Food Science and Technology

This degree programme seeks to preparesecond-cycle graduates for work in the planning and management of processes andon the innovation and development of food products in food-processing companies(production, distribution, packaging, ingredients), public or private foodquality laboratories, the technical and operational sectors of the publicadministration, or in public or private food research environments.

The teaching objectives are to leadstudents to acquire knowledge and skills enabling them to sit the State Examfor food technology professionals, pursuant to the relevant currentregulations. The objectives of the degree programme are to provide advancedknowledge for the in-depth assessment of the chemical, physical, nutritionaland sensorial quality of food products, and for the operation and management ofproduction processes in accordance with modern standards for quality andsafety, business economics and marketing; as well as provide the skillsrequired to make rational decisions about the transformation phases andprocesses that are most suitable for modern food processing and/or the supplyof foodstuffs.

The degree programme has stronginter-disciplinary connotations, in order to provide the skills needed to workin the highly dynamic and multi-disciplinary food processing sector, with aview to training professionals and technicians capable of working successfullyin extremely innovative environments that are subject to great changes.

The learning path commences with furtherexamination of certain topics whose fundamentals were considered in first-cycledegree programmes, covering the biological, technological, regulatory andnutritional aspects of foods, in order to provide second-cycle graduates withthe knowledge and skills needed to tackle product and process innovation,advanced research (with the possibility to enrol for PhD programmes) and thein-depth control of food quality, having acquired detailed knowledge ofmethodologies for analysing the chemical, physical, microbiological,nutritional and sensorial properties of foodstuffs, including molecularanalysis.

In order to complete successfully thesecond-cycle degree programme in Food Science and Technology, knowledge isrequired about:

- basic scientific disciplines coveringapplied technologies and economics related to the production, transformationand conservation of food products

- principal food technology operations andprocesses

- fundamental principles underlyinganalytical techniques for the assessment of food quality

- the role and importance ofmicro-organisms in the conservation and transformation of food products

- mechanisms resulting in the alterationand deterioration of foodstuffs and methods for their control

- fundamental principles underlying qualitymanagement systems

- principal economic theories for theproduction and commercialisation of food products

- principal laws governing the foodprocessing sector

- knowledge of English (PET B1).

Admission to this second-cycle degreeprogramme requires a first-cycle degree acquired in classes L-26, L-25,L-2,L-13, L-27, L-29, L-38, or classes 20, 1, 12, 21, 24 and 40 under theprevious system, or a foreign qualification recognised as suitable, or abachelor degree awarded after three years of study.

The curricula requirements for admissionare the same as those for graduates of classes L-26 and 20, with a degree inFood Science and Technology; graduates and diploma holders from other degreeprogrammes and other classes may be admitted to this second-cycle degree afteracquiring a minimum number of credits in the following subject groups:

- Law and Economics (AGR/01): 6 ECTS

- Primary productions (AGR/02, 03, 19 e 20): 9ECTS

- Plants and Machines (AGR/09): 3 ECTS

- Physics and Mathematics (MAT/05, ING-IND/10):7 ECTS

- Chemistry (CHIM/03, 06 e 10): 12 ECTS

- Biochemistry and Nutrition (BIO/10): 6 ECTS

- Safety (AGR/11 e 12, VET/04): 3 ECTS

- Microbiology (AGR/16): 9 ECTS

- Food Technology (AGR/15): 16 ECTS

The Degree Programme Committee may endorseother degree programmes in subject groups that are deemed to be related. In allcases, admission to the degree programme is subject to verification of theadequacy of the personal preparation of candidates. If students meet therequirements indicated in the preceding point, this verification is understoodto be satisfied if their degree score was not less than 80/110. The adequacy of personal preparation isverified by the Committee referred to above.

For further details, see: Degree programme regulations (rules)