Food Engineering as an Advancing Branch of Chemical Engineering

During the past two decades, application of established chemical engineering principles in food industry has rapidly become an important branch of chemical engineering. Challenges faced by engineers and technologists have been in the areas of preserving the original food quality, creating new food structures in large quantities and at high rates. Active ingredients within foods that are good for human consumption must be kept within acceptable limits. Collaborations with food and nutrition scientists and microbiologists, microelectronic engineers etc. are an essential element for success. Studies have been conducted at all scales (from molecular (nano scale), macromolecular, to macroscopic and large scales such as packaged foods). In the area of chemical engineering education, there is an increasing amount of interest in introducing chemical engineering students to food related concepts. Both Australia and New Zealand have very large agri-food businesses. The challenges due to the specific materials (food materials) concerned in R & D have led to many inventions that have great potentials in new food development. In this lecture, the advances made in food engineering research and new technology development will be highlighted.