Chemical Engineering Innovation in Food Production

The inherent safety, convenience, availability, nutritional content, aesthetic appeal, and variety that typify our food supplies are a hallmark of modern life, but this was not always the case. For the last 100 years we have been witnessing dramatic advances in the scientific understanding and engineering techniques that increase agricultural production and allow for the commercial-scale production of countless processed foods. Through the concerted efforts of chemical engineers and others, the yields and quality of farm crops have increased exponentially, and the industry producing and packaging foods and beverages has evolved to a business worth many hundreds of billions of dollars.