The food industry is a complex global network of diverse companies that supplies most of the food consumed by the world's population. Nowadays, the food industry has become very diversified, and manufacturing ranges from small, traditional and family activities that require a lot of labor, to large, capital-intensive and highly mechanized industrial processes. Many food industries are almost completely dependent on local agriculture, agricultural products, or fishing. Examples of primary processing include milling wheat, pasteurizing milk, and grading and refrigerating meat, and are often a necessary step to ensure food safety before food is consumed.
Some secondary food production processes, such as heat treatment, fermentation and packaging, can be used to extend the shelf life of the main food ingredient. Although there is no formal definition of the term, the food industry encompasses all aspects of the production and sale of food. Food processing uses components that are cleaned, harvested or slaughtered and dismembered and uses them to produce marketable food products. The specialization gives students the flexibility to choose courses related to their individual interests in agri-food systems, marketing, food industry sales, or global food security.
Secondary food processes may vary depending on the type of food group, but may include physical processes such as pressing, milling and dehydration, and chemical processes such as hydrolysis, hydrogenation, or the use of enzymes. In ancient times, the basic purpose of food processing was conservation, which allowed people to store food for longer. The term “food production” is sometimes used in a broader sense to group most activities related to the food industry, such as agriculture, processing and distribution. Most of the food produced for the food industry comes from basic crops that use conventional agricultural practices.
The last activity of the food system concerns the consumption of food and the elimination of waste, which, unfortunately, is beyond the scope of this course. Food processing are the methods and techniques used to transform raw materials into food for human consumption. We learned about food production facilities, which are industries that take raw fruits, vegetables or animals and process them to produce ingredients that are used for cooking or converting them into food that can be eaten directly. As consumers move ever further away from food production, the role of product creation, advertising and advertising are becoming the main vehicles for information about food.
The food industry is the complex network of farmers and diverse companies that, together, supply much of the food consumed by the world's population. As populations around the world are concentrated in urban areas, buying food is increasingly remote from all aspects of food production.
