To introduce students to the basic concepts of Food Biotechnology. To develop an understanding of the enabling technologies used to manipulate micro-organisms, plants and animals for the production of food. To develop a critical awareness of the impact of Food Biotechnology on the production and processing of food. To develop a critical awareness of the impact of Food Biotechnology on the ethics, labelling and regulatory issues related to the consumer and the environment

Introduction to Food Biotechnology, Outline of basis of traditional and novel food biotechnology processes; principles of fermentation, separations, recovery systems; Introduction to novel platform technologies; Genomics, Proteomics, Bioinformatics. Biotechnology and the food industry: Enzyme and bacterial mediated bio-transformations; Flavour Ingredients, Brewing, Winemaking, Enzyme technology. Food applications of microbial biotechnology; Lactic acid bacteria and Yeast; metabolic and protein engineering, overexpression of enzymes and metabolic end products; Probiotics and nutrigenetics. Plant Biotechnology; Plant transformations, genetic strategies for improvements of characteristics, pesticide resistance, yield improvement, metabolite production. Animal Biotechnology; Genetic strategies for improvements of animal characteristics, disease resistance, yield and performance improvement, Transgenic animals, Quantitative trait loci (QTLÆs) Related issues; Regulations and Legal declarations, Ethics, Consumer concerns, biotechnology and the environment, Future trends

Identify the key aspects of Food Biotechnology including microbial, plant and animal biotechnology. Outline the principles of traditional and novel food biotechnology processes such as solid state and submerged fermentations. Define the molecular platform technologies for manipulation of genetic material to produce novel foods and food ingredients. Describe the key developments in Plant and Animal Biotechnology including current and future trends. Discuss issues of regulations, Legal declarations, Ethics, and Consumer concerns, as they relate to Food Biotechnology. Give examples of food applications of molecular biotechnology including genetic strategies for improvements of characteristics, pesticide resistance, yield improvement, metabolite production. Present to a peer group a review of current research in a specific Food Biotechnology topic.

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