Food scientist Ramaswamy Anantheswaran (top) sits before the control panel of a water vapor transmission rate tester. He and colleague Stephen Knabel (bottom) are investigating the use of high-pressure processing in destroying Salmonella, Listeria monocytogenes, and other microorganisms found in foods. Once the parameters of the process are established, they explain, the process can be used commercially to make milk, cheeses, and other foods with extended, unrefrigerated shelf life and surprisingly fresh taste.

Knabel’s and Anantheswaran’s research into high-pressure processing has a lot in common with Penn State’s Department of Food Science: Hidden in a building that can charitably be described as “quaint,” researchers often have flown below the radar of public attention as they developed safer and better foods and food-production processes. But the new Food Science Building poised to open this summer on the University Park campus can be seen as an unveiling of advances that are getting harder and harder to hide. From cutting-edge basic research to practical applied breakthroughs, Penn State scientists are perfecting new methods to decontaminate food and water without using heat, inventing better foods, and much more. The research crosses departments and holds great potential for the state’s food-processing industry, which employs 75,000 people and contributes to Pennsylvania’s economy to the tune of about $20 billion in sales annually.

The break-out status of food science is a logical outgrowth of the college’s and department’s evolving role in the larger food- and fiber-production system, according to department head John Floros. He says the opportunities of the future call for new thinking.

“ When we think about food, we tend to isolate it,” he says. “We take the milk and turn it into ice cream or turn the grain into bread, and that’s all we care about,” he says. “But the food system goes beyond any one component. We put a lot of resources—soil, water, energy—into creating the raw material, and a lot more into turning that raw material into a final product. Then once we have the final product, it again takes energy, distribution channels, and transportation to get it to the consumer. Then there are all sorts of other issues that pertain to energy, recycling, and the environment after the consumer uses it.

“So when you look at it that way, suddenly food production becomes a very large system. But agriculture’s role in this system is likely to evolve. Most people see the farmer as producing corn, soybeans, or grains, then pushing these commodities onto the market. In the future, consumers will make the major decisions, and the system will react. If they want organic food, the system will have to respond to produce organic food. If the consumer wants Product X and we don’t know how to make it today, we’ll have to find ways to make it.

“Another trend is that our population is getting older, more diverse, and more overweight,” he continues. “Many of these changes will influence consumers’ needs and wants. And with the potential threat of bioterrorism targeting the food system, the public also is looking to science and technology to keep our food safe from harmful microorganisms and chemicals.”