National Center for Food Safety and Technology

NCFST ACADEMIC PROGRAM

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Prospective Students

The National Center for Food Safety and Technology (NCFST), with IIT faculty, U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) scientists, and food industry scientists, provides a unique training ground for individuals seeking graduate education in food safety and technology (FST) and food process engineering (FPE). Academically, NCFST is currently a part of IIT’s Chemical and Biological Engineering (ChBE) and Biological, Chemical & Physical Sciences (BCPS).  Our graduate programs are designed to train part-time industry students with background in food science to be food safety experts for the private sector and for federal and state public health agencies. The faculty is drawn from NCFST/IIT staff and NCFST/FDA scientists, and is augmented by IIT faculty from several departments, other federal scientists, and experts from NCFST member companies. Some of the NCFST industrial members include Kraft, Unilever, Campbell’s, General Mills, Nestle, Conagra, FMC, Ecolab Gerber, Pepsico and others.  The FDA’s presence provides a unique opportunity for students to understand the synergy of scientific philosophy and legal issues involved in the regulatory process governing the safety and wholesomeness of the U.S. food supply.

Food processing is one of the most important U.S. manufacturing industries, and the State of Illinois ranks second only to California in food processing volume.  The Chicagoland area has a high concentration of food processing and packaging plants and IIT is the major institution in the Chicago area to offer courses in food safety and technology and food processing engineering. Over the last five years, enrollment in our graduate program has steadily grown (from 0 to about 12-15 students per course/per semester; three courses per semester).  In addition, IIT’s Moffett Campus also has excellent laboratory facilities for teaching and research.

NCFST has excellent facilities for research including a 2692 square meter industrial scale pilot plant. This pilot plant houses state of the art equipment such as computer controlled retorts, high temperature short time plate pasteurizer, high pressure processing equipment for pasteurization and sterilization studies, equipment for aseptic particulate processing of foods, pulsed electric field processor, UV food processor, ozone processor, and package recycling pilot plant. A biocontainment pilot plant provides opportunities to work with pathogenic microorganisms in a large scale using pilot plant equipment. Further NCFST has several well equipped microbiological, food engineering, chemical and packaging laboratories to conduct food safety research. Plans are underway to construct a biosafety level 3 pilot plant and laboratories. NCFST also has a well equipped library that provides both physical and systems access to current and retrospective research and technical publications.

Graduates of our programs will be prepared to assume responsible positions in food production/processing, food safety, sanitation, compliance and regulatory affairs, quality assurance, quality control, and R&D in the food industry.  Other career options include positions in federal, state or local public health agencies and private health organizations in policy-making, regulatory or research positions.

Continue on to our Graduate Programs page.