How can food be produced more sustainably? How can new raw materials be used? And how do foods affect the human body? Students interested in the future of food can approach these questions from different academic perspectives. At MCI | The Entrepreneurial School®, food technology, nutrition and biotechnology provide distinct pathways depending on the level of study and the specific area of interest.
If you are looking for a bachelor’s program and want to understand how foods are developed, produced and evaluated for quality, the Food Technology major within the bachelor’s program Biotechnology & Food Engineering is particularly relevant.
The program combines natural sciences and engineering. Food Technology focuses on food development, production and quality, including product knowledge, sensory analysis, hygiene and nutritional physiology. Processing technologies, new raw materials and analytics are also part of this perspective.
This makes the program relevant if you are interested in questions such as how new raw materials can be turned into food products, how food production can become more sustainable, or how food quality can be analyzed and controlled.
If you already hold a relevant bachelor’s degree and want to connect food technology more closely with nutrition, the master’s program Food Technology & Nutrition provides a corresponding specialization.The program combines technology, analytics and quality assurance with food production, packaging and nutrition-related topics. It also addresses areas such as dietary supplements, specialty foods, nutrition-related properties and the physiological effects of food on the human body.This perspective is particularly relevant if your questions go beyond how food is produced and include what properties a food has and how these relate to nutrition and the human body.Research at MCI reflects this connection. The Food Science & Biotechnology research area covers questions along the value chain, from plant-based raw materials and algae to technological processing and product characterization. Food Production & Product Analysis also addresses new production technologies as well as texture, rheology and food components.
If your main interest is less about nutrition itself and more about biotechnological processes, a different master’s perspective may be more appropriate. The master’s program Biotechnology covers areas including molecular biotechnology, bioprocess engineering, cell culture technology and bioinformatics. Its Ecobiotech major additionally focuses on environmental and sustainable applications such as biobased production processes and biorefineries.
The distinction is therefore straightforward: Food Technology & Nutrition is closer to questions involving food, production, quality and nutritional effects. Biotechnology is closer to biological processes and biotechnological methods for industrial and sustainable applications.
Looking for a bachelor’s program and interested in developing, producing and analyzing food? Biotechnology & Food Engineering with the Food Technology major provides the most direct academic route at MCI.
Looking for a master’s program combining food technology, nutrition, product development and nutritional physiology? Food Technology & Nutrition is the closer match.
Looking for a master’s program with a stronger focus on biotechnological processes and sustainable biobased technologies? Biotechnology provides that perspective.
The “future of food” is not one single academic field. It combines different questions and perspectives. The key decision is therefore which part of that future you want to work on: developing and sustainably producing food, connecting food technology with nutrition, or applying biotechnological processes.
Focus on Future Topics: At MCI, current challenges such as sustainability, innovation, and new technologies are addressed from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.
Discover the program that suits you.