B.Sc. Food Science & Nutrition

Last Updated on July 30, 2023 by Vishnu Nambiar

Have you passed 12th standard? Do you want to pursue a good B.Sc. course? If yes, this post will be of help to you. Here, we will have an in-depth analysis of B.Sc. Food Science and Nutrition course.

It is a job oriented B.Sc. course. As the name suggests, this program deals with domains such as – food science, nutrition technology and its allied areas.   Here is a quick overview of the course –

Name of the course	B.Sc. Food Science and nutrition
Type of course	B.Sc. (Bachelor of Science)
Field	Food science
Duration	3 years
Eligibility	12th Science pass or equivalent qualification

Technically, it is an undergraduate level course. At its core, it is a Bachelor of Science Degree course.   Students who have passed 12th Science are eligible to apply for B.Sc. Food Science and Nutrition admission. If you want to build a decent career in food science or nutrition sector, this course will be of help to you. You may also check – B.Sc. Food Processing Technology course.   What is B.Sc. Food Science and Nutrition course all about? What is it like to pursue this course? What’s the course content like? Will I get a good job after completing this course? You will find answers to these questions in the next section. Let us start –

B.Sc. Food Science and Nutrition: An Introduction

As the name suggests, it is a Bachelor of Science program. Technically, it is an UG level course.   This academic program deals with food science, nutrition and other allied areas. The course duration is three years.   Students who have passed 12th Science (with PCM or PCB subjects) are eligible to pursue this course. The program deals with two main domains –

• Food Science
• Nutrition

Food science primarily deals with food processing, production, preservation, quality control, storage, transportation etc. Nutrition technology deals with aspects such as – nutritional value of food, food intake, diet etc.   Basically, this academic program takes two domains – food science & nutrition technology – combines them and turns it into a meaningful package. Both these sectors – food science and nutrition – overlap each other.   Come, let us take a closer look at the various topics covered by this program –   Chemical composition of food: This section consists of topics related to chemistry. The section primarily deals with chemical composition of food/raw materials/ingredients.   Food processing: This section deals with different types of food processing techniques, relevant equipment, work flow, industry standards, best practices, hygiene etc.   Production: This section deals with production technology, work flow, relevant equipment, process management etc.   Preservation: For ensuring long shelf-life, it becomes necessary to preserve food using preservatives. Preservatives are chemical substances. This section deals with different types of preservatives, their properties, chemical composition and more.   Storage: This section deals with different types of food storage techniques – canning, cold storage, packing etc.   Nutrition: This section deals with topics such as – different types of nutrients, vitamins and minerals present in food, estimating nutritional level in food, diet etc.   Come, let us take a closer look at the course details. In the next section, you will find the following details – duration, eligibility, fees, syllabus, colleges and more.

Course Details

Type of course

It is Bachelor of Science Degree course.

Duration

The academic program is three years long. Each academic year is divided into two semesters. Each semester is six months long.

Eligibility Criteria

Minimum educational qualification required is – 12th Science with PCM or PCB subjects.

Syllabus

Here are some of the core subjects present in the curriculum –

• Chemistry
• Nutrition science
• Communication skills
• Biostatistics
• Food technology
• Microbiology
• Quality analysis
• Food preservation
• Food storage
• Food packaging
• Food engineering
• Fruits, vegetable and animal foods

Colleges

Here are some of the popular colleges offering this course in India –

• West Bengal State University
• DU
• GTU
• VNSGU
• KTU
• Sharda University

Admission process

Reputed institutes rely on merit based admission process. Relevant entrance exams are conducted to facilitate admission process. Some colleges are also known to carry out direct and donation based admission process.

Fees

Tuition fees depends upon factors such as – type of college (Govt or private), rating of the college, scholarship status of the student etc. On an average, tuition fees could be anywhere between 30-70K INR per year.

PG courses

After completing this B.Sc. program, graduates may go for relevant PG courses. Some of the popular PG courses are – relevant M.Sc. courses, MBA, PGDM programs etc. After completing M.Sc. course, candidates may go for further advanced programs such as – PhD.

You may also check –

Nutrition and Dietician courses in India

Sports Science courses in India

Career prospects

Food processing industry is growing at a healthy pace in India. Nutrition technology sector is also growing at a steady pace. B.Sc. Food Science and Nutrition graduates may find a decent job in both these sectors.   They are commonly hired by –

• Food processing firms
• Food storage firms
• Food packaging firms
• Relevant Government departments

In the above mentioned places, they may don the following roles –

• Food inspector
• Quality control officer
• Production manager
• Supervisor
• Food technologist