Demystifying the Food Industry

With the advent of the industrial revolution, the world’s diet has dramatically shifted towards higher intakes of processed foods. Large scale directly related to food prices and the urbanization of rural areas are key underlying factors. However, there is a general concern about this moving away from nature and more people believe that poor health is directly related to chemicals and processed foods. In this scenario, there is a current trend from companies to become more “eco-friendly” which leads to greenwashing.

In this course, we will begin with a quick overview of the idea of technology in the food system from a historic perspective to understand the evolution of the food industry. Then we will touch on some basic terms such as the definition of clean label, chemical additive, or novel food. We will also cover the regulations that an additive needs to pass to be used in the food industry and the correlation between the number of ingredients and the product’s quality or safety. Lastly, we will discuss corporate greenwashing, and the use of storytelling and brand image of companies to, for example, use Michelin-star chefs as ambassadors of fast food and processed foods.

This course is designed for students and professionals working in the food industry interested in the underlying issues of these current trends toward a more eco-friendly and sustainable industry.