Food and Nutrition Studies

What it’s about:

The food and nutrition studies major covers the processing and preparation of food before it is eaten (food science) and the role of nutrients in human metabolism (nutrition). You study food safety, quality, and nutritional content; food product and recipe development; the planning of diets to maintain wellness and nutrition counselling.

What the study of this major is like:

The food and nutrition studies major is usually found at large universities in schools of home economics, agriculture, human ecology, family and consumer sciences, health and human services, or applied sciences. At some institutions, food science and nutrition are separate majors; at others, they are one major and you may specialize in either food science or nutrition. The breadth of the major can vary from narrow, emphasizing only food science, nutrition, or dietetics, to broad, covering many aspects of food and nutrition studies.

In your first two years, you take courses such as chemistry, biochemistry, physiology, and microbiology, often in large lecture classes that break into smaller discussion and laboratory sections. The science and math requirements are similar to most other science- or health-related majors. If you plan to focus on dietetics or nutrition education (working with individuals and families to promote health), you also take courses in education and communication. To prepare for work in the business world, you should take business administration, marketing, computers, and public relations courses. Courses in sociology and psychology are also helpful.

You’ll likely enroll in an introductory nutrition or food science course during your first two years, but you probably won’t take many courses in the major until you have completed the basic science courses. In the beginning, you may feel lost in large lecture classes. Because these courses are prerequisites for the major rather than part of it, you may wonder about their relevance; but you’ll soon see how they relates to your career goals.

You may usually concentrate on either food science or nutrition or both. In food science, you learn about food preparation, processing, packaging, storage, and distribution. You also learn what makes food pleasing to our sense of sight, smell, and tests. In nutrition courses, you study food selection, preparation, consumption, and digestion. You take courses in food chemistry and in basic and advanced nutrition. Although emphasis is placed on the chemistry of these processes, you also study the psychological and behavioural aspects of eating.

In addition to lectures, most courses have laboratory work, to provide you with hands-on experience in, for example, identifying microorganism in food. In laboratory sessions, you often work in teams to conduct short-term experiments and independent projects. Upper-level class sizes are usually small. Courses may be taught as lectures or as discussion sections on subjects such as community nutrition, assessment methods, and nutrition and disease. Individual and team projects are often included.

Summer jobs or internships provide real-world experiences that relate to academic course work. You can also work with faculty members on research projects during the academic year; these experience are valuable when you apply for jobs or acceptance into graduate school or internship programs. The Institute of Food Technologists and the American Dietetic Association approve or accredit undergraduate programs, but some colleges offer no accredited programs instead. The level of science courses required for the major varies and is usually lower in non-accredited programs. The laboratory facilities also very from one college to another.

Technology has drastically changed the way food is grown, harvested, packaged, transported, and sold. Our understanding of the relation of nutrition to health, especially in the causes and treatment of chronic diseases, has greatly increased and an enormous variety of products are available from all over the world. At the same time, fad diets, eating disorders, substance abuse, and nutrient-drug interactions threaten health and well-being. Careers in food and nutrition studies provide many opportunities for making important contributions to our world.

Career options and trends:

Food purchasing manager; test kitchen/recipe developer*; product researcher/developer; dietitian*; nutrition counsellor*; community nutritionist; food editor (for newspaper or magazine); inspector for the Food and Drug Administration or the Department of Agriculture.

To become a registered dietitian (RD), you must complete a prescribed set of undergraduate courses and a supervised internship program and take the registered dietitian’s examination (see the description for the dietetics major in the section on Health).

The food industry itself, and the demand for all types of industry professionals, remain quite stable; population growth and the marketability of new food products provide more job opportunities. Because of current concern, food safety specialist should have no trouble finding work. Also with the increasing interest in nutrition, the development of enhanced foods, and the emergence of wellness programs the demand for nutritionists and dietitians is likely to continue.

Source: CollegeBoard 2012 Book of Majors