Chapter 1

An Introduction and Overview of Food

Science on Day Today Life

S. Mohana Roopan and Ganesh Elango

Abstract Food science is said to be one of the vast developing fields all over the
world. This chapter completely deals about the brief introduction of food science,
its origin, evaluation, storage techniques, packaging, etc., This food science can be
evolved from different types of sources, like plants and animals which plays a major
role in day today life. This chapter also comprises of important components present
in the food science such as carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, fats, oils, etc., and
also this chapter deals about the importance of food technology in various applica-
tional studies, for example, nanobiotechnology, agricultural fields, etc., overall this
chapter comprises of importance about food science and its regulation which will
facilitate the upcoming researchers to focus on food science.

Keywords Origin and evaluation · Major components · Nanotechnological and

agricultural applications · Storage and packaging

1.1 Introduction

Food science is one of the rapidly growing fields in all over the world. In an easier
way it is known to be a major scientific way to study about food and its regulation.
Food science comprises of various applicational disciplines like health science, bio-
chemistry, chemistry, biology, physics, genetics, nutritional science, statistics, etc.,
are utilized to deliver a safe and nutritious product to the consumers (Smithers
2016). From past decades processing of food were done using three common meth-
ods namely, fermentation, drying, and salting, these above mention processes were
performed by a mankind before 2 million years (Wrangham 2009). Food science
stated to be one of the vast areas of science which has various definitions as follows;

S. M. Roopan (*) · G. Elango

Department of Chemistry, Chemistry of Heterocycles & Natural Product Research
Laboratory, School of Advanced Sciences, Vellore Institute of Technology,
Vellore, Tamil Nadu 632014, India
e-mail: [email protected]

© Springer International Publishing AG, part of Springer Nature 2018 1

S. M. Roopan, G. Madhumitha (eds.), Bioorganic Phase in Natural Food:
An Overview, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-74210-6_1
2 S. M. Roopan and G. Elango

Integration of several basic sciences which together focus on the unique challenges
associated with foods and the systems needed to deliver food products to the con-
sumer, Application of basic sciences and engineering to study the physical, chemi-
cal, and biochemical nature of foods and the principles of food processing (Potter
and Hotchkiss 1998). Overall food science comprises of the major process said to
be processing of food. This food processing contains several fundamental aspects
like nutritional value, safety aspects, the convenience of consumer, product accep-
tance and minimization of cost. This fundamental aspect plays a major role in vari-
ous applicational disciplines (Knorr 1999).
Cultivation of crops and domestication of animals were an achievement for
humans. The Bronze Age was the beginning for humans to prepare varieties of food
which can be stored and stop exploiting animals for food (Hardy 1999). Food is a
substance which provides nutrition to grow and maintain health. A healthy diet and
regular physical activity is the foundation of good physical and mental health.
Consuming healthy food is not very complicated only calories count and variety is
important. Food science is the scientific discipline deals with chemical, biological,
physical, microbiological and other important aspects of food.
Human being depends on plant and animals for essential nutrients like carbohy-
drates, fat, protein, vitamins, minerals etc. Each and every component of nutrients
has to be taken in the proper amount. The energy intake should be balanced with the
corresponding energy expenditure. The poor intake or unbalanced diet is the main
reason for reduced immunity.The balanced diet can prevent foodborne diseases and
malnutrition. Fats, proteins, carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals intake should be
managed according to the profession and activity. Physical fitness is the ability to
perform daily physical tasks without fatigue; it involves muscular endurance, flexi-
bility, body strength, body fat composition. The diet plan is most important while
training for athletes. Each and every nutrient has its own significance. For example-­
The athletes require more calories with high protein and carbohydrates content due
to the involvement in more physical activities. Food sciences analyze and study the
change which occurs during the different process of production, storage, and pack-
ing. The quality of the prepared food depends on parameters like temperature and
composition change during the preparation, pressure change during packing, the use
of different gases during the production and packing. Plant and animals are the main
sources of nutrients for human beings. Most of the nutrition can be obtained and
fulfilled from plants directly. A country like India mainly depends on plants for
food. Most of the crops like maize, wheat, rice results from plant seeds. Plants have
different edible parts- roots, stem, flowers, leaves and most importantly fruits which
are main sources of vitamins for humans. Poultry farm is a place where rear birds
and animals are nourished with eggs, meat, milk. Animals are used directly for meat
and indirectly for milk, eggs etc. Milk is one of the most important sources of cal-
cium and protein. Plants generate food by the process of photosynthesis. It is a
process which converts light energy into chemical energy by consuming carbon
dioxide. Green plants are classified as photoautotrophs. Prototroph are organisms
which are able to synthesize their food themselves using light as the source of
energy. As a result of photosynthesis, sugars are obtained which can readily be
1 An Introduction and Overview of Food Science on Day Today Life 3

