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Food Technology - A Good Career Option
by Ashwini Kumar
Singh
Director - DREDS
(District Rural Education Development Society)
Gopalganj, Bihar.
dredsgopalganj@hotmail.com
October 16, 2004 Page 1 | Page 2 | Page 3
The Career
Processed and
preserved foodstuffs have been among the most
remarkable catalysts for bringing about change
in the food habits of a substantially large
urban population. From eating merely for
subsistence, people now show preference for
supplementing their diet with value-added
foodstuffs. Increase in consumption of processed
foods is noticeable across various categories of
the population and the trend of 'eating out' has
grown manifold. With these trends the market for
processed food is growing significantly and it
is expected that the food industry should grow
rapidly and cross the two hundred thousand crore
mark by the turn of the century.
The domestic
industry has been largely handled by the
disorganized sector in the past. However, with
growth on the anvil, investment and
restructuring is required in processing,
retailing and for setting up cooperatives as
well as for streamlining the agricultural inputs
sector to enhance the growth of this industry.
Food production, procurement, processing,
distribution networks and retailing are
attracting large integrated players into the
field. With the open market policies of the
government, this industry has attracted
multinational participation. This industry
should offer tremendous opportunities to
qualified food technologists and entrepreneurs.
The Nature of Job
Food Technology is
the study of sciences related to food
processing, which involves preservation of
fruits, sea food, meats, cooked foods,
vegetables, juices and beverages and also the
manufacture of confectionary, snacks, foodstuffs
and packaging. The tasks:
- Research
for devising new and improved food
processing techniques.
- Guiding
the processing, conservation and
preservation of foodstuffs.
- Creating
new foodstuffs generated from plant and
animal life.
- Improving
existing techniques for economizing,
processing, adding value, creating new
tastes for providing impetus to marketing
and consumption of processed foodstuffs.
- Evolving
measures such as infestation control,
fungicidal treatment and insecticidal
storage to protect foods from spoiling and
damage.
- Examining
foodstuffs for contamination, adulteration,
food value, etc. by biochemical and
nutrition tests and quality control
measures.
- Developing
new methods and processes for recovering
useful and utilizable by products from
industrial and domestic wastes of
foodstuffs.
Next: Who
should pursue it? =>
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