• Food processing technology
  
• Beverage technology
  
• Dairy Processing technology
  
• Sweet & Snack Technology
• Meat Processing Technology
• Vegetable and fruit technology
• Fish processing technology
• Coffee and tea technology

Almost all food is processed in some way before it is eaten. Even fresh vegetables from the garden are first cleaned and trimmed. To start with, processing made foods more edible, palatable and safe, and preserved it for rainy days. Nowadays, food is processed at home – think of all that happens in our kitchens, and on an industrial scale – think of all that occurs before we open and unpack our groceries.

Mass food processing, scientific and technological know-how, and progress in storage and transportation, have allowed for greater food choices and a more varied diet, increasing the population’s likeliness to get all the nutrients required for good health. Never in human history have we had such high-quality and safe food so abundant, cheap, and readily available. With a lot of the convenience foods being energy dense, their easy accessibility may be seen as a mixed blessing for public health in today’s societies.

Food processing includes traditional (heat treatment, fermentation, pickling, smoking, drying, curing) and modern methods (pasteurisation, ultra-heat treatment, high pressure processing, or modified atmosphere packaging). Some of the common methods are described below:

• Canning: The food is heated to a high temperature. This process is called pasteurisation. Then, the food is packaged and stored in an air-tight can. 
• Fermentation: The breakdown of sugars by bacteria, yeasts or other microorganisms under anaerobic conditions. This means, no oxygen is needed for the process to take place. 
• Freezing: Food temperatures are reduced to below 0°C to decrease the activity of harmful bacteria. The process can be used to preserve the majority of foods including fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, and ready meals.
• Modified Atmosphere Packaging: Air inside a package is substituted by a protective gas mix, often including oxygen, carbon dioxide and nitrogen. They help to extend the shelf life of fresh food products
• Pasteurisation: Food is heated and then quickly cooled down to kill microorganisms.
• Smoking: A process of heat and chemical treatment of food to help preserve it by exposing it to smoke from burning material such as wood.
• Additives: They play an essential role in preserving the freshness, safety, taste, appearance and texture of processed foods.