In a nutshell, tasty food means food palatable to the consumer, healthy foods mean foods secure from the point of view of safety, functional foods provide added value with regard to the health of consumers. All the research to ensure food safety, and process and product innovation  for the production of tasty and safe food as well as functional food  is therefore of fundamental importance in order to be commercially attractive products, with high added value.

Yes of course you can. Anything that deals with the formulations of healthy food, checking the efficacy of food as medicine (to prevent some of the life style related diseases), preservation technique which ensure minimum loss to the native nutrient content of foods, study related to the effect of designer food ( Food designed for a particular age group keeping their RDA as a reference tool) on the target population, clinical study for a particular claim of a specific food product everything can be considered as food studies.