Food Biotechnology

Food technology is a branch of food science that deals with the production, preservation, quality control and research and development of the food products.


Developments of Food Biotechnology

Developments in food technology have contributed greatly to the food supply and have changed our world. Some of these developments are:

  • Instantized Milk Powder - D.D. Peebles (U.S. patent 2,835,586) developed the first instant milk powder.
  • Freeze-drying - The first application of freeze drying was most likely in the pharmaceutical industry
  • High-Temperature Short Time Processing - These processes, for the most part, are characterized by rapid heating and cooling, holding for a short time at a relatively high temperature and filling aseptically into sterile containers.

  • Decaffeination of Coffee and Tea - Decaffeinated coffee and tea was first developed on a commercial basis in Europe around 1900. 
  • Process optimization - Food Technology now allows production of foods to be more efficient, Oil saving technologies are now available on different forms. 
  • Aseptic packaging: Aseptic packaging is the process of filling a commercially sterile product into a sterile container and hermetically sealing the containers so that re-infection is prevented. 

Benefits and concerns

  • Use of biotech plants can produce more food on less land, by reducing the amount of crops lost to disease and pests. It can reduce CO2 emissions from the farming process, the amount of pesticides used to produce foods, and in the future, the amount of water needed to grow crops. 
  • Modern food biotechnology increases the speed and precision with which scientists can improve food traits and production practices.


  1. Allergens and Toxins
  2. Antibiotic Resistance
  3. Potential of ‘superweeds’
  4. Gene Escape
  5. Effect on ‘non-target species’
  6. Insecticide Resistance

  7. Loss of Biodiversity in Organisms
  8. Food Labels
  9. Suicide Seeds
In my opinion, Food biotechnology has helped in increasing the crop yields and has also helped in improving the crop variety and quality, but it takes money, energy and lots of time to make it successful. So I would say it's good but also sometimes bad.



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