Wageningen University and Research Center

Knowledge of foodborne microorganisms is essential for supplying safe and wholesome foods with a long shelf life. This course offers an introduction to the basics of food microbiology and discusses both the negative aspects of micro-organisms, such as spoilage and disease and the positive effects of fermentative processes. Characteristics of food that influence growth and inactivation of micro-organisms (e.g. water activity, pH, preservatives, heating, modified atmosphere packaging) are reviewed. The course provides a detailed introduction to the main bacterial foodborne pathogens (e.g. Campylobacter, Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes) and methods for microbial examination, but also deals with foodborne viruses, parasites, and fungi. Moreover, good manufacturing practices, personal hygiene, and the principles of cleaning and disinfection are explained. In a three-week lab class, spoilage organisms and pathogens are isolated from food products and environments using traditional and molecular methods. In the tutorial classes, molecular identification methods are explored, and the effect of several bactericidal treatments is investigated.

This course gives insights into resource management in sustainable (including organic) agriculture through the integration of knowledge about farm components (soils, plants, livestock) and the surrounding landscapes. The course includes on each of the four themes: soils, crops, animals, and systems analysis/modeling as well as an excursion to a local dairy farm. Basic knowledge of soil, crop, and livestock science is assumed.

This course focuses on the social transformations of food systems. More specifically it focuses on a) how less sustainable systems of food provisioning are deliberately transformed into more sustainable ones and b) how this transformation process and its implications can be understood and assessed from a social sciences perspective.  The course provides a social sciences perspective on the dynamics and diversity of sustainable systems of food provisioning and includes the tools to assess their impact on the environment, society, and health. This is achieved by a combination of lectures, group assignments, and workshops.

This course covers the basics of food technology: the chemistry, physics, microbiology, and process engineering of food. The course is designed for students with no or little prior knowledge of chemistry, physics, and biology. It starts with a case study on an existing food product, studying all elements of the food label (ingredients, nutritional value, rules and regulations, etc.) and determining the production process.  Students present their outcomes. Theories on chemical, microbial, physical, and process engineering are explained in lectures. Exercises are used to illustrate the theory. Processes discussed include beer brewing, production of chocolate, dairy, and sugar. Lastly, the course reviews the quality of foods as a function of the treatments and conditions such as shipment, pasteurization/sterilization, and storage.

The Ecology course provides an introduction to and overview of the field of ecology and builds on material learned in secondary school courses in biology.  The course covers the most important theories and principles of general ecology based on interesting examples from scientific research and the practice of nature management, agriculture and fisheries, land development, and environmental policy. Ecological insights are essential for solving major problems concerning biodiversity, food production, global climate change, and many other areas.

The course introduces Geo-Information Science and its scientific and societal interests. The starting point of the introduction is the geo-information cycle. This cycle frames geo-data-based actions like acquisition and storage, processing, and visualization. It is explained that these actions can be used to describe, analyze, design, and realize real-world phenomena. Thus geo data is always acquired, processed, and visualized with a specific purpose. This is illustrated via the conceptual, formal, and technical modeling steps. Important in these modeling steps are the roles of geographical data attributes (thematic, geometric, temporal). Because the acquisition and processing of geo data are purposive, metadata plays an important role in finding geo data and geo data processing steps. It is also important to evaluate the (re)usability of geo data and geo data processing steps. Metadata explains important geo data characteristics like (geo)reference, map projection, and available attributes. Geo-visualization, especially cartography concepts, is introduced to show how geo data ought to be communicated. After the introduction of the geo data-related concepts, the course offers geo data processing options. The latter is done by the introduction of three data handling classes (query, transform, and alter) and the data-action model. Basic concepts of Remote Sensing (spectral signature, sensor types, and visual and quantitative processing) are also introduced. The application of all concepts is practiced during a practical and a small project using professional software and data.

Studying food is a way of studying some of the big questions that occupy social scientists. This course examines the role that food plays in customs and across cultures. Food culture is the expression of how people value food and everything connected to food. As such, this course is an exploration into the ever-changing social functions of food. This entails an examination of the attitudes and assumptions that shape people's lives; the rituals and beliefs that mark their identities; the role of ethics in food choice; and the ways foods are grown, processed, sold, and consumed in particular places.

To cope with all these aspects of food production, a food technologist should be able to translate these challenges into mathematical expressions, solve them, quantify the outcomes, and subsequently translate them into practical solutions. This course discusses basic principles of food technology like mass and energy balances, reaction kinetics, and equilibrium. Theory is applied directly to a wide variety of practical problems in food technology during the tutorial. Exercises on various topics such as food preservation, reactor design for enzyme reactions, and sterilization of food are solved.

This course describes food production and preservation technologies that are relevant to the food industry. The course includes food production methods, traditional preservation processes, fluid flow, thermal preservation kinetics and methods (heating, cooling, freezing) as well as novel preservation technologies. Important processing principles (such as residence time, and heat transfer) and the consequences for products (shelf life and product quality) are discussed and quantified for various processes and products.

This course introduces the functioning of marine and estuarine ecosystems. The structure is centered around marine processes, systems, and impacts.  The course introduces marine and estuarine ecology through lectures, a field practicum, and a day trip to a tropical marine ecosystem. Lectures cover a wide range of topics and ecosystems including the most recent scientific insights and hot topics in marine ecology. During the lectures, important physical, chemical, and biological processes of the marine and estuarine environment are explained. The processes and ecological principles are illustrated more in-depth using examples from various estuarine and marine ecosystems. The influence of global change and other human impacts on coastal and marine areas, such as eutrophication, chemical pollution, and plastics, are also discussed. Lectures include guest lecturers from scientific institutes (NIOZ, Utrecht University, Wageningen Marine Research), the Zoo (Burgers Zoo), and PhD students to introduce students to current issues and trending topics in the field of marine ecology. The lectures are complemented by a field practical to gain experience with marine ecology research methods. Students also go on an excursion to the coral reef and mangrove display of Burgers Zoo, during which students get acquainted with the complex interactions in tropical ecosystems.