Food technology is a branch of chemistry that consists of checking the safety of all food products before they are sold in shops. However, this is not the only thing a food technologist does.
Without food technologists and food technology, not all foods would be safe to eat, foods would go out of date much quicker, and the quality would be much worse. So, to help bring you up to speed, this article will discuss more on food technology, mainly, what it is.
Food technology involves safety and general quality control
Virtually all food and drink products require strict safety checks and quality control. Food technologists carry out these checks, basically ensuring all products intended for consumption are safe to do so. The quality control also assesses the food production and material/ingredient usage from the very beginning of the manufacturing process right to the end. This is crucial to ensure quality.
Although the process can be quite tedious, especially for food manufacturers, the last thing you want is to make people ill with your food products.
Investigate certain foods and customer complaints
Within food technology, food technologists are also often responsible for investigating certain foods to ensure they constantly meet safety and quality guidelines. However, it doesn’t stop there either.
If a customer is to make a complaint about a certain food, whether it tastes weird, or caused them to become sick, then a food technologist investigates the food to ensure it is safe. Sometimes it is not the food that caused the upset, but you can never be too careful – especially when the health of real people is concerned.
Work with suppliers to ensure optimal quality
Back to quality, within the food technology industry, you will most likely work with suppliers and customers. When working with suppliers, you will build relationships, over the phone, through email, and in person, looking around the factories to ensure maximum quality control is followed at all times.
With this hands-on approach, you can ensure all food products produced by a given company (or numerous) are safe and meet all the safety guidelines. This is essential, ensuring all food tastes as it should, is safe for consumption and tastes just as great as it should!
Food technology is a massive industry
If you haven’t yet already discovered, food technology is a massive industry. As a food technologist, you can work with individual food companies or brands, or in factories, or on the supply chain. The options are endless, making it a great job for those who have a passion for chemistry, science, and maths.