The Department of Food Process Engineering focuses on advancing the science and technology of food processing through engineering solutions. This department is responsible for developing innovative solutions to improve the safety, quality, and sustainability of food products, processing lines, and overall process control. The department's activities focus on education, research and development, consultancy, capacity building and industry collaboration.

To support this mandate, currently, the Department of Food Process Engineering at NIFTEM-T has the following unique facilities and centers:

• Center of Excellence in Grain Sciences – State-of-the-art facility equipped with pilot-scale grain milling lines, and a strong knowledge base for grain quality evaluation and primary processing of cereals, pulses, millets and oilseeds, supported by faculties with different subject expertise.
• Workshop and Fabrication Unit – To support the design and development of food processing machinery, sensing units, gadgets for on-farm processing and customized machinery
• Computational Modeling and Nanoscale Processing Unit – Hi-end research facility housing sophisticated instrumentation for nanomaterial characterization, microfluidics, micro and nano encapsulation, and computational modeling of food processing operations

Further, the Department has fully equipped teaching laboratories for courses related to core food process engineering, including the determination of engineering properties of materials, computer aided design, unit operations in food processing, heat and mass transfer, fluid mechanics, spice processing, basic engineering etc.

The faculty team at the Department of Food Process Engineering have strong academic and research background with excellent national and international exposure, collaborations and recognition. Some key thrust areas of research in the Department include:

• Paddy processing technologies
• Food processing machinery design
• Food waste valorization and resource recovery
• Sustainability in food processing
• Application of innovative technologies in food processing
• Food 3D printing and the development of customized foods
• Nutraceutical delivery systems
• Process modeling and optimization
• Transport phenomena in food processing

The Department is keen to work with the food industry in developing sustainable food processing solutions. By advancing the field of food engineering, the department contributes to ensuring a safe and sustainable food supply, improving public health, and supporting micro/medium entrepreneurs by developing equipment/ gadgets for various industrial applications and helping for economic development. To achieve this, the Department takes up turn-key projects, industry sponsored research, and grant-in-aid projects, and offers training and capacity building services in this field.