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What's the difference between the BSc Food Science and the BSc Nutritional Sciences and how to choose which one is right for you.
Should I study Food Science or Nutritional Sciences?
Food science explores how food products are made, and how they acquire their specific characteristics such as flavour and texture. Food scientists develop new forms of traditional products as well as innovative foods developed to support healthy eating, athletic performance and disease prevention. If this interests you, the BSc Food Science is the perfect course for you. The diverse range of subjects covered, from food chemistry to microbiology, provides students with a unique blend of scientific and technical skills designed to meet the needs of careers in the food industry, ranging from research and development to food processing and production.
Nutritional sciences focus on how food affects health. The BSc Nutritional Sciences explores how the provision of food and nutrients to the body to enables physical and mental development and the maintenance of health throughout life. Nutritional scientists play an essential role in understanding the relationship between diet and disease through research, and in providing expert evidence-based dietary advice to the public. Nutritional scientists also work on the alleviation of malnutrition, the treatment of diet-related diseases, and the provision of safe, wholesome and nutritious foods to the consumer.
All students in both the BSc Food Science and the BSc Nutritional Sciences degrees undertake a six-month work placement in third year. This provides students with an opportunity to gain industry experience and acquire key transferrable skills in communication, organisation and management.
Is the BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Sciences accredited?
Yes, UCC's BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Sciences has recently been accredited by the Association for Nutrition (AfN). This prestigious accreditation allows graduates to be directly added to the professionally recognised Register of Nutritionists for the UK and Ireland, with the title of Associate Nutritionist (ANutr) upon graduation.
This achievement highlights the quality of the teaching and training provided by UCC, ensuring that students acquire the necessary knowledge, professional skills, competencies, and experience to excel as nutritionists or nutrition professionals. The four-year program includes a six-month work placement and is founded on evidence-based, research-led teaching and learning.
The AfN governs the UK Voluntary Register of Nutritionists (UKVRN), which recognises nutrition practitioners who meet rigorous training, competence, and professional practice criteria. Graduates of this program are well-prepared for careers in a variety of sectors, including biological, chemical, and pharmaceutical sciences, medical and healthcare, and the food and beverage industry.
What work/career would I be qualified to do on completion of these courses?
BSc Food Science
A BSc in Food Science provides you with a unique blend of scientific and technical skills designed to meet the needs of careers in the food industry, ranging from research and development to food processing and production.
With this degree programme, you will be equipped with the skills and know-how to work in a diverse range of careers in food and related industries and also in healthcare and pharmaceutical sectors as scientists, technologists and innovators. Visit ‘Meet our Graduates’ at https://www.ucc.ie/en/fns/ to see some of our graduate careers. Among Food Science students, employment rates within year 1 of graduating are about 75%, with 20-25% engaged in further study.
BSc Nutritional Sciences
A BSc in Nutritional Sciences provides you with expertise in nutrition as well as in food science and the broader biological sciences in order to prepare you for careers in research and development and a wide range of technical roles in the food and health care industries. The course does not qualify students to work as dieticians, but from September 2020 a postgraduate dietetics programmes has been available in UCC. Visit ‘Meet our Graduates’ at https://www.ucc.ie/en/fns/ to see some of our graduate careers. Over the past 5 years, about 90% of Nutritional Sciences students surveyed within the first year of graduating have reported being either in full-time employment or further study (Masters or PhD).
What Jobs can I get from my BSc?
One constant in life is the necessity of food production and ensuring a safe, reliable and healthy food supply. For this reason, the food industry has always been hugely important in Irish society and will play a pivotal role in Ireland’s economy and environmental future. Bearing this in mind, we are confident that UCC’s BSc Food Science and BSc Nutritional Sciences will remain as they always have been: stable degree programmes which offer life-long secure employment opportunities.
Meet our Graduates
Make connections and conversations. Keep learning.
