M.Sc. Applied - Integrated Food and Bioprocessing (45 credits)
In the Food and Bioprocessing program the design and use of equipment, operations, and processes for the manufacture of bio-products are targeted, with as main objective the provision of an adequate food supply at reasonable cost for the human population. In the program the two principal concepts are combined so as to create avenues for the development of biological resources while stressing both food production and food security. An integrated approach is followed so as to deal comprehensively with the many interrelated issues of bio-product generation and food security (e.g., the food versus fuel issue). Thus, issues related to the production of foods, feeds, biochemicals, biopolymers, biopharmaceuticals, etc. as well as the various steps involved in biomass and food production, processing, sale, and service are dealt with.
The program will provide students with the tools to understand how the various aspects of agricultural and food production interact to allow them to better manage biomass production systems so as to ensure adequate supplies of wholesome food, feed, fiber, biofuel and other bio-based material. This is a course-based program which will allow students to gain the skills needed to: assess the performance of existing production, delivery and quality management systems; introduce improvements; communicate effectively with policy makers; and cooperate creatively with colleagues in multi-disciplinary teams. Overall, the goals for the program are to provide up-to-date, world-class knowledge on technologies and techniques for process design and management of our biomass production in a sustainable and environmentally friendly way. Training activities will include laboratory research and/or industrial/government internships.
Students are encouraged to complete the program in one year.
In order to expedite the registration procedure, candidates who are interested in enrolling in the IFB non-thesis M.Sc. program should first contact marie-josee [dot] dumont [at] mcgill [dot] ca (Dr. Marie-Josée Dumont) or michael [dot] ngadi [at] mcgill [dot] ca (Dr. Michael Ngadi). To then apply to the program, click on: "How to Apply to the Graduate Programs". Note that the administrative person in charge of non-thesis applications is christiane [dot] trudeau [at] mcgill [dot] ca (Christiane Trudeau). You can contact her for help during the application procedure.
Required courses (6 credits)
BREE 651
Departmental Seminar M.Sc. 1
1 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: To give seminars and participate in discussions.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ABEN 651.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Viacheslav Adamchuk, Marie-Josee Dumont
- Viacheslav Adamchuk
BREE 652
Departmental Seminar M.Sc. 2
1 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: To give seminars and participate in discussions.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ABEN 652.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Viacheslav Adamchuk, Marie-Josee Dumont
- Viacheslav Adamchuk
BREE 600 Project/Internship proposal - 1 Credits
BREE 699
Scientific Publication
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Review and critique papers that are published in field of the candidate. Prepare draft paper(s) following the format of leading journals in field of study undertaken.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Periodic conferences
- Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ABEN 699.
- Terms
- Instructors
- Shiv Prasher
- Shiv Prasher
Complementary courses (39 credits)
Minimum of 3 credits of graduate level statistics in any department.
Minimum of 9 credits from courses selected from the following:
BREE 518
Bio-Treatment of Wastes
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Special topics concerning control of pollution agents from the agricultural industry; odour control, agricultural waste treatment including biological digestion, flocculants, land disposal and sedimentation, pesticide transport.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- One 3 hour lecture
- Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ABEN 518.
BREE 519
Advanced Food Engineering
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Advanced topics in food engineering. Concepts of mathematical modelling and research methodologies in food engineering. Topics include heat and mass transfer in food systems, packaging and distribution of food products, thermal and non-thermal processing, rheology and kinetics of food transformations.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- 3 lectures and one 2-hour lab
- Prerequisites: BREE 325 (formerly ABEN 325) and MECH 426, or permission of instructor
- Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ABEN 519.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
BREE 520
Food, Fibre and Fuel Elements
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Analysis and design incorporating the four elements required by organisms and biomass for food, fibre and fuel production (air, earth, energy, and water). Special emphasis will be placed on the demands and requirements of engineering systems to control these elements and allow optimal growth in semi-controlled and completely controlled environments.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
BREE 530
Fermentation Engineering
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Advanced topics in food and fermentation engineering are covered, including brewing, bioreactor design and control and microbial kinetics.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- 3 lectures and one 3-hour lab
- Prerequisite (Undergraduate): BREE 325 (formerly ABEN 325) or equivalent
- Graduate courses available to senior undergraduates with permission of the instructor
- Restriction: Not open to students who have taken ABEN 530.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
BREE 531
Post-Harvest Drying
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Heat and moisture transfer with respect to drying of agricultural commodities; techniques of enhancement of heat and mass transfer; drying efficiency and scale-up problems.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Restrictions: U3 students or above. Not open to students who have taken ABEN 621 or ABEN 531.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
BREE 532
Post-Harvest Storage
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Active, semi-passive and passive storage systems; environmental control systems; post-harvest physiology and pathogenicity; quality assessment and control methodology; economic aspects of long-term storage.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
BREE 535
Food Safety Engineering
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: The application of engineering principles to address microbial and chemical safety challenges in food processing, including intervention technologies (traditional and novel non-thermal intervention technologies, chemical interventions, and hurdle approach); control, monitoring and identification techniques (biosensors); packaging applications in food safety (active packaging, intelligent or smart packaging); and tracking and traceability systems.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
BREE 603
Adv Properties: Food&Plant Mat
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Advanced topics related the physico-chemical characteristics/properties of biological products: including mechanical, thermal, electromagnetic and functional properties. Emphasis will be on food constituents (nutraceuticals), plants of pharmaco-interest (phytochemicals), new sources of natural fibers and biofuel biomass.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Prerequisite (s): Permission of instructor
Minimum of 12 credits selected from the following:
BREE 671
Project 1
6 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Supervised research project.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Terms
- Instructors
- Shiv Prasher
- Shiv Prasher
BREE 672
Project 2
6 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Bioresource Engineering: Supervised research project.
