Food Science

Within food science, we find food chemistry a fundamental part of this science. Food chemistry deals with the study of food and its constituent substances. It is also concerned with analyzing the chemical changes during handling, processing, and storage.

Food testing is beneficial for the company that manufactures and sells them to establish and maintain food quality and ensure food safety imposed by national and international authorities.

A fundamental point of this type of analysis is that it provides the possibility of detecting toxic or undesirable substances that can be found in food and that can be harmful to the health of consumers.

The components of food, whether water, amino acids, oils, fats, vitamins, etc., have specific properties that can be altered after undergoing changes in the handling and processing or for natural reasons.

Food testing and checking whether the quality of food is modified or contaminated is essential to distinguish whether it has become a product that poses a risk to consumers’ health or whether it maintains its nutritional properties intact.

The concept of traceability refers to the location of products in space and time, i.e., all the information relating to a given food’s history, from its origin, through production or processing, storage, transport, and sale.

Traceability ensures greater efficiency in the food chain and control of food safety. It is a system committed to the consumer and is governed by certain principles that respect health standards.

There are three different traceability types, which refer to the other hands through which the product passes. Firstly, there is backward traceability, which is based on the entry of raw materials or already modified products in the company, i.e., the goods’ origin.

Secondly, process traceability corresponds to the changes or transformations that the product undergoes during its manufacture within the company. Thirdly, there is forward traceability, which is concerned with recording the final recipient of the product.

The identification of which product and to whom it is delivered is the basis of forwarding traceability. At this point, the recipient’s relevant aspects and the product(s) being returned must be recorded. The company or person responsible for the physical receipt of the product must be documented and the product with its respective lot or identification number.

This type of traceability is necessary because it is the last link in the chain, and it is from the moment of delivery; the company loses track of the product or group of products.

In the event of a food safety problem, it is the last company responsible for recording when and by whom the goods were purchased. And that information is necessary to remove defective products from sale and the reach of consumers.

Even so, to keep the chances of food risk or danger as low as possible, there are control systems such as food testing to anticipate such situations and resolve them as quickly and efficiently as possible.