Master Degree in Nutrition and Food Sciences

The Master's Degree Course in Nutrition and Food Sciences is a multisciplinary course proposed by the Department of Life and Environmental Sciences (DISVA), with the contribution of researchers and professors from the Department of Food and Environmental Sciences (D3A). The course lasts two years and confers the academic qualification of doctoral degree, allowing to obtain the qualification to the profession of Biologist, after passing the relative State Exam.

The course is open access, requiring a three-year university degree or diploma, or another qualification obtained abroad, recognized as suitable. Master's or single-cycle graduates with the necessary requirements are also admitted.

The course reflects a greater social awareness on the role of nutrition in maintaining an optimal state of health, in the prevention of chronic diseases associated with age and consequently in the achievement of successful aging. In this context, the extension of this concept, in addition to human health, to pet animals is significant, since this nutritional sector plays an increasingly important role in differentiating and enhancing the market. Therefore, the course also responds to the growing interest of companies related to health foods and nutraceuticals, associated with the need to enhance the health characteristics of local agri-food products. In particular, it responds to specific market requests of professional figures in the field of nutrition with skills in the health of the consumer, considering in addition to the classic elements of dietary techniques, aspects of modulation of the intestinal microbiota by foods and probiotics, elements of nutrigenomics and the principles of nutrigenetics as an introduction to the concept of personalized nutrition.

At the same time, technological knowledge related to food and nutraceuticals will also be provided, in particular on the design, implementation and validation of the efficacy of functional foods for humans and pets, taking into account the regulations on health claims (health claim). In this context, the purely biomedical aspects that characterize the skills of the nutritionist biologist will be integrated with knowledge on food quality, food technologies including microbiological ones and food safety.
The course therefore aims to train highly professional figures for the food, nutraceutical and feed industry, able to combine knowledge on the production and processing of food with those on the nutritional and functional value of the same.

Specifically, the trained professional figures in addition to the classic preparation for the profession of nutritional biologist, will have the skills to analyze and evaluate the chemical-physical and microbiological characteristics of a food product, in order to improve its nutritional quality and food safety. These skills will allow preferential access to agri-food, nutraceutical and zootechnical companies. Future graduates will be able to deal with the development of traditional and innovative functional foods both for human consumption and in the livestock sector, with a particular focus on diets for pets. They will also be able to support companies and associations for the enhancement of local products, find employment in food quality control laboratories, manage certification systems. Additional possibilities are represented by access to positions in the public sector (which currently employs about 15% of LM61 graduates), at national and regional health authorities involved in the design, monitoring and evaluation of programs relating to nutritional issues.

As part of the training course, the course includes training activities aimed at acquiring advanced knowledge in the various areas of nutrition, from the biomedical oriented towards human health to the technological aspect related to the characterization and transformation of food,
The course provides annual seminars, with the collaboration of professionals, for the acquisition of knowledge and skills of great importance for the exercise of the professional activity; it requires the realization of an experimental degree thesis, both in research laboratories of the Polytechnic University of Marche or in other Universities, in research institutes / companies, public or private, operating in the food and human nutrition sector. There are also 120 hours of internship in research laboratories of the University or in organizations, companies, external laboratories, public or private, affiliated with the University, which operate in the food and nutrition sector.

The training objectives of the course concern the following essential skills for the professional figure:
- Knowledge of the quality of raw materials and of the technological and microbiological processes associated with their transformation. Use of bioprocesses for the nutritional and nutraceutical improvement of foods with particular attention to local products.
- Knowledge of the aspects concerning the safety of food of animal and vegetable origin and the quality of the transformation processes.

- Knowledge of the biochemical and physiological mechanisms of digestion, absorption and metabolic processes involving nutrients. Knowledge of nutritional and nutraceutical quality. Knowledge of the influence of food on well-being and on the prevention and treatment of diseases, also through the modulation of the intestinal microbiota.

- Knowledge of agri-food economics and marketing. Knowledge of the regulations related to the marketing, safety and health claims of foods, ingredients, additives and food supplements.

