FOOD TECHNOLOGY

India is one of the most important food producers in the world. Although food processing is one of the biggest industries in India ranking fifth in terms of production, consumption, export and expected growth, it accounts for only 1.7 % of world trade in this sector. However, the changing lifestyles, food habits, urbanization, organized food retail, increased agricultural production, higher disposable incomes, trade liberalization and the preference of women for jobs in government/ private sector have been driving the growth of processed food sector and is poised to become one of the highest yielding sectors in India. In the recent years, there has been amplified focus on this sector and Food technology has been identified by the Government of India as sunrise industry due to its gargantuan impact and significance in the Indian development sector. The importance of food technology lies in the verity that it has immense the potential to provide food to our population through scientific conservations, eliminating losses and making available more balanced and nutritious food.

The department of Food Technology at Maharshi Dayanand University is committed for quality education and research in the areas of food processing and technology. The department has been laying its emphasis in generating the technical and scientific manpower to cater to the needs of growing food industry in addition to the technology development for food preservation and value added processing.

WHAT IS FOOD TECHNOLOGY?

Many people are under the misconception that in food technology we either teach our students how to cook, or how to formulate and paln diets. This is very far from the truth, since food technology is about the science behind the manufacturing of food products on industrial scale. It incorporates many disciplines such as food microbiology, food chemistry and food engineering. Food technologists fulfil important positions in food manufacturing companies such as quality control, production management and new product development. We pride ourselves on the fact that our students are competently prepared for this exciting career and that they are well sought after in the food industry.

Philosophy

Food Technology is aimed at the application of science and technology to the analysis, processing, utilization, diversification, value addition, packaging, distribution and preservation of foods.  The department is committed to produce technologically, skilled graduates capable of working in the existing food industries, using locally available raw materials to set up food processing industries to process and make nutritious, wholesome food available to consumers. 

OBJECTIVES OF THE DEPARTMENT

1. to produce skilled technical and managerial manpower  for operation management in agro-allied industries
2. to  produce graduates with entrepreneurial capabilities
3. to produce graduates who will be involved in consultancy services in food product development, research and development, processing and preservation
4. to cater the need of modern food industry by developing innovative food processing and preservation technologies

WHO EMPLOYS FOOD SCIENTISTS AND TECHNOLOGISTS

Food scientists and technologists are employed in both public and private sectors national and multinational food processing ventures including dairy, meat, cereals, bakery, horticultural, breweries, confectionaries and snack food processing industries and other industries related to processing and production of food based primary and secondary products and by-products. There is a great demand of food technologists in the service sector also including the food packaging, ingredient and equipment suppliers, advertising agencies and market research companies, research establishments and universities and other government departments.

DEPARTMENT OF FOOD TECHNOLOGY

The department of Food Technology was established in the year 2010-11 under the Faculty of Life Sciences. The various programmes offered, duration, intake strength of students, fee structure and eligibility conditions are as given under:

Sr. No.	Name of programme	Minimum duration	Students intake	Mode of admission	Annual fee (Rs.)
1	M.Sc. in Food Technology	2 years	20	Academic merit	10,847/-
2	Ph.D. in Food Technology	Two and half years	Depending upon availability seats  with teachers	Entrance examination+ academic merit

Eligibility conditions for admission in M.Sc. (Food Technology)

B.Sc (honours), B.Sc in Basic Science/ Agriculture/ Fisheries/ Horticulture/ Food Processing Technology/ Home Science (10+2 with Science)/ B.E or B- Tech in Food Technology/ Bio Technology/ Sugar Technology/ Agriculture Engineering/ Post Harvest Technology with at least 50% marks (40% marks for SC/ST candidates of Haryana only) in aggregate or any other examination recognized by M.D University, Rohtak as equivalent thereto.

Teaching faculty

Sr. No.	Name of teacher	Designation	Qualification	Number of publications	Areas of specialization
1.	Dr. Baljeet S. Yadav	Professor & Head	Ph.D.	50	Cereals technology, resistant starch and digestibility of starches, antioxidant properties of foods,  characterization and modification of starches, food safety and quality control
2.	Dr. Ritika	Assistant professor	Ph.D .	48	Characterization and modification of starches, cereals technology, food engineering, gluten free  and other value added food product development
3.	Dr. Jyotika	Assistant professor	Ph.D.	10	Dairy technology, fruits and vegetables technology

Infrastructural facilities:

Although the department of Food Technology is relatively new department, but still the department has developed itself to a commendable position. At present 6 laboratories including food processing lab, food analysis lab, canning and bottling instrumentation lab and 3 research labs have been established and fully developed in the department. There are 2 big size class rooms provided with LCD and interactive board facilities. There is a computer lab with an installation capacity of 15 computers in the department. The department has a very good ambience conducive for the studies and research activities.

Instrumentation facilities:

The department has debonair instrumentation facilities for Research and M.Sc. students. Some of the key instruments installed in the department are

1. Rapid Visco-analyzer (RVA)
2. Food texture analyzer
3. Rheometer
4. Viscometer
5. UV-Vis. Double beam spectrophotometers
6. Lyophilizer
7. Partical Size Analyzer
8. Gel Permeation Chromatography
9. Colorimeter
10. High speed cooling centrifuges
11. Vacuum rotary evaporators
12. Pasta and noodles extruding machine
13. Baking oven
14. Humidity cabinet
15. Laminar air flow
16. Differnt Types of Ovens and Incubators
17. Different types of analytical and precision weighing balances
18. Deep freezers
19. Shaking BOD incubator
20. Rotary shakers
21. Circulating chiller water baths
22. Dough mixers
23. Canning unit
24. Bottling unit for juices
25. Fibre extraction units
26. Soxhlet extraction units
27. Kjeldahl nitrogen estimation units

Major thrust areas and research activities in the department

The major thrust areas and ongoing research activities in the department are as follows:

• Isolation, characterization, modification and applications of food components like starch
• Characterization of cereal  grains and cereal based value added bakery food products
• Gluten free products development and characterization
• Value added fruits and dairy based food products
• Antioxidant properties of foods
• Food chemistry and phytochemicals



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