MSc Food Technology - Quality Assurance
Ensuring a supply of safe food which meets consumers’ expectations for quality is a demanding task for today’s manufacturing industry. Industry and governments need highly qualified staff who can combine a knowledge of the science and technology of food with an ability to apply and maintain advanced quality systems meeting international expectations. Our MSc Food Technology – Quality Assurance course is designed to meet this need.
The course
Our MSc Food Technology – Quality Assurance course starts in October each year and runs for 12 months. The taught modules for the course are spread over two ten-week terms (October – December and January – March). Examinations are in April/May and students then undertake an individual research project on a specialist topic. The project report has to be submitted in September to complete the course. Students graduate officially the following December.
The programme consists of 180 credits split into modules as follows:
| Mod Code | Module Title | Credits | Term(s) |
| Compulsory modules (170 credits) | |||
| FBMF1A | Food Analysis 1 | 10 | Aut |
| FBMFCA | Chemistry of Food Components A | 10 | Aut |
| FBMFM1 | Introductory Food Microbiology | 10 | Aut |
| FBMFP1 | Food Processing | 20 | Aut/Spr |
| FBMFPR | Project | 60 | Sum |
| FBMFQ4 | Advanced Issues in Food Quality Assurance | 10 | Spr |
| FBMFRA | Risk Analysis in the Food Chain | 10 | Aut |
| FBMFS1 | Sensory Properties of Foods | 10 | Spr |
| FBMQAS | Food Quality Assurance and Safety | 20 | Aut/Spr |
| MMM052 | Entrepreneurial Management for Food Scientists | 10 | Spr |
| Optional modules (10-credits) | |||
| FBMFCB | Chemistry of Food Components B | 10 | Spr |
| FBMFP3 | Economic Manufacture | 10 | Spr |
(Please note that the programme may be subject to minor change from the above list)
Further details of each of the above modules can be found on the main University module description pages. See: http://www.reading.ac.uk/module/
Career prospects
There are many exciting challenges currently facing the food industry and the food technologists that it employs. Governments are also keen to ensure that national food control systems are effective in providing consumer protections using modern techniques (HACCP and risk analysis for example).
For more details, please see MSc Food Technology - Quality Assurance course leaflet.