c­onsumed by humans. Nowadays, many people find wine tasting a recreation.

Preparation of wine involves the process of fermentation. The preparation of the
wine is a scientific process and involves attention. The appearance, clarity, odor,
taste, after-smell, finishing depends on the time of aging and the process. The clarity
of the wine is viewed at the angle of 300–450 against the bright light. The viscosity
of the wine is affected by sugar, alcoholic and glycerol content. The study of the
wine requires analytical chemistry techniques for inspection. Nutrition supports ill-
ness and takes care of human health. Based on the availability of the food resources,
the flavors and the diet varies from country to country. For example- the extensive
production of coconut in the southern part of the India makes the coconut oil first
choice for cooking. Coconut oil is one the healthiest oil available. It contains
medium chain fatty acids which are saturated and makes it easy to digest. Agencies
like International Association for Food Protection, World Resources Institute, World
Food Programme, Food and Agriculture Organization, and International Food
Information Council monitors the food security and safety. According to World
Health Organization (WHO), children under the age of 5 years are more prone to
foodborne diseases. Long-term intake of contaminated food can cause long-term
health problems. Awareness is biggest problems for the countries fighting food-
borne diseases.

1.1.1 Food Science Origin and Evolution

This food science can be practiced by thousands and thousands of years ago, maybe
before history was recorded food science has been practiced (Wrangham 2009). The
above-mentioned author stated about that the fire was invented before 2 million
years ago to cook food and also he stated that the treatment of heat plays a major
role for processing of food in several industries (Henry 1997; Floros et al. 2010).
Nowadays the transformation of food is completely reliable on reactions per-
formed by enzymes, in another term it can be called as fermentation. These pro-
cesses of fermentation were introduced several past decades. In ancient days several
processes of molecular systems were involved by fermentation engineers and food
enzymologist, Examples like flat bread are prepared from bread dates in 30, 000 BC,
whereas these type of bread were still prepared in several countries in Egypt, North
America, Europe, etc., (McGee 2007). Then Beer and wine product were also
invented in ancient dates back to 7000 BC by the process of fermentation and con-
tamination of spore yeasts (Mirsky 2007). Recently most of the peoples focusing on
bread and cheese, but these products are explored back about 6000 BC by fermenta-
tion of food product said to be milk (Michel et al. 1993). These are some of the
important ancient food regulations like, cooking, storage, processing and transfor-
mation which elaborate the heritage of food science in olden days (Dornbusch 2006;
Farhat-Holzman 2014). In later 18th and 19th century the revolutions protested by
industry modify the entire society which leads to loss of habitat and scarcity of food
materials and also it leads to increase in the population through improved health,
4 S. M. Roopan and G. Elango

