1. Food quality and harmlessness, introduction and maintenance of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP), methods of danger and risk analysis, prediction of the behaviour of raw materials, semi-products and products in the course of processing and storing in relation to their quality and harmlessness to health, quality management systems according to ISO standards.
2. Food packaging, packaging-food interaction, assessment of packaging materials (pack stability, migration of components, packaging-food interaction), state-of-the-art methods of food packaging (active packaging, packaging for micro-wave heating), hygienic and ecological aspects of food packaging.
3. Post-harvest changes during fruit and vegetable storing and processing, anti-nutritional and natural toxic components of food constituents and their changes, inhibition of adverse changes (enzymatic browning etc.).
4. Meat technology - optimization of technological processes, shelf life of meat and meat products, assessment of additives applied in the processing of meat and meat-based products, preparation of recipes, computer picture analysis in the assessment of meat and meat-based products quality, faults in meat and meat-based products.
5. Authenticity of foods and food constituents, methods of falsification detection (falsification detection, validation of genuineness, assessment of the declared technology observance).
6. Use and liquidation of waste from the agricultural and food complex.
7. Electromigration methods in food analysis (development of methods, training, courses, demo laboratory exercise, study visits, service analysis, etc.).
1. Courses in the field Food Preservation and Meat Technology embrace the basic specialization subjects Fundamentals of Food Preservation, Fruit and Vegetables Technology, Meat Technology, Food Packaging, Industrial Production of Ready-made Dishes, Canning Raw Materials, Management Fundamentals, and Engineering Fundamentals of Food Storing. In their individual projects, including diploma theses, students specialize in individual fields whose content overlaps to a certain extent.
2. The field of specialization Technology of Fruit and Vegetable Processing deals with physiological, enzymatic, microbiological and chemical changes during the processing and storage of foods of vegetable origin. In addition to basic technologies of fruit and vegetables processing, including beverage manufacture, attention is also paid to the technology of minimally processed fruit- and vegetables-based products and to the production of delicacies.
3. The field of specialization Meat Technology acquaints students with the methods of processing and storing foods of animal origin, i.e. processing of meat, fish and other kinds of animal material, and eggs.
4. Courses in Food Packaging are focused on various types of packaging-food interaction which is significant in terms of the packaging protective function and its effect on the quality of packed foods.
5. Courses in Environmental Aspects of Food Production (or Environmental Technologies) concern almost all areas of food processing, ways of liquidation and/or processing of waste from the agricultural and food complex, and ecobalance in food production.
6. Study in the field Food Production Management and Technology, which is shared by the fields Carbohydrate Chemistry and Technology, Diary and Fat Technology, and Food Preservation and Meat Technology, provides an overview of food technologies, fundamentals of food processing, packaging and storing, nutrition fundamentals, company economy, management, marketing, accounting and personnel management.
The Department staff strive for an individual approach to students, who may further specialize in foods-related quality control and health harmlessness, technology management, economy and management. Graduates pursue careers as managers in canning facilities, freezing plants, in facilities manufacturing soft drinks, in the meat, poultry and fish industries, trade organizations, laboratories ensuring food quality control, and in environmental departments of state administration bodies and individual companies. The Department also offers the BSc study programme Food Chemistry and Technology, which is focused on food technologies, food quality control and health harmlessness, and which runs parallel to the MSc study programme. Graduates pursue similar careers as those from the MSc programme. The Department provides courses within the PhD study programme Food Chemistry and Technology, in the subprogramme Food Technology.