Anne Parle MPH BSc, Nutritionist & Site Leader, Food Choice
Food Science at UCC has opened many doors and opportunities in my career linking technical content, innovative thinking and teamwork seamlessly. A global food network (..and many friends along the way
Anne Parle MPH BSc, Nutritionist & Site Leader, Food Choice
Anne graduated with a BSc in Nutritional Sciences from UCC in 2013. Following this she went on to complete a Masters in Public Health & Health Promotion. While completing work placement with the Health Promotion Department in the HSE and working as a fieldwork assistant for the WHO European Childhood Obesity Surveillance Initiative after graduating, Anne discovered her passion for promoting easy to understand evidence-based nutrition messages. Anne began working with safefood in 2016, supporting the Human Health & Nutrition Team in the development of campaign messages, publishing research reports and managing the All-island Obesity Action Forum.
Anne has now married her two degrees working as a Nutritionist and Site Leader for Food Choice, managing the implementation of the programme across different workplaces. Day to day Anne works with employers and caterers to create a healthy eating environment that supports employees to make healthier food choices. Alongside this Anne carries out a range of educational activities with employees, from group nutrition sessions to one-on-one nutrition consultations.
Teresa Daly, Business Development Manager (Kerry Group- Enzymes Europe)
Teresa Daly is Business Development Manager at Kerry, based in the Naas, Co. Kildare. She graduated from BSc. Hons Food Science in 2013.
In her final year at UCC, Teresa was part of a team who were awarded UCC ‘Entrepreneur of the Year’ and also Enterprise Ireland's ‘Dynamic and Emerging Company of the Year’ that developed a unique and novel fat free, high protein vegetable snack called ‘Rooties Crisps’.
Having completed her four year degree she joined the Kerry European Graduate Program in conjunction with the Irish Management Institute.
Teresa has held many positions within Kerry Group ranging from R&D to Technical Sales to Business Development across three Kerry facilities in two global regions and now manages the Kerry Enzymes Business for Europe.
Dr. Eve Mulcahy is a Product Manager for Glanbia Ireland’s protein range of ingredients based in Co. Kilkenny, Ireland. She graduated from UCC with a BSc in Food Science and a PhD in Food Science in 2010 and 2017, respectively. She conducted her PhD studies at the Food Ingredients Research Group, UCC in the area of whey protein-carbohydrate interactions for new ingredient development. During her PhD, Eve was awarded 1st place for oral presentations at the International Whey Conference (2014) and American Dairy Science Association (2015). Eve published 5 papers and a book chapter during the course of her PhD. She has also worked in a number of industrial research and development positions including Kerry Group and Wyeth Nutrition. Most recently, Eve has joined Glanbia Ireland’s commercial team as Product Manager for proteins ingredients, where she is responsible for the end-to-end management of new product innovations as part of the value-creation strategy.
Shonagh Harpur - The Nutrisho, Emmett Place, Kinsale, Co. Cork.
The NutriSho simply reflects who I am and what I do. I am a practicing Nutrition Consultant with a particular interest in nutrition for sports performance and health. My mission is to provide a superlative food first, nutrition consulting service that is underpinned by evidenced based research, centered around optimizing athletic performance and health. One body, one mind and one sport at a time."
Dr. Ursula Kenny, Lecturer and Senior Researcher, Department of Clinical Sciences and Nutrition University of Chester
Ursula first embarked upon her academic journey at University College Cork (UCC), where she completed a BSc. (Hons) degree in Nutritional Science, in 2012. During her time at UCC, Ursula became invested in research and published the findings of her final year dissertation project, under the supervision of Dr Aoife Ryan. Following her Undergraduate degree, Ursula undertook her PhD in 2013, with the Discipline of Health Promotion, NUI Galway, under the supervision of Drs Colette Kelly and Michal Molcho. Her doctoral research explored the mechanisms of and extent to which peers influence adolescent body image in Ireland.
Upon completing her Doctorate in 2017, Ursula pursued a lecturing position with the Department of Clinical Sciences and Nutrition, at the University of Chester, in the United Kingdom, for 18 months. During her role as a Lecturer, Ursula was actively involved in the delivery of the MSc. in Public Health Nutrition and Human Nutrition programmes, and supervised a number of both Undergraduate and Postgraduate research dissertations within the Department. Ursula has remained working with the University of Chester, as a Visiting Lecturer and Senior Researcher.
