The Food Science and Engineering discipline of Jiangnan University is the only national first-level key discipline in this field. The study of modified starch within this discipline originated from the Department of Food Industry of Nanjing Institute of Technology established in 1952. After 60 years of accumulation, inheritance and development, it has become one of the disciplines with the best foundation, the widest coverage and the greatest international influence among similar disciplines in China. It ranked first consecutively in the national discipline evaluations in 2009 and 2012, and the agricultural science under ESI ranks among the top 1%. Guided by the goal of solving major key problems in the food industry - making key breakthroughs and radiating driving force. We choose representative industries with large industry scale in the province, remarkable regional characteristics, high integration degree and prominent development problems, such as "grain and oil products", to implement key breakthroughs. The research team of this discipline has invented the decolorizing adsorbent material for edible oil and the "two-step" decolorization process for edible oil, newly created three major categories of novel dextrin-based starch derivatives, and for the first time realized the green manufacturing of modified starch products such as starch acetate. In the past three years since the technology transfer, it has created a direct economic benefit of 550 million yuan, reduced the discharge of acidic wastewater by more than 100 million tons, and achieved remarkable social benefits in energy conservation and emission reduction. The achievements won 2 second prizes of the National Technological Invention Award in 2014. Guaranteed by the innovative chain-based talent cultivation mechanism for the food discipline - pooling resources and promoting talent innovation. We have proposed an innovative talent cultivation mode characterized by "whole-process education" and aimed at comprehensively training and improving students' engineering capabilities. Through platforms such as clubs, laboratories and various competitions, we cultivate students' engineering practice abilities progressively and continuously, and steadily cultivate and enhance students' scientific literacy and innovation awareness. A series of teaching and research achievements have been formed: it is among the first batch of majors in the domestic food field to pass the engineering education professional certification, the first in China to pass the professional certification of the Institute of Food Technologists (IFT) in the United States, has been selected as one of the first batch of "Comprehensive Professional Reform Pilot" construction projects by the Ministry of Education, and successfully applied for 3 national engineering practice education centers. In recent years, the employment rate of graduates from this discipline has remained stable at over 97%, with strong employment competitiveness and high social reputation, exerting a great influence among similar majors at home and abroad. The achievements won the first prize of the National Teaching Achievement Award in 2014 and the Special Prize of Jiangsu Provincial Teaching Achievement Award in 2013.