medical facilities, and better sanitation. This population increase has to feed with
food, whereas identified that the nineteenth century would suffer in hunger and
starvation due to unpredictable increase in population growth.
To overcome these drawbacks (Henry 1997; Floros et al. 2010) came to an output
of mass production of food for providing food to the rapidly growing population.
But this mass production also has a drawback of storage and transportation. For this
transportation and storage process, Louis Pasteur thermal treatment known as
Pasteurization plays a role to increase the shelf life of foods and also decrease the
bacterial contaminants of the food material which are packed and transported. These
Pasteurization processes were majorly utilized in several industrial sectors of food
processing.
In the recent era, the field of food science grows rapidly due to development of
the technology of food science and various disciplines of engineering. Moreover,
nutritional sciences were elaborately understood the major and minor components
of food and food sources (Micro and macronutrients). Further, the analytical chem-
istry tends to identify the food adulteration. The modern science of food processing
was stated by Henry 1997 which extends the automation of food processing, pas-
teurization, non-thermal development of food process, dehydration, concentration,
etc. The modern food science professional could be a chemist, biochemist, physi-
cist, molecular biologist, a chemical engineer, nutritionist, or even a mathematician,
not to mention the many other science and engineering pursuits that form the meld
that is food science. The evolution of food science, particularly over the past cen-
tury, has been punctuated by the exciting intersection of the many basic science and
engineering disciplines. Food science has transitioned from a very empirical pursuit
to one that’s dominated by a strong fundamental science base that has underpinned
the research and development responsible for the myriad of successful food prod-
ucts and ingredients available today.

1.1.2 Food and Its Sources

Plants and animals are major sources of food, provides energy to do work. Animals
are not only taken directly as meat but products like milk and eggs can also be
obtained. The food derived from animals are not consistent, it depends on breeding.
The productivity can be increased via hybridization but not necessarily.

1.1.3 Plant Sources

Meat, poultry, and fish can provide a high amount of protein with subsequently less
fat, but it is not always true as skinless white-meat is low in calories and fat. Due to
the high amount of protein in meat, it helps in building and repairing body tissues,
protects the body from infection and strengthens the immune system. The meat is
1 An Introduction and Overview of Food Science on Day Today Life 5

high in vitamins and minerals like iron, zinc, selenium content. Iron is responsible
for carrying oxygen in our body by forming a complex with hemoglobin. Creative
levels are usually found to be low in vegetarians than people who consumed meat;
it can increase brain functioning and level of oxygenated hemoglobin (Benton and
Donohoe 2011; Fowsiya et al. 2016; Fowsiya and Madhumitha 2017).
Killing animals for food can lead to an imbalance of ecosystem. According to
Environment Protection Agency, killings animals for food is a major cause of water
pollution. The parenting of these animals involves consumption of plant, crops,
water, fossil fuels and soil. Many of the forests are cleared for cropping and generat-
ing food for animals which leads to a problem like soil erosion. Animals like cows,
chicken, pig or fish consume much more resources than corresponding obtained
meat. Milk contains proteins, amino acids, fat and other nutrients. It can easily ful-
fill the basic daily nutrition need for young ones. The content of fat and protein in
milk depends on the breed of the cow or buffalo and its stage of lactation. Milk
protein comprises of caseins, whey proteins, serum albumin and immunoglobulin
(Givens and Shingfield 2004). The protein in cow’s milk is higher in casein than
whey protein (Haffman and Falvo 2004).

1.1.4 Food Safety

Easy going management during technical development in processing, packaging,

distribution, and storage can lead to the growth of the pathogenic organism in food.
The competition between food industries is increasing. Due to the competition,
industries are practicing fraud and adulteration. Adulterants can be easily mixed
with food and can be very difficult to detect to detect. The addition of adulterants
can be profitable for companies but sometimes can be compromising for consumers
and may result in health problems. These substances can lead to health and eco-
nomic problems for global food industries. To detect these adulterants, techniques
like near infrared, mid-infrared, Raman spectroscopy, electronic noises, and tongues
are taken into account (Ellis et al. 2016). Addition of water to milk, selling skimmed
milk as whole milk, the addition of an artificial sweetener and synthetic preserva-
tives to food are some of the common practices which involve adulteration.