Following her lecturing position in Chester, Ursula returned to her primary passion - a career in research. Ursula is currently working as a postdoctoral researcher, within the Health Promotion Research Centre, at NUI Galway. As part of her postdoctoral role, Ursula is working on a European Commissioned project, HEPCOM, which aims to tackle overweight and obesity in children and young people via community-based initiatives. Ursula is also working on a WHO-collaborative research project pertaining to young peoples’ health and health behaviours (The Health Behaviour in School Aged Children Study, HBSC study). Ursula hopes to continue working in the arenas of Nutrition, Body image, Health Promotion, and Adolescent Health and well-being.
Read the stories of some of our students who graduated with BSc (Food Science), BSc (Nutritional Science) and BSc (Food Science and Technology) degrees. They are happy to share their career experiences with you and hope that this will help you with your career choice.
Attention to detail, being a cross functional team member and organisation are key to success
‘This is a fantastic programme that links colleges internationally and provides great opportunities for students to understand different cultures and educational systems.’
Jia Hou – Product Development Specialist, Nestlé Development Centre, Askeaton, Ireland
On graduation with a wide spread of basic core knowledge, microbiology, nutrition, food chemistry, processing and engineering.. also, knowing I could pick up the phone for support was a huge bonus
Valerie Kingston and her husband Alan, are the founders of Glenilen Farm, an artisan, dairy-based food company located in West Cork. Valerie’s entrepreneurial journey began when she started selling home-produced cheesecakes at the local farmer’s market over 20 years ago. What originated as a cottage industry is now an award-winning commercial enterprise supplying dairy-based chilled products to major retailers in Ireland and the UK, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose.
All courses I have attended in UCC have benefited myself and my business immensely – be it from understanding supply chain and logistics, to nutritional composition
Marion Cantillon - Postgraduate Diploma in Nutritional Science
Deirdre a UCC Food Science and Technology graduate started her Irish Distillers journey in August 2012. Deirdre was an integral member of the commissioning team that installed and operated the Pot stills and Distillation Columns that were a part of the 100-million-euro expansion.
In September 2014 Deirdre was appointed the role of Process Technologist. In this role, she aided the everyday running of the Brewhouse. After a year in the Brewhouse she moved to the Feeds Recovery where she was involved with process optimisation and every day running of the plant.
Deirdre was appointed Bond Supervisor in September 2016. In the Bond area, Deirdre oversees the filling of new make spirit before entering the array of barrels before maturation. Along with this, she is involved with mature spirit disgorging from the barrels. There are currently 1.3 million casks maturing on site.
From March 2021 Deirdre has worked with Master Blender Billy Leighton in Midleton Distillery, and is responsible for the development of new and existing blends, marrying together specific and intricate flavours and aromas, ultimately, creating a palette of tastes that make up Irish Distillers’ portfolio of Irish whiskeys. She is also be responsible for the management of stock, including cask profile and age profile, as well as laying down stock for future generations.
Rachel O’Brien, RDA Technologist II- Primary Dairy, Kerry Europe & Russia
Rachel is currently an RDA Technologist with Kerry Group, based in the Primary Dairy sites, Listowel, Charleville and Newmarket.
Rachel graduated from UCC in 2016 with a BSc Hons in Food Science and started the Kerry Graduate programme. She has worked in many roles within RDA between Naas, Listowel, Charleville and Newmarket over the past 3 years, some being applications focused and some being plant focused. "There hasn’t been a day where I haven’t learned something new! The fast-paced nature of Kerry is a great place for a graduate as you have the time and drive to embrace the busy day to day."
Jia Hou – Product Development Specialist, Nestlé Development Centre, Askeaton, Ireland
Jia studied Bio-engineering in Beijing Technology and Business University (BTBU) and started her BSc (Honours) in Food Science and Technology at University College Cork in 2007 as a ‘2+2’ programme student.
