Department of Food Technology

Department of the Food Technology

University of Colombo Institute for Agro-Technology and Rural Sciences (UCIARS)

Resent research studies are revealed that food and post-harvest technology sectors in Sri Lanka are still underdeveloped. Therefore, very high losses of agricultural food crops can be observed. It was identified that improper and non-scientific food preservation, post-harvest practices and handling, gaps in the integration of cold chain practices & elements with food processing practices and lack of knowledge & awareness on many related aspects at the producer/ farmer level etc. are major reasons for these losses. Hence, the Department of Food Technology in UCIARS is offered academic programmes research and consultancy service in this underdeveloped area for the betterment of students and other stakeholders in Sri Lanka. Further, at present, the need for quality improvement, loss reduction, preserving food for long periods of time has increased with the modern lifestyles. Therefore, the importance of food quality improvement, loss reduction and preservation are imperative to sustain the growing human population and for the food security in the country. Considerable attention has been given to Food and Post-Harvest Technology as a discipline during the past few decades by universities worldwide due to its industrial and contemporary importance. Compared to all other subject disciplines in Agriculture, Food Technology is probably the most important single subject with regard to both its industrial applications and employment opportunities for graduates. Therefore, main aims and objectives of the Food Technology Department of UCIARS are to facilitate and enhance academic study programmes in the field of food and post-harvest technology, to improve research capacities in these fields and to disseminate the novel food, postharvest and value-added technologies among stakeholders.