The DNDFS has the vision of being a leading centre of academic excellence providing relevant education, training, research and development in Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences. The DNDFS’s mission is to produce highly qualified personnel in Nutrition, Dietetics and Food Sciences.
Food science is the applied science devoted to the study of food. The Institute of Food Technologists defines it as "the discipline in which the engineering, biological, and physical sciences are used to study the nature of foods, the causes of deterioration, the principles underlying food processing, and the improvement of foods for the consuming public." Food technology is a branch of food science which deals with the actual production processes to make foods.
Chairperson
Dr. Tonderai Matsungu
Email: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Overview
Activities of food scientists include the development of new food products, design of processes to produce these foods, choice of packaging materials, shelf-life studies, sensory evaluation of the product with panels or potential consumers, as well as microbiological and chemical testing.
Food Science is a highly interdisciplinary field. Some of the sub disciplines of food science include:
- Food safety – the causes, prevention and communication dealing with foodborne illness
- Food toxicology is the study of toxic substances in food, and their disease manifestation in humans.
- Food microbiology – the positive and negative interactions between micro-organisms and foods
- Food preservation – the causes and prevention of quality degradation
- Food engineering – the industrial processes used to manufacture food
- Product development – the invention of new food products
- Sensory analysis – the study of how food is perceived by the consumer's senses
- Food chemistry – the molecular composition of food and the involvement of these molecules in chemical reactions
- Food physical chemistry- the study of both physical and chemical interactions in foods in terms of physical and chemical principles applied to food systems, as well as the application of physicochemical techniques and instrumentation for the study and analysis of foods
- Food packaging – the study of how packaging is used to preserve food after it has been processed and contain it through distribution
- Food physics – the physical aspects of foods such as viscosity, creaminess, and texture
- Food technology – the technological aspects
Contact Details
Department of Nutrition Dietetics and Food Sciences
Building Number B060 Science Centre
University of Zimbabwe
P.O. Box MP167
Mount Pleasant
Harare
ZIMBABWE.
E-mail:This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Tel: +263 242 303211 Extension 15595/15596