Food sector: A green pasture for jobs and business

Bengaluru probably first heard of a Food Technologist when in the early 2000s a bakery advertised itself as a product of a food technologist. However, food science as a discipline goes way back to the early 1900s when the need to formalise the age-old systems of preservation of food and agricultural produce for economic gains was felt.

This is when it moved from the home kitchen to a lab as a subject of study. In India, it started with the establishment of the National Dairy Research Institute (NDRI) in Bengaluru in 1927 (then called Imperial Institute for Animal Husbandry and Dairying) which later expanded to Karnal.

Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore was established in 1950 to cater to the needs of scientific research related to the food industry. But the biggest gains in the industry came post the 1990s’ liberalisation which brought in investments and saw rapid growth in the industry.

Food Science and technology is a field of study and research that is a combination of multiple disciplines, namely, chemistry, biochemistry, nutrition, microbiology, and engineering to fully study the many aspects and facets of the food industry. It is a great place to be if you love your biology but have an engineering bend of mind.

Emerging field

Food processing has a share of 11.6% of total employment and contributes 10.4% of the total exports. With the government’s focus on increasing processing capacity and export, to increase farmer income, this is a great place to be.

Careers in this domain can be as varied as any other. The first amongst them would be new product development. This involves creating products based on market research, nutritional profile, product shelf life or cost parity.

Then there is research and development on improvement in processes of manufacturing to increase throughput, and better preservation with as little loss in nutrition. Improved processes can help reduce the cost of transport and logistics by taking away the requirements of putting it in the cold storage.

The next type of career is in regulatory and compliance. Food is a high-risk business and hence highly regulated across the world. All countries have their own regulations around the ingredients that can be used, and the permissible limits for these.

There are also regulations on what must be declared on the labels and how it should be displayed. This requires a deep understanding of the various aspects of the product, its category as well as and an understanding of the regulations. This needs to be done both for the domestic market and the international markets for the food being exported out of the country

Quality assurance, control

Unlike other products, the cost of error in food production can result in the loss of human lives. Hence quality assurance plays a very important role. All food establishments, whether they make packaged food or serve fresh food, like restaurants, caterers and cloud kitchens are expected to implement a Food Safety Management System based on principles of HACCP and follow the systems to ensure that the food thus produced is safe for human consumption.

The systems need periodic auditing to ensure that they are working as desired and also to bring about improvements in the processes. There is also a requirement to check the efficacy of the system through periodic testing and verification of control parameters in a lab.

One can also make a career in the field of instrumentation and equipment design for testing food products. Rapid testing of the food is critical and designing equipment and kits for testing require a deep understanding of the food being tested, and its reactions/response to the environmental factors, contaminants as well as reagents. There is also the critical need to improve the accuracy of the testing to be able to detect ever-reducing limits of contaminants. The testing systems also must stay in pace with an ever-growing list of ingredients being added to food both natural as well as synthetic.

Like all shop floors, food processing units employ food technologists to plan and supervise the production to get an optimum output and products free of hazards. Food production is a complex process with multiple stages that need to be carefully controlled and monitored. The plant managers are responsible for ensuring that the raw materials that are being used are as per the specification and ensure the consistent quality of finished products.

Business opportunities

If you are more business-oriented, there are plenty of opportunities in that area as well. Things like machinery, test equipment, food ingredients and chemicals used in food production require domain knowledge to be able to talk to the customers, get their requirements and provide the right solution. Not just products, even pitching services becomes easy if you come with domain expertise.

Additionally, there are also career opportunities in adjacent fields like nutrition where newer categories like functional foods and nutraceuticals have brought nutrition to the forefront. Packaging technology is a whole industry by itself where you have to ensure that the food preserves its taste and flavour for the longest time possible without contaminating the product itself. There are ample research opportunities in academia on similar lines.

The food sector is a high-growth and fast-evolving field with plenty of opportunities. The push to move toward sustainability will also drive a lot of innovation in the industry.

(The author is an entrepreneur in food sector)