Link: https://www.disva.univpm.it/content/corso-di-laurea-scienze-della-nutrizione-e-dellalimentazione?language=it

Graduates in Nutrition and Food Sciences

Function in a work context:

Graduates in Nutrition and Food Sciences have a high professional profile concerning biological applications in the food and nutrition fields as a health specialist, nutritionist biologist, food biotechnologist, researcher in the field of nutrition science

- coordinates both public and private laboratories in the nutritional field
- carries out research on the relationships between food intake and health status;
- carries out freelance activities of management, coordination of research or consultancy for companies active in the sector of human nutrition and pet animals;
- carries out coordination and management activities in the large-scale distribution in the food sector;

The training activities are aimed at learning the correct application of food and nutrition in the field of health and well-being with particular attention to regulatory, safety and new technologies relating to nutraceuticals and functional foods.
In particular, the activities that the graduates specialist of the class will be able to carry out are:
1) evaluation of the nutritional characteristics and safety of foods and their modifications induced by technological and biotechnological processes;
2) Research, dissemination and dissemination of knowledge in the nutritional field, on the principles of food quality and safety and enhancement of local food products aimed at institutional operators and the general population
3) analysis of the bioavailability of nutrients in foods and food supplements and design of experimental studies aimed at verifying their effects and identifying health claims;
4) evaluation of the state of nutrition also through the use of non-invasive instrumentation for the detection of parameters useful for the assessment of nutritional and energy needs; prescription of individual diets or for structures, also taking into account particular pathological conditions, after evaluation of the state of health by medical specialist;

Skills associated with the function:

Graduates in Nutrition and Food Sciences have skills regarding the biochemistry and physiology of nutrition, the theoretical basis and applications of dietary sciences in physiological and pathological conditions, and skills on the functional role of microorganisms involved in the production, distribution and storage of food , with particular reference to foods linked to the territory and the role of nutrients in the regulation of gene expression. Graduates will know the fundamental principles of classical and instrumental chemical-analytical methods applied to the analysis of foods for the determination of important substances both from a nutritional point of view and for the control of the presence of undesirable chemical species; has knowledge of the role of functional foods and nutritional supplements for both humans and pets and the biotechnological processes necessary for their implementation as well as the regulations governing their health claims. Graduates also have the ability to collect and interpret data in their field of study useful for determining independent judgments on specific issues, including reflection on social, scientific and ethical issues, as well as the ability to communicate the information collected, the ideas they intend to advance in the his field of work, the problems that may arise and the relative solutions to specialist interlocutors in the various fields of molecular and applied sciences, but also to non-specialist interlocutors.
1) Ability to evaluate the nutritional characteristics and safety of foods, their modifications induced by technological and biotechnological processes;
2) Capacity for information, training and education aimed at institutional operators and the general population on the principles of quality and food safety;
3) Ability to analyze the bioavailability of nutrients in foods, functional foods and food supplements and their effects; functional design and prototyping of the same to support specific health functions and verify their effectiveness
4) Ability to develop and prescribe diets and nutritional integration strategies also taking into account particular pathological conditions, after medical evaluation;

Sbocchi occupazionali:
Graduates of the LM 61 Master's degree will be able to enroll in the Professional Order of Biologists (after passing the state exam).
The employment and professional opportunities envisaged for graduates (Decrees on Classes, Art. 3, paragraph 7) are:
- Health Specialist - Nutritionist Biologist
- Food biotechnologist
- Researcher in the field of Food Science
Specific sectors of activity can be:
1) Public health: in the context of national and regional health programs, participation in health prevention projects and planning and management of nutritional assessment and surveillance programs.
2) Public and / or private research institutes (University, National Research Council, Higher Institute of Health, Zoo prophylaxis institutes, Hospitals, ARPA, etc) in particular for the design, management and development of scientific research studies in 'field of food science.
3) Catering, dietary and nutraceutical food companies: implementation of integrated management systems for the quality of the service provided design, development and enhancement of food products with a high nutritional impact (functional foods) for both humans and pets ; management of labeling and information relating to nutrition and health claims; development of certification systems.
4) Graduates who have sufficient credits in adequate groups of sectors will be able, as required by current legislation, to participate in the admission tests for training courses for secondary education.