In 1934, the newly established National Northwest Agricultural and Forestry College introduced agro-product manufacturing courses for students majoring in agricultural science, marking one of the earliest records of food science and engineering education in China. In 1946, the Department of Agricultural Products and Manufacturing was established, becoming one of the country’s first higher education institutions dedicated to food science and engineering. The Department of Food Science was founded in 1985, and in 1999, it was expanded into the College of Food Science and Engineering at Northwest Agriculture and Forestry University (NWAFU).
Today, the college consists of three departments: the Department of Food Science and Technology, the Department of Food Safety, and the Department of Food Nutrition and Health. It also offers a Sino-foreign cooperative undergraduate program, the China-US 3+1 Food Science and Engineering Major.
The college hosts five national, provincial, and ministerial scientific research bases, including the National Agricultural Comprehensive Experimental Engineering Technology Research Center, the Agricultural Product Quality and Safety Risk Assessment Laboratory (Yangling), and the Food Quality Inspection and Testing Center (Yangling) of the Ministry of Agriculture.
With 148 faculty members, approximately 1,400 undergraduate students, and about 600 postgraduate students, the college has established itself as a leading institution in food science education and research. It has developed numerous international collaborations, notably founding the Sino-US Food Safety Joint Research Center in 2014 in partnership with the University of California.
More information: https://food.nwafu.edu.cn/english/about/index.htm.
