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Food is necessary for
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Survival
Growth
Physical ability
Good health
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Food processing, handling, preparation, and
service is the worlds largest industry
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U.S. has the safest food supply, but its NOT
perfect
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Chemistry of food
Vulnerability to Spoilage
Role as a disease vector
Quality attributes
Nutritional content
Varied sources
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200 + known diseases are transmitted via
food
Causes of Food-borne Illness (FBI)
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Viruses
Bacteria
Parasites
Toxins
Metals
Prions
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The center for disease control (CDC)
estimates that FBI causes:
◦ 76 million illnesses
◦ 325,000 hospitalizations
◦ 5,000 deaths
◦ EACH YEAR!!!
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Resulting in (according to Economic Research
Service (ERS) an estimated $6.9 billion annual
cost related to FBI
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Specific origin of food science is UNCLEAR
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Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans
◦ Able to preserve variety of foods
 Vinegar
 Brine – water saturated with or containing large amounts of salt
 Honey
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Some foods dried with fire or sun
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Cheeses and wines also produced
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Other practices being done for many
centuries
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Drying
Freezing
Smoking
Fermenting
Heat processing
 Baking
 Cooking
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Food preservation was an art
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Passed down through generations
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Developed slowly
◦ Depended on accidental discoveries
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Actually more like discoveries
They were inventors and improvers of
previous preservation methods
Often by mistake
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Resulted in large gains for human
health including a food supply that is:
◦ Safe
◦ Nutritious
◦ Varied
◦ Economical
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First evolved from
◦ Chemistry
◦ Microbiology
◦ Medicine
Since then, has come
to include
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Biochemistry
Nutrition
Toxicology
Math
Physics
Engineering
Psychology
Genetics
Biotechnology
Law
From 2000 years ago until
NOW!!
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Milk stored in animal skins
Allowed milk to curdle
◦ Cottage cheese
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900 A.D. – Food Poisoning First Recognized
◦ Emperor Leo VI
◦ Byzantium, Greece
◦ Put out edict forbidding the consumption of sausage
made by stuffing blood into pig stomach and smoking
 Knew people who ate it got sick / died
 Didn’t know why
 Caused by C. botulinum
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Responded to Napoleon's army
◦ Needed to be less dependent on local foods
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Through heating process
◦ Developed canning
◦ Boiled cans of food
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Credited with first thermal processing for
food preservation
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First food
microbiologist
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Pasteurization
◦ Heated milk and milk
products to destroy
disease and spoilage
causing organisms
◦ Used today on
 Juices
 Other beverages
 Dairy products
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Interested in
fermentation
practices
Led to research on
production of:
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Vinegar
Wines
Beer
Alcohol
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Essential amino acids
and their roles
described
Most vitamins were
discovered and
named
Preventions were
found for:
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Rickets
Pellagra
Goiter
Beriberi
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Canning was now a
technology under
scientific control
Use of refrigeration
in storage &
transport of
perishable foods was
common
Frozen food had
reached retail level
Home refrigeration
was replacing ice
boxes
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Samuel Prescott
◦ 1895 – canning
research with William
Underwood
 Massachusetts Institute
of Technology (MIT)
◦ Interested in
sanitation
 Led to interest in
pasteurization &
producing more
sanitary milk supply
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Interests widened
to include
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Food dehydration
Refrigeration
Food additives
Chemical
composition of food
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Pioneer nutritionist
Animal feeding studies
1906-”single grain experiment”
Used different grain sources with equal
calories, protein, carbohydrates, fat and ash
content
◦ Showed that gross chemical analysis alone was not
enough to adequately define a diet
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Improved nutrition through food science