1.1.5 Balanced Diet and Healthy Guidelines

A balanced diet is a diet which comprises of a variety of food and provides an ade-
quate amount of each nutrient to maintain health. As it is already discussed before,
the nutrients intake depends on age, gender, profession and performed activities.
The fruits, vegetables, whole grain, lean proteins, nuts are taken to fulfill daily calo-
ries needed. The energy consumed from food is calculated in terms of calories.
Calories are a unit to measure the energy and are equal to 4.2 J. To function in
6 S. M. Roopan and G. Elango

Diary Milk, Curd, Cheese

Proteins Meat, Pork, Fish

Carbohydrates Potatoes, Rice, Oats

Fats Olive oil, Avocados

Balanced diet

Fruits Apple, Grapes

Vegetables Carrot, Spinach

Grains Whole flour

Fig. 1.1 Major constituents of balanced diet

proper way body tissues and organs requires an adequate amount of nutrition.
Without good nutrition, the body is more prone to diseases, infections, and fatigue.
Even if the person is fulfilling the required amount of calories and not taking a
healthy diet, it can lead to obesity and diabetes.

1.1.6  ajor Components of Balanced Diet

M
and Their Importance

Major components in food cycle for maintaining balance diet were clearly illus-
trated in Fig. 1.1.

1.1.6.1 Carbohydrates

Carbohydrates are macronutrients as they are a major source of energy. It provides

energy to the central nervous system. The carbohydrates are classified as simple and
complex. As it can interpret by given names, simple carbohydrates are easy to con-
sume whereas complex carbohydrates take some time to digest. Simple carbohy-
drates are monosaccharide’s and usually, exist as fructose in fruits. These are present
in soft drinks, candy etc. which are considered as empty calories and responsible for
weight gain. Whereas complex carbohydrates are polysaccharides present in bread,
corns, potatoes. A complex carbohydrate usually takes time to digest.
1 An Introduction and Overview of Food Science on Day Today Life 7

1.1.6.2 Proteins

Proteins are building blocks for the body. They are responsible for catalyzing meta-
bolic reactions, DNA replications, repairing the muscle tissues in the body. Proteins
are amino acids and are classified into two categories: essential and non-essential.
The body requires minimum 0.8 grams of protein per 20 pounds of body weight
(Livingston 1972). The deficiency of proteins can cause muscle loss, growth failure
and decreased immunity. According to the studies conducted by Harvard University,
even small consumption of red meat on regular basis can increase the risk of cardio-
vascular diseases (Bernstein et al. 2010; Pan et al. 2012; Bernstein et al. 2012).

1.1.6.3 Fats and Oils

Fat is one the most important macronutrients. The fat supplies immediate energy
and is stored in excess of the body for immediate energy requirement. Fats and oils
are classified on the bases number and type of bonds present between the carbon
atoms. Oil is the fat with small unsaturated fatty acid and normally exists in liquid
form at room temperature. Due to close packing of saturated fats, it exists as solid
at room temperature. Vitamins A, E, K, and D are fat soluble and can only be
digested or absorbs with fat.
Malnutrition is a serious condition due to the improper intake of nutrition. An
overdose of certain specific nutrition like fat can lead to obesity. Malnutrition is the
result of undernutrition. Poor intake of nutrients results to undernutrition. Weak
muscles, tiredness, low mood, anxiety, sudden decreases in weight, infections are
some of the common symptoms of malnutrition. Healthy and balanced diet is the
best way to prevent malnutrition. People have right to decide how many children
they have to give birth. This is the reason why people of countries like India are
sometimes enabling to meet their daily nutrition need. Family planning an impor-
tant role in controlling the population and fulfilling persons daily nutrition need. A
women’s body can exhaust by repeated pregnancies, a women should at least wait
for two years before getting pregnant again. Healthy diet and balance of nutrients is
the most advised by the doctors to have a healthy baby. Citizens of developing coun-
tries face problems in acquiring proper and adequate food which is unacceptable.
Every person on this earth has right to eat healthy food, the wastage of the food
should stop which can done by spreading awareness among people.

