Food Technology started out as a scientific research and mainly focused on preservation of food. In 1795, Nicolas Appert, a French inventor started experimenting with ways to preserve food products and succeeded with soup, vegetables, juices, dairy products, jams, syrups and jellies. He placed the food in glass jars, sealed them with cork and sealing wax. He then boiled the contents in the jar by keeping it in boiling water for as long as he deemed important for the food to be cooked thoroughly. Though this method was used by homemakers already, it was Appert who did it in an industrial scale for the first time.
image credits: Wikipedia
Appert's method was so simple that it quickly became widespread though he never understood how it worked. In1810, a British inventor and merchant Peter Durand patented his own method using tin cans. Appert is therefore known as the Father of Canning and some also consider him the Father of Food Science though the modern food industry involves much more than just food preservation. Appert described his invention as a way of "conserving all kinds of food substances in containers".
[Appert's canning jar]
Louis Pasteur's research on the spoilage of wine and his description to how avoid spoilage in 1864 was an early attempt in application of scientific methods in the food industry. He also researched the production of alcohol, wine, vinegar, beer and the souring of milk.
[Louis Pasteur's experiment on Pasteurisation]
He developed Pasteurisation [named after him], a method used to destroy food spoilage and disease causing organisms by heating milk and milk products. With his research in food technology, he became a pioneer in bacteriology and modern preventive medicine.
From preservation and canning of food, the food industry has come a long way and currently food science consists of five branches:
Food Microbiology
Food Engineering and Processing
Food Chemistry and Biochemistry
Nutrition
Sensory Analysis
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