Offered by: Bioresource Engineering
- Terms
- Instructors
- Shiv Prasher
- Shiv Prasher
BREE 601 Integrated Food and Bioprocessing Internship 1 - 6 Credits
BREE 602 Integrated Food and Bioprocessing Internship 2 - 6 Credits
Minimum of 3 credits selected from the following:
AGRI 510
Professional Practice
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Agriculture: The ethical issues that face a professional in the workplace; professional ethics and deontology, professional responsibilities as related to the laws of labour, health, safety and risks to the environment, risk management and communication.
Offered by: Food Science & Agr-Chemistry
- Restriction: Course restricted to senior undergraduate and graduate students.
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
AGEC 630
Food and Agricultural Policy
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Agricultural Economics: This course examines the role of government in the agriculture and food industry through the nature and causes of the problems addressed, the instruments and institutions by which policy is implemented and the effects of different policies. Emphasis is placed on the application of economic models to analyze policy problems.
Offered by: Agricultural Economics
AGEC 633
Enviro & Natural Resource Econ
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Agricultural Economics: An advanced course in the theory and problems of environmental and resource economics and in the analytical techniques used to assess environmental and resource use issues.
Offered by: Agricultural Economics
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
AGEC 642
Econ of Agr Development
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Agricultural Economics: This course focuses on the role of agriculture in economic development. Topics covered will be - development theories, economic efficiency, employment, technology adoption and structural change in developing countries. Also, agriculture, food and development policies and implications for long term planning will be discussed.
Offered by: Agricultural Economics
Minimum of 3 credits selected from the following:
BTEC 502
Biotechnology Ethics & Society
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Biotechnology: Examination of particular social and ethical challenges posed by modern biotechnology such as benefit sharing, informed consent in the research setting, access to medical care worldwide, environmental safety and biodiversity and the ethical challenges posed by patenting life.
Offered by: Parasitology
- Restriction: U3 and over.
- Terms
- This course is not scheduled for the 2013 academic year
- Instructors
- There are no professors associated with this course for the 2013 academic year.
FDSC 519
Advanced Food Processing
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Food Science: Advanced technologies associated with food processing studied in more detail. Topics include food irradiation, reverse osmosis, super critical fluid extraction and extrusion.
Offered by: Food Science & Agr-Chemistry
- Winter
- 3 lectures
- Prerequisite: FDSC 330
- Course offered in even years. Check with Graduate Program Supervisor.
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
FDSC 535
Food Biotechnology
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Food Science: Review of fundamental concepts of biochemistry, microbiology and biochemical engineering as it relates to traditional food fermentation as well as novel food biotechnological production.
Offered by: Food Science & Agr-Chemistry
- Symbols:
- Taught only in alternate years
FDSC 538
Food Science in Perspective
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Food Science: Food industry, food properties, nutritive aspects, quality factors, and key preservation processes, with self-study linking these elements directly to specific commodities and product groups, their characteristics, chemistry and distinct manufacturing processes.
Offered by: Food Science & Agr-Chemistry
- Fall
- Restriction: Not open to students with an undergraduate degree in Food Science or currently majoring in Food Science. Open to U3 students and above.
NUTR 501
Nutrition in Dev Countries
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Nutrition and Dietetics: This course will cover the major nutritional problems in developing countries. The focus will be on nutrition and health and emphasize young children and other vulnerable groups. The role of diet and disease for each major nutritional problem will be discussed.
Offered by: Dietetics & Human Nutrition
- Fall
- 2 lectures and one seminar
- Prerequisite: For undergraduate students, consent of instructor required
GEOG 515
Contemporary Dilemmas of Devlp
3 Credits
Offered in the:
- Fall
- Winter
- Summer
Geography: Analysis of acute geographic dilemmas of international development. Emphasis on 1) rural systems and the problems of agrobiodiversity, land tenure, conflict, food relief, refugees and migration, the peace process, geopolitics and diplomacy; 2) role of development programs and agendas of the international community, the workings of development On the Ground (TM).
Offered by: Geography
- Prerequisite(s): GEOG 310, GEOG 408, or a 400-level course in development
- Restriction(s): Only open to U3 students with permission of instructor.
9 credits of any relevant graduate-level course chosen in consultation with the program director.