The Department of Food Science at the University of Massachusetts Amherst was officially started, preceding all other Food Science departments in the United States by over a year, on April 27, 1918. The formation of the department was conceptualized during World War I when problems with food shortages became a critical issue for the nation. The inspiration to develop the faculty of the Food Science Department began when Dr. Frank Waugh asked Walter Chenoweth to give a paper to a group of fruit growers. In the summer of 1913, Chenoweth set up a laboratory and so it began teaching and demonstrating food preservation.
Walter Chenoweth
The new department established a very intensive campaign in community food preservation under the leadership of Walter Chenoweth. Dr. Chenoweth, along with three others, moved into what we now call “Old Chenoweth” in 1930. The original focus of the department was to teach students and homemakers the technology of food preservation. This included apple, grape, maple and vinegar products that were sold to the public in a store in South Amherst. During this time, Dr. Chenowth was quoted as being able to carry the entire library collection on Food Science under one arm. This led to Dr. Chenoweth publishing the first comprehensive textbook on Food Preservation.
Carl Fellers In 1941, Dr. Carl R. Fellers became department head. The department continued working on community food preservation projects such as canning foods for the dining hall during World War II. Under Dr. Fellers guidance the department shifted its focus from community research and education to the scientific age of industrialization of food manufacturing. This transformation could be seen as the Food Technology curriculum shifted and as classes such as “Homemade Tomato Products” were replaced by courses such as “Industrial Technology”. To reflect this change the department changed its name to the Department of Food Technology in 1944 as it expanded its interdisciplinary collaborations with faculty from Chemistry, Bacteriology, Dairy and Nutrition Departments. Dr. Carl Fellers' research program had a breadth that is unheard of today as his program covered chemistry, microbiology, nutrition and engineering. He provided numerous technological advances for the Massachusetts food industry especially with the seafood and cranberry producers. For example, he patented a process for canning and freezing shellfish to prevent discoloration and the proliferation of gritty, glass-like struvite by controlling pH and binding minerals. This invention was credited by the U.S. shrimp packing industry to have “solved two of the most serious outstanding problems of the canned shrimp industry and constitutes the greatest technical advance in 25 years.” Dr. Fellers also worked closely with cranberry growers in Massachusetts in an organization called “The Cranberry Exchange” to produce safe, nutritious and great tasting products. Dr. Fellers also collaborated with the National Canners Association to assist with food plant sanitation, prevention of food spoilage and development of federal regulation. Some other areas of research he participated in included innovative packaging technologies, color and flavor retention in preserved foods, methods for the fortification of foods with vitamins and determination of the nutritive value of foods. Dr. Fellers was not only an incredibly productive faculty member but he was also active in Military service. During WWII he was stationed in Australia and is accredited for establishing 33 dehydration plants that provided dried milk and egg products to the troops. For this he was awarded the Bronze Star. In 1987, Dr. Fellers felt that“The challenge is to provide the shoulders on which the future investigator will stand and from which he, in turn, will peer beyond the present horizons of knowledge into the great unknown. That is the spirit of research.” Not only did Dr. Fellers have one of the top research programs in the world but he was also one of the founding fathers of food science. He was one of eight people to found the Institute of Food Technologists. While he was department head, he charged Dr. Guy Livingston with establishing the Food Science and Technology Honors Society, Phi Tau Sigma. Dr. Fellers loved working with students and was even known to personally support the University of Massachusetts degrees of underprivileged students from Amherst High School. IFT established the Carl R. Fellers Award to honor distinguished leaders in Food Science.
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