Jia completed her PhD in Food Science at Teagasc Moorepark Food Research Centre under the supervision of Professor Paul McSweeney, Professor Tim Guinee and Dr Tom Beresford. Her research focus was on optimisation of Cheddar cheese manufacture process. As an international student, Jia got great support from both UCC and Teagasc academically and personally. During her PhD journey, her lovely daughter Laia was born in Cork.
Jia then worked as a Cheese Technologist at Irish Dairy Board (now called Ornua) to develop a new type of cheese to be sold under the Kerrygold brand in Germany. After that she was employed as Senior Scientist in PLC Ingredients working on fermented dairy products and dairy flavours.
In end of 2017, Jia joined Nestlé Development Centre, Askeaton as Product Development Specialist where she works on the development and production of Wyeth brand infant formula for markets world-wide. Nestlé invested €25M to build a brand new R&D Centre for more that forty research team members in 2016.
Dr. Tom O'Callaghan, College Lecturer, School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, UCC
Tom graduated from UCC with a B.Sc. in Food Science in 2014. Following this, he took up the position of assistant production manager with Carbery Food Ingredients, having conducted his 6 months college placement with Carbery Group in 2013. In 2015, Tom began his Ph.D. in Science based in Teagasc Moorepark examining the impact of pasture based feeding systems on the composition and quality of milk and dairy products. During his Ph.D. Tom was the recipient of a Teagasc Overseas Training Award, with which he travelled to The Metabolomics Innovation Centre in University of Alberta for three and half months. Tom Graduated with his Ph.D. in Science from UCC in 2018.
In March 2017, Tom took up the role of Permanent Research Officer in Teagasc Dept. of Food Chemistry and Technology. Tom’s research program currently focuses on dairy chemistry and processing across the supply chain, with particular emphasis on the effects of farming practices, cow feeding systems and dairy processing technologies on the quality and functional characteristics of milk and dairy products. In 2018 Tom became a Principal Investigator and Pilar lead with the Food for Health Ireland research program.
In May 2020 Tom was appointed as College Lecturer in the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences, UCC.
Sarah Browner - BSc (Hons) Nutritional Sciences, MSc Innovation in European Business
Sarah Browner graduated with a BSc (Hons) in Nutritional Sciences at University College Cork in 2015. She then went on to complete an International UCC MSc in Innovation in European Business where she got the chance to live in three European cities.
Sarah is now living in Utrecht, The Netherlands where she works as an Analyst in Food and Nutrition at the management and consultancy firm FutureBridge. Before this she worked as a Market Analyst in food trends and innovation at the market research company Innova Market Insights. Sarah’s educational background has provided her with the perfect basis to become an industry expert and deliver insights into key trends that are shaping the Food and Beverage industry. She delivers these insights as a guest speaker at conferences and trade shows across Europe.
Valerie Kingston and her husband Alan, are the founders of Glenilen Farm, an artisan, dairy-based food company located in West Cork. Valerie’s entrepreneurial journey began when she started selling home-produced cheesecakes at the local farmer’s market over 20 years ago. What originated as a cottage industry is now an award-winning commercial enterprise supplying dairy-based chilled products to major retailers in Ireland and the UK, including Tesco, Sainsbury’s and Waitrose. The company is a verified member of Bord Bia’s Origin Green sustainability programme, with all milk used in its produce sourced from Glenilen and neighbouring farms. We chat with Valerie about her memories of UCC.
For Valerie Kingston, the skills and connections she gained while studying for a BSc in Food Science and Technology gave her a head-start when embarking on the daunting prospect of setting up a dairy business.
“Cowpunchers, as we were called, were well-grounded on graduation with a wide spread of basic core knowledge, microbiology, nutrition, food chemistry, processing and engineering etc. Also, knowing I could pick up the phone for support was a huge bonus, even though I had already left college several years beforehand.”
She acknowledges the high calibre of tuition she received from the School of Food and Nutritional Sciences as it is now known, which has a longstanding international reputation for excellence in food research.
