UMass Amherst Home
 [Home]  [Programs and Courses]  [Degree Requirements]  [Application Procedures]  [Financing Your Degree]  [Site Index]  [Apply Now]
Program Listings:  [Program Listing: A-D]  [Program Listings: E-L]  [Program Listings: M-Z]  [Program Listings: Show All]

Food Science Courses

Program | Faculty | Courses


All courses carry 3 credits unless otherwise specified.

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

542 Food Chemistry II
Chemistry of food products. Chemical, physical, and biological changes in foods at the cellular and molecular levels during storage and processing. Emphasis on water, muscle and plant foods, flavors, carbohydrates and browning reactions. May be taken separately from FOOD-SCI 541. Prerequisite: organic chemistry. Mr. Mahoney

561 Food Processing
Basic principles of current technology and equipment of food processing. Raw material preparation, thermal processing, dehydration, cooling, freezing, mechanical processing. Credit, 4.

566 Food Microbiology Laboratory (1st sem) 2 cr
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.

567 Food Microbiology (1st sem)

Principles of microbiology applied to food manufacture. Emphasis on 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, drying. Emphasis on industrial implementations in equipment and process calculations.

580 Foodborne Disease and Bioterrorism
Principal microbiological agents responsible for food-borne diseases: their classification, physiology, epidemiology, pathogenesis, identification, and control and case histories; where applicable, relation to past and potential bioterrorism-related events. Mr. Labbe

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.

696 Research Problem

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 required by the department. Credit, 3-6.

699 Master’s Thesis

Individual research. Credit, 6-10.

722 Food Biotechnology
Genetics and cellular metabolism of industrial microorganisms, vitamin production, microbial production of amino acids, lactic acid, vinegar, beer and wine; plant and animal biotechnology, diagnostic biotechnology and food safety; biotechnology of functional foods. Prerequisites: general microbiology and biochemistry. Mr. Shetty

723 Advanced Food Microbiology
With lab. Relationships of yeasts, molds, and bacteria to foods. Microbiology of refrigerated foods, mycotoxins, pectic enzymes. Immunological and PCR detection of food-borne pathogens. Prerequisites: basic biochemistry and microbiology with lab. Mr. Levin

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 instructor required. Mr. 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; role of membranes and their deterioration; mitochondrial respiratory processes; biological, chemical, and physical aspects of oxidative processes and strategies to control. Mr. Hultin.

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.

762 Food Enzymology
The nature, role, and applications of enzymes in food. Enzyme production, isolation, kinetic behavior, and stability. Factors controlling activity in foods. Use of soluble and immobilized enzymes in food processing. Effects of endogenous enzymes on food quality. Mr. Mahoney

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

785 Toxicology
Evaluation of methods used to determine safety of economically important chemicals. Mechanisms of drug disposition and drug metabolism. Effect of toxic agents on bone marrow and blood cell formation. Histopathology of chemically damaged organs, neurotoxicology and genetic toxicology (DNA damage, repair and tumorigenesis). Consent of instructor required. Mr. Levin

793 Seminar
Readings, reports and discussions on current literature in area of food or nutrition. Credit, 1 per semester; maximum credit, 3.

794 Seminar
Review of current literature and research. Visiting lecturers. One class hour. Credit, 1.

796 Research Project
Research on problems not related to thesis. Credit, 1-4.

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

899 Doctoral Dissertation Credit, 18.