonetheless deeply involved in the food industry. These are the companies that produce the nonfood components that are essential to the marketing of food. A good example is the packaging industry. For example, steel manufacturers make materials for the billions of cans used for food each year. They have worked in depth on the corrosive effects and interactions of different foods with the metals used in the manufacture of cans. They have supported extensive research on improved types of cans where the gauge of the metal may be reduced, thus light weighting the cans and reducing costs. The same is true of the leading aluminum companies in the development of aluminum cans, aluminum dishes, and foil for food use. Other examples of companies which supply ingredients to the food industry include food ingredients such as color or flavor suppliers (Fig 2.2). The study of can closure, can closure machines, and heat transfer into cans for sterilization has kept food scientists and engineers busy. Companies do extensive research and out ultraviolet rays and thus protects light-sensitive food and plastic film that provides maximum moisture and oxygen barriers and resistance to heating and freezing are studied by scientists in these companies. Recent advancement s in polymers have led to the development of many new types of plastic packages for foods such as those which will withstand the temperatures generated in the microwave oven or the pressures generated during retorting foods in plastic cans. These new technologies have reduced costs and provided many new products and more convenient foods.Chemical manufacturers are important in the food industry because they supply many of the acidulates, preservatives, enzymes, stabilizers, and other chemicals used in foods. All of these must be functional and fully satisfy specifications of safety set down by the Food & Drug Administration (FDA) or other regulatory agencies that have responsibility for food safety. Food machinery and equipment manufacturers often are the prime innovators of new food processing methods and systems. They have developed pasteurizers and evaporators, microwave ovens and infrared cookers, freeze-drying systems and liquid-nitrogen freezers, and instrumentation and computer controls.All of these, and many, many more companies in allied industries work directly with food.In recent years, especially, all industries have become more accountable to government, consumers, their employees, and each other. This has taken many forms, such as providing the public with more information, assuming greater responsibility for the quality of the environment and the safety of products, conserving resources, and meeting increasingly rigorous government regulations. In the case of the food industry, this trend has led to greater dependence on outside consultants, testing laboratories, and legal expertise. Thus, more of these people are becoming involved in the food production process.
INTERNATIONAL ACTIVITIES
Food has become a global commodity. Foods are traded and shipped worldwide. It is not unusual to find dozens of types of fine foods from around the world in a modern grocery store. This might include cheeses from Europe, lamb from New Zealand, fresh grapes from Chile, snow peas from Guatemala, apples from Argentina, beef from Australia, and mangoes from South America. Many U.S. food companies have set up subsidiaries in other countries and many fast-food outlets such as McDonald’s have opened stores around the world. The largest McDonald’s is reported to be in Moscow.Agricultural imports (food and other products) to the United States amounted to about $22 billion in 1991 which amounted to approximately 10 % of all imports. These have included coffee, tea, cocoa, spices, and other products not grown in this country, as well as sugar, fish, and other products to supplement domestic production. Food exports were about $37 billion in 1991 and have grown due largely to increased world demand for cereal grains and soybeans, making the United States the world’s largest food exporter. Most major American food companies have vigorous international divisions with manufacturing facilities in many parts of the world. Among those with extensive overseas operations are Kraft-General Foods, CPC International, H.J. Heinz, Borden, Campbell Soup, Nabisco Brands, Coca-Cola, Pepsi co, Beatrice Companies, Ralston Purina, and General Mills. There is a recent trend to decrease the trade tariffs on many items including food. This can be expected to increase the international trade in food items. It is common for a U.S. grocery store to stock food items from around the world. When these companies go into food production in foreign countries they do not simply build a plant and resume operations as in the United States. Experience has shown that often they must modify-well known products to suite local tastes. Even the most popular soft drink formulations may vary in certain parts of the world. Another problem facing companies entering operations in a new country is related to available food ingredients. In some countries, the food producer may not import certain essential or important ingredients but must utilize local ingredients such as wheat or cocoa. These may differ substantially from equivalent ingredients used in the United States and thus require extensive reformulation and process changes to achieve acceptable quality. This is further complicated by local food laws, which often prohibit the use of specific food acidifiers, preservatives, or food colors that are permitted in the United States.
RESPONSIVENESS TO CHANGE
It is often said that the food industry is a stable industry, resistant to the effects of recessions. In the sense that per capita consumption of total food is remarkably constant, and for many decades has remained at around 658 kg (1450 pounds) per year, this is true. However, the kind of foods consumed are continually changing and this contributes to great competition within the industry and makes it highly dynamic.People choose the foods they eat in response to many influences. The food industry responds to these choices or more often tries to anticipate these changes so that they can have the desirable products. For example, changes in food use reflect demographic shifts such as the increasing numbers of older Americans, working women, and single-member households. The food products available in the marketplace also reflect the supply of ingredients and nonfood components, which are subject to extremes of weather, political barriers, and changing world demand. Availability and costs of energy influence all phases of food production. Advances in the areas of nutrition, health and food safety often change eating habits whether the benefits that may result are real or just perceived.According to use U.S Department of Agriculture, between 1968 and 1988 U.S. residents increased their daily consumption of kilocalories from 3300 to 3600. However, the kinds of foods making up this consumption has increased 25% over the last 20 years. Attitudes with respect to fat, cholesterol, and fiber contents of foods have changed. During the same period, red meat consumption has declined by 16%. Government regulation of food additives, food composition standards, and labeling also influence product offerings. Technical innovations from ingredient modifications to new processing and packaging methods to microwave oven and other cooking advances alter our food supply.The above determine the directions of new product development, marketing, and advertising. New products in great variety are characteristic of the modern food industry. In 1991 there were over 12,000 new food products introduced into commerce in the United States. Currently, there are over 50,000 items representing different products, brand names, and sizes in large U.S. food stores, including as many as 3000 pet food items. Many of these products have short life spans.
INTERRELATED OPERATIONS
As has been stated, the production of specific foods in a highly advanced and organized food industry is a systematic and rhythmic process. The food manufacturer does not simply decide to produce 5000 tons of margarine and then casually do so. If they did, they might find themselves, at one end, unable to procure the necessary vegetable oils at a competitive price and, at the other, without a ready and adequate outlet for the product. These factors alone could make them unsuccessful in the highly competitive food field, where often fractions of a cent per kilogram or per package make the difference between economic success or failure. Throughout all production manufacturing, and distribution operations, these fractions of cents per unit of foo product are carefully controlled along with the quality aspects of the product. Since the food industry is a low-markup, high-volume industry, and numbers like several hundred thousand units per day such as cartons of milk or loaves of bread are common for a single plant, losses of fractions of a cent per unit anywhere along the chain from farmer to consumer can mean losses to the food producer of hundreds of thousands of dollars per year.
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