Nom nom nom: Two years of Applied Food Science and Engineering as a chemical engineering elective

Food and related commercial and consumer products are a significant industrial sector, regularly accounting for the employment of 15-20% of our graduating class. Inspired by this and an interest in food and food science among faculty and students in general, we developed a course in Applied Food Science and Engineering, taught for the first time in Fall 2011 and then again in Fall 2012. The course is a four-credit upper level elective, taught in a problem-based format. Class time is scheduled as two two-hour blocks to allow integration of class and lab in a flexible manner. Course objectives include students’ attaining a level of familiarity with molecular scale cooking and preservation processes as well as with the large-scale unit operations used to implement them industrially. Students are also expected to engage with the extensive regulatory, political, and ethical environment surrounding food production and policy. The five problems on which the course is based span key elements of food chemistry such as reduction, emulsification, crystallization, pasteurization, and fermentation. The course concludes with a final “freechoice” project where students propose a new product not currently available in stores, and also a just for fun ‘Iron Chef’-style competition. Student work demonstrates that the course objectives are being achieved.