Technical Foundations for Alternative Ingredients and Foods

The alternative ingredient and food movement is rapidly expanding to encompass plant-based, fermented, and cultured foods/ingredients. The industry is striving to advance the next generation of foods due to both consumer demand and sustainability efforts. Innovations within alternative ingredients and food technology are laying the foundation for our food systems in years to come. There are both basic and technical concepts that will be covered in this course to help students get a better understanding of the product and ingredient innovation space. Students will learn about and understand the key technical concepts behind processing, formation, and characterization of alternative ingredients and foods. We will dive into and build on emerging technologies to gain practical understanding of the basic concepts and recent innovations that are important to the alternative food and ingredient space. Additionally, this course will provide technical and entrepreneurial training through the instructor, mentors and guest lecturers.