1.1.6.4 Nanotechnology in Agriculture and Food

Nanotechnology gives new possibilities for the food and agricultural industries and
several programs may be observed at one kind of meals manufacturing chain like
agrochemicals shipping and nanomaterials for detection of animal and plant
pathogens.
8 S. M. Roopan and G. Elango

This list of applications derives from the currently posted “Stock of nanotechnol-
ogy programs within the agricultural, feed and meals” aimed toward defining the
contemporary state of artwork and the destiny traits of nanotechnology exploitation
in food and agriculture. Particularly, it has emerged that 276 nanomaterials (NMs)
are presently available on the market for ex; silver and titanium dioxide have the
very best range of information inside the food components. As a long way as destiny
traits are worried, evidently, a capability shift from inorganic materials like silver to
organic materials like nano-encapsulates and nanocomposites might occur, suggest-
ing that programs in novel meals feed components, biocides and insecticides were
up to now only at an R&D. In this context, there are several packages that could be
of interest for products of animal beginning, at some point of farming practices, at
some stage in the processing of meat products and all through storage and
advertising.

1.1.7 Food Safety and Packaging

How secure is the food that we eat?

Evolved international locations have ensured that the meals that visit the market
are very well checked at diverse factors and ensure that there is no opportunity for
dangerous substances present inside the food. Purchasers who buy processed foods
genuinely demand all the information regarding it. Within the latest beyond troubles
like mislabeling, fraud, authenticity and starting place have had a notable effect on
the economic system, in addition to the purchasers who decide on processed foods.
Food objects and uncooked ingredients are the most suitable for adulteration and
fraud and that they have multiplied considerably. The two popular motives for meals
adulteration are that its miles profitable and adulterants can be without difficulty
blended making the system detection extra tedious. Criminal authorities have to
ensure truthful alternate, meals safety and freedom of preference. In surroundings
of a humungous technological technique, the evolution of purchaser life styles and
among the backdrop of monetary troubles the miles very crucial to improve food
protection and benefit the costumer self-belief within the food supply.
The non-compositional elements of meals are of large interest to many purchas-
ers. This aspect of food is not associated with the unique composition of the meals
i.e., proteins fats and the color present in them. In addition, they include the geo-
graphical beginning, rearing or production systems, processing, storage, and wel-
fare. The exceptional system and protocols through which meals are demonstrated
as conforming to its label description are known as food authentication.
Meals toxicology or chemical meals protection is a multidisciplinary and con-
tinuously evolving location of crucial importance to all stakeholders of the agro-­
food region. Food safety is of prime significance and is, in reality, an absolute
necessity a good way to don’t forget a probably edible commodity.
Food safety is a prime problem for enterprise, governments, and purchasers. Novel
danger control schemes including the meals protection objective with extra efficient
1 An Introduction and Overview of Food Science on Day Today Life 9

regulation are proposed as major mechanisms to decorate food safety. Elements such
as meals innovation in the international market and new food habits obtained via
customers over the world are applicable challenges to food protection that need to be
addressed by using Governments and industry. In this case, nowadays industries are
keen to discover extra green renovation technology as a way to improve meals protec-
tion along the global food chain even as an assembly the purchaser demands greater
natural and healthful meals. For the above reasons, food is now going through vital
challenges concerning food protection and exceptional through the software of a
mixed approach specifically primarily based on using meals protection rapid-reaction
tools, the improvement of the novel and more natural food renovation technologies as
well as the software of quantitative threat assessment strategies.
Food packaging can be a completely effective tool for controlling the increase of
pathogenic organisms in meals. The number of the exceptional packaging technolo-
gies like the antimicrobial energetic packaging (AAP) will interact with the pack-
aged food or the bundle headspace has obtained a whole lot of interest by way of the
clinical network. Further, the author discusses the insights related to the present day
regulatory repute and literary techniques of AAP that specialize in herbal and anti-
microbial along with vital oils, plant extracts, or ethanol through various providers.
Nowadays researchers end up with a successful attempt of AAP displaying the
capacity advantages for the food enterprise (shelf-existence extension, prevention
of recollects expenses, or recognition harm).

1.2 Conclusion

This chapter completely comprises of source of food science, major components of

food science like carbohydrates, proteins, vitamins, fats, oils, etc., storage condi-
tions of food at different climatic conditions, packaging and stability of food and
various applications of food science nowadays like, role of food science in agricul-
tural process and also major nanotechnological applications. Moreover, this chapter
will facilitate most of the researchers to focus their work towards food science and
its vast area of applications.

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