Quality check

Food processing generally means making value-added products through fresh produce or ingredients by increasing the shelf life of the product or adding flavour.

Food processing generally means making value-added products through fresh produce or ingredients by increasing the shelf life of the product or adding flavour.

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The lowdown
Food technology is an applied science course which makes a student fit for the following industries - food processing, retail, hotel, agri-products, and in the service sector in departments like quality assurance, production, hygiene, laboratory, etc. Food processing generally means making value-added products through fresh produce or ingredients by increasing the shelf life of the product or adding flavour to it, e.g. making jam, jelly, fruit drinks, juices, potato chips, flavoured yoghurt, etc

Clock Work
7am: Wake up, workout
9am: Reaches office
9.30am: Teleconference with clients
2pm: Lunch
4pm: Meets staff from other departments
6pm: Leaves work

The payoff
A BSc graduate can get Rs3 to R4 lakh per annum in a reputable company. Remuneration can go up after a masters degree. A Senior executive can make Rs5 lakh a year. An Asst Manager can earn Rs6 lakh to Rs7 lakh a year
While the GM can rake in as much as Rs15 lakh onwards a year

It is estimated that around two lakh jobopportunities will be available in the food and allied sector by 2015

ZR Azaz Ahmad Azad, assistant professor, Department of Food Technology, Jamia Hamdard

Skills/TRAITS
. Knowledge of the physical sciences, biology and mathematics
. Aptitude for working in a laboratory environment
. A basic interest in processed foods available in the market

Getting there
In Delhi, there are two colleges under Delhi University for BSc (Hons) in food technology and normally the admissions are through cut-off lists of the colleges. One can go for higher studies like MSc (food tech) through institutes like the Central Food Technological Research Institute (CFTRI), Mysore, or opt for MBA (agri-business management)

Institutes
. Bhaskaracharya College of Applied Sciences (Delhi University)
www.bcas.du.ac.in
. Shaheed Rajguru College of Applied Sciences for Women (Delhi University)
www.rajgurucollege.com
. Guru Nanak Dev University, Amritsar
www.gndu.ac.in
. University of Bombay, Mumbai
www.mu.ac.in
. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar Marathwada University, Aurangabad,
www.bamu.net

Pros and cons
. The food industry has tremendous growth potential
. Consumers are becoming more concerned about food safety,
. The food industry in India is still largely an unorganised sector