Food scientists study the chemical, microbiological, physical and organoleptic nature of food and apply their knowledge to the development, creation, processing, packaging, distribution and storage of the products we consume.
Responsibilities
The presence of food scientists is focused on five main areas:
- Basic Research: deals with the study of the structure and composition of food or the changes that food undergoes during storage and processing. For example, scientists in research can highlight new sources of protein or investigate factors that affect the structure, texture or even color of food.
- Applied Research and Development – deals with the development of new processing methods by creating new or improved products with a longer lifespan. Research and development scientists usually work directly with marketing departments or even sales departments that come in contact with customers.
- Quality assurance – deals with the control of raw materials used in the production process but also with the final product itself, in order to meet the necessary specifications. Food scientists can develop quality assurance programs to inspect production facilities (quality audit) to apply, improve methods, but also to carry out specialized laboratory tests.
- Processing – the scientist deals with the planning of production processes, in order to produce products according to the specifications, with the development of production process parameters and collaborating with engineers and technical staff for the proper operation of instruments and machines.
- Legislative – the object of the scientist is the control (by the state bodies) of productive spaces, investigating complaints and participating in international and local recalls but also with the legislative process itself through committees.
Basic elements in education
In order for the graduates of a school to cope with the ever-increasing demands that arise in the labor market, the various schools that exist try to include a large number and sometimes a different type of courses that contain data from
- Chemistry, usually with two directions, organic and inorganic, but also more specialized Food Chemistry
- Biology courses with general Biology and more specific microbiology but also Biotechnology
- Nutrition basic nutrients and their effect on health -Natural General physics but also more specific natural food chemistry
- Mathematics
- Statistics
- General and special mechanical engineering for food factories
- Legislation with emphasis on food and nutrition
Modern training requirements
In recent years, European research has tended to give another dimension to the education of food scientists. In particular, the European Commission (TRACK FAST program), in the context of a European survey on the requirements for training of food scientists and in a number of 16 different countries, from March 2010 to August 2011, sought – identified the are now essential for a food scientist. Out of a total of 3000 attributes-qualifications mentioned in the research, the most frequent presence was the communication feature at 13%, while another feature that was requested by 28% of the respondents was the ability to develop new products. a gradual shift from the part of technical specialization, in matters of handling communication issues and in the creativity of creating new products.
Greek education
Today, food scientists trained in Greek universities have a wide range of skills that enable them to stand at local and European level. After all, many European services are made up of Greek scientists and researchers.