Paradigms in Research on Food Science, Technology, and Engineering: Impact on Public Health

The aim of this article is to argue the importance of paradigms in the development of research in science, technology, engineering and food innovation to achieve a holistic understanding and effective solutions for public health. The positivist paradigm provides essential tools for quantifying, controlling, and ensuring fun-damental aspects of food quality and safety, offering significant benefits for public health. The post-positivist approach addresses more complex aspects of food systems and their interactions with humans and the environment. The constructivist paradigm seeks meaningful impact on public health by focusing on meanings, lived experiences, cultural contexts, and the co-creation of knowledge, thereby complementing positivist and post-positivist perspectives. The socio-critical paradigm examines power dynamics and structures of ine-quality underlying many food and public health issues; it does not merely seek to describe or interpret but actively pursues transformation toward a fairer, more equitable, and sustainable food system. Finally, the pragmatic paradigm offers a flexible, action-oriented framework that, through its connection with public health, frees researchers from the constraints of a single approach, fosters creativity in research design, promotes interdisciplinary collaboration, and generates knowledge that can be directly applied to solve practical problems and improve the health and well-being of populations.