食品工业是美国经济的最大组成部分之一，由于消费者需求的不断变化以及人们对营养和环境问题的意识日益增强，食品工业继续保持稳定增长。食品和生物工艺工程师在满足这一需求方面起着至关重要的作用。从薯片到微波炉，食品和生物工艺工程师继续开发将农产品从农场原料转化为餐桌用食品的工艺。食品和生物过程工程师开发和管理用于处理和分配食品及其他生物材料的设备和系统。食品工业需要它们来帮助开发增加食品价值的过程。这些加工技术旨在提高食品的保质期和适销性，降低其运输成本，处理加工废物并开发生物材料的替代用途。（例如，报纸和大豆粉
The food industry makes up one of the largest segments of our nation’s economy and continues to enjoy steady growth due to the ever-changing needs of consumers and increased awareness of nutritional and environmental issues. Food and bioprocess engineers play a vital role in meeting this need. From potato chips to microwavable entrees, food and bioprocess engineers continue to develop processes to convert raw materials from the farm to food products for the dining room table.<br><br>Food and bioprocess engineers develop and manage equipment and systems that process and distribute food and other biologically based materials. They are required by the food industry to help develop processes that add value to food products. These processing technologies are designed to improve the storage life and marketability of food products, reduce their transportation costs, handle processing wastes, and develop alternative uses for biological materials. (For example, newspaper and soy flour are used to make the construction material, Environ™, and corn stalks can be used to make chemical absorbent pads.)