FDSC 5940

Applied and Food Microbiology

Course Description

Course information provided by the 2025-2026 Catalog.

Microorganisms play a central role in a variety of food, agricultural, and environmental processes. this course presents a comprehensive survey of the roles that microorganisms play in industrial/biotechnological processes as well as their importance in the safety and production of foods. A focus on the impact of genomics and the emerging understanding of the microbiome provides an underlying foundation for the course. A 2-credit core section on food microbiology is complemented by a 1-credit section on industrial/biotechnological applications.

Prerequisites/Corequisites Prerequisite: BIOMI 2900 and BIOMI 2911.

Last 4 Terms Offered 2025FA, 2021FA, 2020FA, 2019FA

Outcomes

• Describe the role of human evolution in the development of food borne illness.
• Explain how your immune status and microbiome affect the ability of pathogens to cause disease.
• Analyze the factors that influence microbial growth in foods and other media.
• Critically analyze epidemiological data to determine the agent and the likely sources of a food-borne illness.
• Explain the technological discoveries over the past 20 years that have impacted our study of biology.
• Describe the general characteristics of individual food-borne illness causing agents.
• Evaluate the various schemes for detecting microbial agents.
• Describe the important biotechnological processes for making various food and industrial products.
• Read and critically analyze the scientific literature.

When Offered Spring.

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