UW-River Falls - Animal and Food Science

Food Science

Food science is a profession that relates to all aspects of agricultural food materials–from the time they leave the farm until they are used in the final form by the consumer. Food Science is food processing, preservation, evaluation, and distribution.

Food science is an applied science. The basic scientific disciplines offered in a bachelor's program in food science generally include: food chemistry, food microbiology, food processing, food rheology, food engineering and quality control in the food industry. (See also, Food Science Courses offered at UWRF). Food science students usually have training in basic sciences such as physics, mathematics, inorganic chemistry, organic chemistry, biochemistry, biology, microbiology, etc. That means anybody with an interest in the basic sciences such as chemistry, physics, and biology can apply their knowledge and interest to processing and preservation of foods.

Once a student chooses to major in Food Science at UW-River Falls, the faculty advisers in the program will work with the student to determine their career interests in the broad field of Food Science.

More about Food Science:

Food science programs in North America evolved largely from the dairy science programs that were common, particularly at agricultural colleges, during the early to mid portion of the 20th century. The discipline emerged to include not only dairy science but also meat science, cereal science, seafood science, the study of fruit and vegetable products and the like.

The food industry is one of the largest manufacturing industry in the world and is growing steadily as the consumer demands for convenient, safe and nutritious food/beverages grows. More emphasis is presently being placed on the safety of the food supply. Emphasis is also being given to new energy-and cost efficient technologies in the processing of foods including microwave pasteurization, ultrafiltration, reverse osmosis, heat pump drying, etc. and therefore the requirements for highly trained food scientists with technological expertise are increasing. The Bureau of Labor Statistics Web site provides a search feature to find the latest information in the field.