Content Official Master's Degree in Quality of Food of Animal Origin

Ideal student profile

Students taking this master's degree should have a bachelor's degree or equivalent qualification in the related areas of Food Science and Technology, Veterinary Medicine, Pharmacy, Nutrition and Dietetics, Biochemistry, Chemistry, Biology, Microbiology, Biotechnology, Medicine, Animal Health, Environmental Science, Food Engineering, Agricultural Engineering, Chemical Engineering, or Biosystems Engineering, and also a great interest in learning about quality and innovation in a global context, from the farm through to the consumer, as dealt with on this degree.

Among the attitudes and interests students are expected to cultivate in order to follow this course are the following:

• Ability to work in a team.
• Active participation in the classroom.
• Willingness to learn autonomously and stay abreast of new knowledge.
• Appropriate oral and written communication skills.

On the other hand, it is important to prove the knowledge of the teaching languages. It is recommended that students who wish to attend the master's degree have at least a B1 level (EUROPASS) or an equivalent level in English in order to take advantage of the reference materials and of any lectures given by invited teachers in English.

Basic skills

• Use acquired knowledge as a basis for originality in the application of ideas, often in a research context.
• Solve problems in new or little-known situations within broader (or multidisciplinary) contexts related to the field of study.
• Integrate knowledge and use it to make judgements in complex situations, with incomplete information, while keeping in mind social and ethical responsibilities.
• Communicate and justify conclusions clearly and unambiguously to both specialised and non-specialised audiences.
• Continue the learning process, to a large extent autonomously

Specific skills

• Identify the possible effects of animals' food, handling, welfare and genetics on the nutritional, organoleptic and technological characteristics of animal products.
• Define the main production systems that differentiate between animal products.
• Identify risks to food safety stemming from the feeding and handling of animals.
• Distinguish the quality parameters of fresh and processed foods in accordance with their standards.
• Establish appropriate processes for maintaining or improving the quality of fresh and processed foods in accordance with their quality standards.
• Design new foods by incorporating the necessary ingredients and additives and by applying appropriate processing and conservation technologies.
• Evaluate the potential of a technological process to obtain the microbiological, physical, chemical, sensorial and nutritional properties that determine the quality of a food.
• Execute and manage an innovation process on a food product, or a production and conservation process.
• Implement quality management systems for the agri-food industry.
• Apply analytic methodologies to evaluate food and raw material quality indicators.
• Design an experimental procedure from the sampling stage through to the evaluation of findings.
• Write a satisfactory research paper on aspects of food quality.

Cross-curricular skills

• Search for information using the appropriate channels and use this information to solve problems in the work context.
• Design, organise and execute projects related to this field of study, working alone or in a unidisciplinary or multidisciplinary team, displaying a critical sense and creativity, and the ability to analyse, synthesise and interpret information.
• Apply research methodology, techniques and specific resources to carry out research and produce innovative results in a specific area of specialisation.