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Contributed to development of frozen
foods1920/s and 1930/s got frozen foods
Accepted at the retail market
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Interest in nutritional quality of canned or
otherwise processed foods
◦ 1921-1924 – National Canners Association
◦ 1926 – moved to Univ. of Massachusetts
◦ Invented method for
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Pasteurizing dried fruits
Canning Atlantic crab
Using ascorbic acid as an antioxidant
Fortification of apple juice
Use of cranberry culls to develop cranberry juice
Founder of Institute of Food Technologists
 President from 1949-1950
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Improvement in quality
Freeze drying and products
◦ Freeze dried coffee hit the market
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Computer control in processing plants was
introduced
◦ Resulted in product quality and efficiency of
production
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Rigid and flexible plastic became common in
the marketplace
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Many new
ingredients were
introduced
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◦ Due to advances in
enzymatic development
and use
◦ Oil blends
◦ Flavorings
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Proteins from fish,
whey, and soy were
used to engineer new
products
Plant sanitation
improved
◦ Resulted in foods with
longer shelf-life
Meat tenderizers
invented
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Automation
developed for single
product plants
◦ Beer
◦ Milk
◦ Baked products
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Need for energysaving processes
◦ Consumption of energy
dropped by 25% in
most plants
◦ Era of health food and
organic food was born
◦ Opportunity for small
scale processors to
become competitive
with bigger companies
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End of 70s – smaller,
quicker, more userfriendly computers
implemented into
plants
◦ Resulted in
 More energy efficient
plants
 Increased production
 Higher quality
 Faster rates
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Gourmet-type
products became
popular
High-quality frozen
entrees were
developed
◦ Result of advancement
in technologies in
 Freezing systems
 Frozen distribution
 Retail & home freezers
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Aseptic packaging
introduced
Led to fruit juice
packaging being
converted to their
now familiar box
form
Use of microwave
oven in nearly every
home
◦ Great demand on food
industry
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Consumer’s demanded products that were:
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High-quality
Attractive
Nutritious
Safe
Minimal time prep
As entered 1990 – the high-paced lifestyle of
the Americans had placed great demands on
the food industry
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Major priorities included
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Nutrition
Health
Convenience
Food safety
Nutrition labeling and Education Act of 1990
◦ Required dept of health and human svcs. to propose new
 Nutrition labeling regulations
◦ By 1994 these regulations were in effect
◦ Consumers now had information to help achieve
nutrition goals and better utilize popular food pyramid
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Demands for lowfat, low-calorie
foods
Quick
methodologies for
detecting harmful
microbes
Inventory
computerization
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Internet shopping
Bioterrorism
Organic food
options
Education for the
consumer
Media or consensus
does NOT = fact
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1993 – Jack in the
Box
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1996 – Odwalla
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◦ 100+ ill
◦ 4 children died
◦ E. coli O157:H7
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◦ Unpasteurized Apple
Juice
◦ E. coli O157:H7
1997 – Hudson
Foods, NE
◦ Recalled 25 million #s
of ground beef
◦ E. coli O157:H7
2006 – Bagged
Spinach Outbreak
◦ 198 cases
◦ 3 deaths
◦ E. coli O157:H7
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2007 – Great Value
& Peter Pan Peanut
Butter
◦ 425 cases
◦ 44 states
◦ Salmonella
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2007 – Spinach
Outbreak
◦ 205 confirmed
illnesses
◦ 3 deaths
◦ E. coli O157:H7
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Problems to deal with
◦ Development and use of genetically
engineered food sources
◦ Prevention of food spoilage and poisoning
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Digital readouts of degree of freshness
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Risk due to presence of compounds and
microbes
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Nutritional information that can quickly be
calculated by home computer
◦ Or incorporated into specialized diets
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What other issues/developments can you
foresee??
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Largest of all
industries in our
nation
Retail value of U.S.
food industry is
largest of all and
sales are in the
HUNDREDS of
BILLIONS of
DOLLARS!!!
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Employees 10 million
+ people in following
areas
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Growing
Fishing
Processing
Transportation
Storage
Preparation
Inspection
Distribution
Sales
marketing