USM - Universiti Sains Malaysia

Food Science involves studying the physical, biological, and chemical composition of food along with learning the fundamental concepts of food processing. Whereas, Food Technology involves practical application of ‘Food Science’ for preservation, processing, packaging, distribution, and safety to provide nutritious and wholesome food to the consumers.

Scientists involved in Food Science and Technology work either in academia or in industry with a main goal of improving the ‘quality and safety’ of foods in conjunction with developing novel food products to benefit consumers. Food researchers apply the latest advancement made in basic research, process engineering, packaging technology, and management techniques along the food production chain. Food researchers have varied expertise which involves basic research up to applied research. Their knowledge is wide and covers multi-disciplinary fields such as: microbiology, biotechnology, biochemistry, physics and food engineering. The basic research conducted by a Food scientist includes analyzing the composition of the raw food material (plant or animal based) such as: proximate composition, vitamins, nutrients, antinutrients, and investigating the interactions of these food components in food systems. The applied research aspect involves improving the quality and shelf life-of of the raw material which covers aspects of processing, preservation, packaging (canning, baking, drying, evaporation, pasteurization) as per the requirements of local government regulations and to fulfil the demands of dependent food industry to meet international standard.