Food science programs teach people to process raw agricultural crops and products into food for humans. Students learn the scientific principles behind food processing, storage, packaging, and distribution. They study human nutrition, food chemistry, microbiology, and human health and safety.

Have you ever tried to re-freeze melted ice cream? If so, you probably discovered that the results are disastrous!

Have you ever eaten caramelized apples? Do you ever wonder how sugar and butter could transform ordinary apple slices into a rich, gooey dessert?

What about the berries in cold cereals that plump up when you pour milk over them? In the dead of winter, you can eat cereal with strawberries and blueberries. How is this possible?

These are just a few of the kinds of questions you can answer as a food scientist. It's easy to take for granted all the food products we eat that couldn't exist without the discoveries and inventions of food science and technology. The fact is, the journeys from tomato seed to canned tomato soup, or from an egg to frozen chicken tenders, or from wheat and milk to boxed macaroni and cheese are complicated. They rely on chemistry, biology, and engineering. Food science consists of a combination of these and other fields.

As a student in this program, these fields provide you with the scientific background necessary to learn how to bring food from the fields and oceans into our grocery stores and home. You learn to store and process foods so that bacteria and other toxic products don't form. You study methods for analyzing the taste, texture, and other qualifications of food products. You learn to develop products so that the original nutritional values remain intact. You also study ways of maximizing the possible uses of raw agricultural products.

A background in food science prepares you for a wide range of careers. You might conduct research on food additives such as sweeteners made from sugar products. You might develop better ways to process and package food products, improve production, or develop new foods or new markets. You might also work to market and sell these new products.

About 110 schools offer programs in food science where you can earn a bachelor's, a master's, or a doctoral degree. In general, a bachelor's degree takes about four years of full-time study after high school, and a master's degree about one to two years after that. After a master's degree, you typically need about three to four years of full-time study to earn a doctoral degree.

In addition, some schools offer certificates and associate degrees in food science. These options usually take about one to two years to complete.