Courses

All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

521 Food Quality & Safety Control 
Overview of food quality assurance and food safety regulation while training students to obtain quality control FDA-recognized training certificates. Upon successful completion of the course, students will obtain FSPCA Qualified Individual Certifications. Credit, 4.

541 Food Chemistry I
Overview of food components' chemical, physical, and biological properties, including water, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates. Consequences of the properties of food components and their reaction products to health and nutrition are also emphasized. Prerequisite: organic chemistry.

542 Food Chemistry II
Chemistry of minor components in food - minerals, vitamins, nutraceuticals - and food additives, e.g., colors, flavors, preservatives, texture modifiers, stabilizers, etc. The interaction between the major components of food and the application and regulation of food additives are also emphasized. Prerequisite: Food Chemistry I.

544 Food Chemistry Lab
Laboratory component of Food Chemistry 542. Prerequisites: concurrent enrollment in FOOD-SCI 541 and consent of instructor. Credit, 1.

561 Food Processing
Basic principles of current technology and equipment of food processing. Raw material preparation, thermal processing, dehydration, cooling, freezing, and mechanical processing.

563 Food Processing Laboratory
Laboratory component of Food Processing 561. Credit, 2.

566 Food Microbiology Laboratory (1st sem)
Laboratory exercises emphasize quality control and experimental approaches to food microbiology. Labs teach basic culture methods in addition to chemical, immunological, and molecular techniques employed for the microbiological analysis of foods. Prerequisites: MICROBIO 312 and concurrent registration in FOOD-SCI 567 or consent of instructor. Credit, 2.

567 Food Microbiology (1st sem)
Principles of microbiology applied to food manufacture. Emphasis on the influence of food formulation and processing on microbial growth, methodology to detect organisms in foods, design of industrial HACCP programs, and causative agents of food-borne illness. Prerequisites: MICROBIO 310 and concurrent registration in FOOD-SCI 566 or consent of instructor.

575 Elements of Food Process Engineering
Topics include unit conversion, mass and energy balance, the principles of fluid flow, viscosity, heat transfer, refrigeration, evaporation, and drying. Emphasis on industrial implementations in equipment and process calculations. Credit, 4.

581 Analysis of Food Products
Physical, chemical, and biological techniques in food analysis: proximate analysis, extraction, densimetry, spectroscopy, rheology, microscopy, refractometry, polarimetry, chromatography, nuclear magnetic resonance, enzymatic and immunological assays, and sensory evaluation methods emphasizing theoretical basis of measurements and laboratory calculations. Prerequisite: CHEM 312 or equivalent.

583 Food Analysis Laboratory
Laboratory component of Analysis of Food Products, 561. Credit, 1.

590A Food Science Policy
This course covers food law policy and regulations and how science might be better used in formulating current and future policies.

590E Practical Aspects/Food Industry
Provide a basic understanding of the practical aspects of the food industry to help students make a rapid transition to the private sector and help them adapt to the very diverse environment of food companies. Lectures will be given by individuals with direct experience in the food industry.

696 Independent Study
Mainly for candidates for the Master of Science degree who do not write a thesis. Original research expected. Two bound copies of a written report of the study are required by the department. Credit, 3-6.

699 Master’s Thesis
Individual research. Credit, 6-10.

720 Biosensors: Principles & Applications
This course will cover the principles of biosensor design, including biorecognition elements, transduction elements, and micro/nanofabrication.  A review of current journals will give an understanding of the latest technologies.  A final project will require the design of a biosensor for a given analyte in a sample matrix.

741 Lipid Chemistry
Composition and chemical properties of edible fats and oils. Physical characteristics/plasticity, polymorphism, melting, solidification. Technology of industrial fats-extraction, refining, hydrogenation, inter-esterification. Deteriorative reactions oxidation, thermal degradation. Biological significance. New methods of analysis. Review of current literature. Consent of the instructor is required. Dr. Decker.

745 Food Biochemistry
Effects of storage and processing on food quality changes at the cellular and molecular levels. Morphology, concentration, and compartmentalization of cellular components; consequences of cellular disruptions; stabilizing and destabilizing events; the role of membranes and their deterioration; mitochondrial respiratory processes; biological, chemical, and physical aspects of oxidative processes and strategies to control. 

750 Bioactive Food Components
The goal of this course is to help understand the biological significance of food. This course will cover basic physiology, pathology, and toxicology to understand the health impacts of food components, particularly in disease prevention.

761 Physical Phenomena in Foods
Physical and functional properties of foods: origin and modification of surface forces; electrophysical phenomena; colloidal aggregates and dispersions; stability of emulsions and foams; adsorption phenomena; properties of food polymers in solution; interfacial charge effects; structure and formation of gels.

781 Advanced Food Analysis
Instrumental methods. Infrared spectrophotometry, mass spectrometry, gas, and liquid chromatography. Theory, techniques, and applications. Consent of instructor is required.

791A Seminar
Discussion on current literature in the field of food science. Credit, 1.

792A Seminar 
Discussion and review of current topics in the field. Credit, 1. 

796 Independent Study
Research on problems not related to thesis. Credit, 1-6.

797A Genomic Approaches Food Science

797F Future Foods
Review of recent developments in Food Science.

797R Research Methods
An orientation course for graduate students, designed for first-year graduate students who have limited research experience and is required for first-year graduate students. The aim of the course is to help the students bridge their undergraduate education to research activities in graduate school. Will cover experimental design, grant writing, paper writing, and scientific presentation in this course. Credit, 2.

797T Teaching Experience Food Science
Credit, 1.

896 Independent Study
Consent of graduate instructor required. (Not thesis; for Ph.D. candidates only.) Credit, 1-4.

899 Doctoral Dissertation
Credit, 1-18.