This institute was established in 1976 as the only stand-alone graduate institute independent to undergraduate departments in the College of Bioresources and Agriculture. The growth in food industry generated a great demand for graduates trained in food science and technology at that time. National Taiwan University filed in the application for establishing this institute to the Ministry of Education and received approval based on the suggestion from Dr. Stephen S. Chang, a professor at the Food Science Department of Rutgers University in the USA and a consultant to the Ministry of Economic Affairs of the ROC then, and his colleagues with support from the Ministry of Economic Affairs, the Council of Agriculture, and local food-industries. It was the first food science graduate school in this country. This institute started with M.S. program. The first class graduated in June 1978. Later, to help further upgrading the technological level of domestic industry, the Ph.D. program was initiated in 1983. The first Ph.D. student graduated in 1987.
