21^st Global Summit on Food Processing, Safety & Technology September 28-29, 2018 Chicago, Illinois, USA

Food and agriculture covers all aspects of research in the field of agricultural and food sciences in its widest sense. To better understand how organisms relevant to agriculture, food and nutrition function  This includes: biological science, animal science, veterinary science, plant science, microbiological science, soil science, genetics and breeding, agricultural system science or any other fundamental discipline related to food, agriculture and fisheries.

Examination of foods to assure wholesome and clean products free from unsafe microbes or chemical contamination, natural or added deleterious substances, and decomposition during production, processing, packaging, etc.

Food fraud is the protection of food products from intentional contamination or adulteration by biological, chemical, physical, or radiological agents. It addresses additional concerns including physical, personnel and operational security. This is in contrast to food safety, which is based on accidental or environmental contamination, and food security, which deals with individuals having access to enough food for an active, healthy life. These three terms are often conflated. Food protection is the umbrella term encompassing both food defense and food safety.

Probiotics are microorganisms that are believed to provide health benefits when consumed. The term probiotic is currently used to name ingested microorganisms associated with benefits for humans and animals. Whereas prebiotics are substances that induce the growth or activity of microorganisms (e.g., bacteria and fungi) that contribute to the well-being of their host. The most common example is in the gastrointestinal tract, where prebiotics can alter the composition of organisms in the gut microbiome. 

Nutrition is the science that interprets the interaction of nutrients and other substances in food in relation to maintenance, growth, reproduction, health and disease of an organism. It includes food intake, absorption, assimilation, biosynthesis, catabolism and excretion. Nutritional Disorder is a condition that results from eating a diet in which nutrients are either not enough or are too much such that the diet causes health problems. It may involve calories, protein, carbohydrates, vitamins or minerals. Not enough nutrients are called under nutrition or undernourishment while too much is called over nutrition. Malnutrition is often used specifically to refer to under nutrition where there is not enough a calorie, protein, or micronutrients. If under nutrition occurs during pregnancy, or before two years of age, it may result in permanent problems with physical and mental development. Food management is a broad process that involves the proper oversight of food selection, preparation, presentation, and preservation.

The nutritional value of food refers to the range and fine of vitamins and minerals determined in the food item, in step with the healthy food. Understanding concerning the vigour (measured in calories), the macronutrients, micronutrients and phytochemicals of the meals are required to understand this. A food chain is a linear network of links in a food web starting from producer organisms (such as grass or trees which use radiation from the sun to make their food) and ending at apex predator species (like grizzly bears or killer whales), detritivores (like earthworms or woodlice), or decomposer species (such as fungi or bacteria).

Nanotechnology permits nano-carrier systems for delivery of nutrients and supplements. Nanotechnology is manipulation of matter on an atomic, molecular, and supramolecular scale. Nanotechnology has begun to find potential applications in the area of functional food by engineering biological molecules toward functions very different from those they have in nature, opening up a whole new area of research and development. Nanotechnology also has the potential to improve food processes that use enzymes to confer nutrition and health benefits. For example, enzymes are often added to food to hydrolyze anti-nutritive components and hence increase the bio-availability of essential nutrients such as minerals and vitamins. To make these enzymes highly active, long lived and cost-effective, nanomaterials can be used to provide superior enzyme-support systems due to their large surface-to-volume ratios compared to traditional macroscale support materials.

Food health is food considered beneficial to health in ways that go beyond a normal healthy diet required for human nutrition. Food variety means eating a wide variety of foods from each of the five food groups, in the amounts recommended. Eating many different foods helps maintain a healthy and interesting diet which provides a range of different nutrients to the body. Eating a variety of foods promotes good health and can help reduce the risk of disease. Health claims refer to a relationship between a food and health rather than a statement of content.

The term meat industry describes modern industrialized livestock agriculture for production, packing, preservation and marketing of meat (in contrast to dairy products, wool, etc.). In economics, it is a fusion of primary (agriculture) and secondary (industry) activity and hard to characterize strictly in terms of either one alone. The greater part of the entire meat industry is termed meat packing industry- the segment that handles the slaughtering, processing, packaging, and distribution of animals such as cattle, pigs, sheep and other livestock.

Biotech crop was commercialized in 1996; some food activists have raised uncertainty about whether or not biotech crops are as safe as conventional crops. The use of agricultural biotechnology increases globally (currently biotech crops are preferred by more than 15 million growers in 29 countries), people need to be better informed about food production. Biotechnology has proven to be an essential tool in meeting this challenge of increasing our safe and affordable food supply. Biotechnology helps farmers to grow crops that resist diseases and pests and that require less fertilizers. Future technologies will enable farmers to grow crops that are drought-tolerant, or freeze-tolerant, and crops that have an increased nutritional value – this is especially important in developing countries where malnutrition and food poverty has reached tragic levels.

The terms food safety and food quality can sometimes be confusing. Food safety refers to all those hazards, whether chronic or acute, that may make food injurious to the health of the consumer. It is not negotiable. Quality includes all other attributes that influence a product's value to the consumer. This includes negative attributes such as spoilage, contamination with filth, discoloration, off-odours and positive attributes such as the origin, colour, flavour, texture and processing method of the food. In considering market to consumer practices, the usual thought is that food ought to be safe in the market and the concern is safe delivery and preparation of the food for the consumer.

Dairy technology is about milk and milk-derived food products from a food science perspective. It focuses on the biological, chemical, physical, and microbiological aspects of milk itself, and on the technological (processing) aspects of the transformation of milk into its various consumer products, including beverages, fermented products, concentrated and dried products, butter and ice cream.

Food production is the process of transforming raw ingredients into prepared food products. Food production includes industries that take raw food products and convert them into marketable food items. Home food production includes converting produce into forms for long-term storage. Food processing is the process of changing or transforming raw food materials into consumable forms or products. Food processing offers many advantages such as prolonging the life span of the food, preventing food from going bad, for easy packaging etc. Food preservation involves preventing the growth of bacteria, fungi (such as yeasts), or other micro-organisms (although some methods work by introducing benign bacteria or fungi to the food), as well as slowing the oxidation of fats that cause rancidity.

Food processing is the conversion of raw ingredients, by physical or chemical means into food, or of food into other forms. Food processing combines raw food ingredients to produce marketable food products that can be easily prepared and served by the consumer. Emerging technologies which have already found in the food industry or related sector are High pressure processing , pulsed electric fields, ultrasound , and cold plasma .The basic principles of these technologies as well as the state of the art concerning their impact on biological cells, enzymes, and food constituents. Current and potential applications will be discussed, focusing on process-structure-function relationships, as well as recent advances in the process development and in the other way food technology is a branch of food science that deals with the production processes that make foods.