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Why Food Science and Technology?
How do you make 25 tasty flavors of Snapple? What makes the perfect bubble gum? Can we create a low-carb cookie that tastes like the real thing? These are just a few of the challenges Food Scientists face in the ever-important quest to find tasty, fun, and healthful ways to feed the world.
Using science to create solutions, Food Scientists blend biology, chemistry, and physics with creativity and cleverness to design new foods and to engineer ways to process and package the thousands of food items that line our grocery shelves. Doing all of this while responding to consumer demand and considering food regulations and policies, Food Scientists enjoy careers that are exciting, challenging and full of flavor!
The Key Ingredients
The Food Science and Technology program begins with a core group of key classes, adds in specialty courses of interest to the student, and results in a diverse and stimulating education designed to prepare graduates for a wide variety of careers. Freshman year includes courses in nutrition, chemistry, computers and math, along with an introductory Food Science course that acquaints new students with the discipline. Higher level courses in chemistry, physics, & biology follow, along with courses in literature, arts, social sciences, and humanities. Food Science courses focus on topics like food chemistry and analysis, food microbiology, foodborne illnesses, and food processing. In the senior year, students enroll in the Food Science Capstone course, which completes the learning experience by allowing them to be part of a food-product development team that simulates a real-world operation.
Because students have different goals, two concentrations are available within the Food Science and Technology major. Food Science focuses heavily on the science involved in product development, quality control, and technical management. Food Technology has a lighter science load, allowing more room for things like business, nutrition and food marketing courses. For those wishing to gain a background in both the science and business of food, a joint major in Food Business Management and Technology is also available.
Enhancing the Academic Experience
Education is achieved in ways beyond classroom learning. With that in mind, we encourage Food Science and Technology majors to supplement their coursework through internships, research projects, study abroad, and student activities.
Picture yourself as an intern, working alongside professionals at Hershey Foods, McCormick Spices or Campbell’s Soup. Student interns receive academic credit or pay, and participate in internships in any of the four academic terms—fall, winter, spring or summer. Our faculty works closely with students to direct them to internships, to provide letters of recommendation, and to mentor them through the experience. Most of our students find that full-time job offers are often a positive outgrowth of their internship experiences.
Off-site or on-campus, research is another way for students to explore food-related issues at a whole new level. Working alongside a faculty member in the lab, students might work to figure out how to make potato chips crunchier or why a package explodes in the microwave. At an off-site company, students assist researchers in developing actual food products: flavors, dyes, packages and more. In either case, many students formalize their research experiences into Degrees with Distinction and often find their work published in an academic journal.
Because the food industry is one with impact around the globe, students are encouraged to spend some time in another country. Whether they choose to explore New Zealand or Tanzania, Morocco or Japan, Food Science majors can use courses offered in these and 50 other programs to satisfy some of their basic course requirements.
While they are here at home, Food Science majors participate in the Food Science Club and its social and professional-development activities. The club often joins the regional chapter of the Institute of Food Technologists for professional conferences and workshops, providing students with important contacts in the food industry.
ANFS Undergraduate Research
A Place to Learn
Food Science and Technology majors have access to some of the best resources on campus. Most classes and lab sections meet in Townsend and Worrilow halls, only a 15-minute walk from the center of campus. The recently renovated Townsend Hall houses high-tech classrooms, faculty offices, a library, study lounge, and an impressive computer lab, with the latest software and free access to E-mail and the Internet. Worrilow Hall contains teaching and research laboratories, where courses like Food Chemistry and Food Biotechnology expose students to intricate, scientific processes with the latest high-tech equipment. Our close proximity to many food companies and allied industries, such as Herr’s Snack Foods, Campbell’s, DuPont, SPI Polyols, McCormick, Wawa Inc., and Hershey Foods Corp, means easy access for field trips and internship experiences.
Careers in Good Taste!
Career opportunities for Food Science and Technology majors are found everywhere people—and other animals--are eating!. From research organizations, pet-food companies and spice and flavor developers, to government agencies and every food company in the world, the demand for Food Scientists is predictably high. Graduates work in flavor testing, packaging research, product development, food safety and quality assurance, just to name a few. As with most science disciplines, a graduate degree greatly increases chances for advancement. Qualified students from our program go on to pursue graduate degrees in food chemistry, process engineering, food microbiology, chemistry and molecular biology. As long as people need to eat, the career outlook and salaries for Food Science graduates will continue to be very strong.
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