Want to learn more about milk and cookies? Image source: Wikimedia
Food scientists do lots of things: some develop new food products; some test food to make sure it is safe; others work with consumers to evaluate how food is perceived by our senses: how it looks; tastes; smells and feels and even the effect on our brain. Some food scientists look at the structure of food and how the chemical and physical nature of food can influence our health. Some food scientists look at how we make food more nutritious and how we can add value to the food chain… Food scientists work in some challenging areas: how are we going to tackle producing and manufacturing food for an increasing population as resources become scarcer? Sometimes food scientists even get to eat the results of their experiments!
In this zone there are scientists trying to figure out what genes and proteins make beef and pork tender and tasty; using bits of chicken and fish to prevent heart attacks, or looking at the genetic differences in how we taste to see if they affect our food choices. There is also one scientist fishing for vitamins in milk, and another one works with molecules that are in the plants that we eat every day!