Teaching Areas
The Food engineering academic management structure parallels the areas in which our faculty teach. Each faculty member is assigned to a primary teaching area overseen by an Area Chair. Select departmrnt also have secondary appointments.
Area Chairs are a clear single point of responsibility for each academic concentration (existing and proposed) and are responsible for mentoring tenure-track department and for the oversight of Area-related searches, reviews, and promotions.
Food Microbiology
Microbiology is important to food safety, production, processing, preservation, and storage. Food microbiology students use a wide variety of modern technologies from fields including immunology, microbiology, and molecular biology. Microbes such as yeasts, molds, and bacteria are being used for the production of foods and food ingredients. Beneficial microbes are exploited in the fermentative production, processing, and preservation of many foods and beverages. Spoilage microorganisms cost food producers, processors, and consumers millions of dollars annually in lost products. Lost productivity resulting from illness caused by foodborne microorganisms is an enormous economic burden throughout the world. The study of food microbiology includes understanding not only the factors influencing the growth of microorganisms in food systems but also the means of controlling them.
Students who specialize in food microbiology are expected to have sound undergraduate training in microbiology, biology, physics, chemistry, organic chemistry, and biochemistry.
General Microbiology
This course focuses on the general principles of microbiology and includes the following topics: bacterial cell structure and function; bacteriophages and plasmids; microbial growth and metabolism; energy and nutrient harvesting; microorganisms and the environment; control of microorganisms; introduction to viruses. Microbiology is the study of organisms that are too small to be seen with the unaided eye: Bacteria and Archaea, eukarya and viruses. Microorganisms thrive in every corner of the world, from Antarctic ice (<0 degrees C) to deep-sea thermal vents (> 100 degrees C); from the gastrointestinal tracts and skin of animals to the root of plants; from sewage treatment plants to pristine lakes and streams. To study microbiology is to pursue the breadth of biology, as microorganisms provide experimental material for understanding physiology; cell structure and function; biochemistry; molecular biology; photosynthesis; ecology; evolution; genetics; development; and even simple behavioral responses and “memory.” Studies with microorganisms continue to lay the foundation for molecular genetics, recombinant DNA research, biotechnology, environmental sciences, human health and many areas of biochemistry.
The Microbiology concentration provides excellent preparation for graduate study in many areas of food engineering and biological sciences, as well as for professional study in medical, veterinary, or dental school. Graduates with bachelor’s degrees can pursue careers in biotechnology or industrial microbiology, environmental microbiology, clinical microbiology, food microbiology, or pharmaceutical microbiology, and can also work as technicians in university, government, industrial, or hospital research laboratories.
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Food Toxicology
This course deals with the (potential) toxicity of toxic substances present in traditional and novel foods and their safety assessment. Special emphasis will be given to novel scientific developments in the field of natural toxins, genetically modified food, food supplements, food sensitivity and allergy, drinking water, products derived from food processing, agricultural chemicals, microbiological food safety, persistent organic pollutants, engineered nanomaterials, food additives and veterinary drugs. The course consists of lectures by selected experts and a written essay to be made by the students about lessons learned during the course.
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Food Sanitation
Biological and chemical hazard in food that result from improper processing, packaging, handling and storage; cleaning of food plant equipment and facilities including characteristics of soil on equipment surfaces, cleaning compounds, clean-in-place, clean-out-of-place, sanitizers and their characteristics, and GMPs.