“We had a great team of professors and lecturers. I suppose it was later on, I realised how well-renowned and respected the faculty was worldwide. Professor Fox sticks in my memory, he insisted on calling me Virginia Woolf after the writer (my name then was Valerie Wolfe)!“
Valerie's time at UCC was memorable for many reasons and to this day she has vivid recollections of that period in her life, remembering “sitting in the sun with friends in the beautiful grounds, the European tour with the class after final year exams”, and the emergence of a new political landscape in the late eighties.
“I distinctly remember us being in the microbiology lab for an afternoon practical and hearing the Berlin wall had come down, we couldn’t believe it.”
Indeed, she witnessed this new Europe first-hand on a trip she took with the university’s Christian Union (CU). “We used to meet up with other CU’s around the country regularly and went to a European conference in Germany once, by bus, picking others up as we went in Ireland and the UK. It took about a week of travelling; it was a great experience”.
UCC opened up a world of opportunities for Valerie and she embraced all that college life had to offer. Happily, her enthusiasm for her alma mater has been passed down to the next generation, who are now beginning their own third-level journey.
“UCC was so formative, my own kids are at that stage now, one doing occupational therapy and another doing leaving cert and possibly embarking onto UCC also”.
And her advice to today’s students? “Milk the experience to the max, get to know lots of people from different cultures and experiences. Travel and work in the summers, you’ll never have as much free time again”.
Marion Cantillon - Postgraduate Diploma in Nutritional Science
During Marion's final year project in UCC she looked at the impact edible food packaging was making in retail and how it was reducing single use plastics. It was not until she saw first hand the risks associated with working on farms - when her uncle slipped on wet plastic which covered a silage pit and broke his leg that she was inspired to begin the development of her innovative product, Pitseal. She combined her knowledge of farm-life with her previous knowledge of edible packaging and was inspired to develop a better solution for covering silage pits. Pitseal specializes in the process method of making and applying a seaweed based edible biofilm, to replace the current method of covering silage pits with PVC (plastic) sheeting. Pitseal as developed using a unique blend of seaweeds. Pitseal not only acts as an environmentally ideal solution to single use plastic, it also helps with the problem of emissions, which are impacting on the sustainability of farming worldwide. Pitseal has been shown to reduce methane emissions when consumed by animals. The aim Marion's company is to make farming more eco-friendly and provide long term sustainability for farmers and their families.
As a recent graduate of BSc. Food Marketing and Entrepreneurship, Marion continued to study and completed a postgraduate Diploma in Nutritional Science, specialising in biofilms in UCC. She was lucky enough to be selected as part of the class of Ignite 2020, an accelerator program, again based in UCC and received great assistance in getting her company off the ground. Marion will shortly start a PhD in conjunction with Teagasc and UCC, which will allow her to continue to research this area.
What are the entry requirements?
Food Science
47 students were accepted to the 1st year Food Science programme for the Academic Year 2023-2024. A similar number will be accepted for 2024-2025. Minimum CAO entry points 2023-2024 were 407. Specific LC subjects required Minimum entry requirements: H5 in two subjects and O6 in four other subjects in the Leaving Certificate from Irish, English, Mathematics, one Laboratory Science subject [i.e., Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Physics with Chemistry (joint) or Agricultural Science] and two other subjects recognised for entry purposes. Additional Requirements: H4 in a Laboratory Science subject or Mathematics or Applied Mathematics.
Nutritional Sciences
44 students were enrolled in the 1st year Nutritional Science programme for the Academic Year 2023-2024. A similar number will be accepted for 2024-2025. Minimum CAO entry points 2023-2024 were 511. Specific LC subjects required Minimum entry requirements: H5 in two subjects and O6 in four other subjects in the Leaving Certificate from Irish, English, Mathematics, one Laboratory Science subject [i.e., Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Physics with Chemistry (joint) or Agricultural Science] and two other subjects recognised for entry purposes. Additional Requirements: H4 in a Laboratory Science subject or Mathematics or Applied Mathematics.
What will my study look like?
BSc Food Science students take the following teaching schedules over their 4-year programme.
Year 1: approximately 300 hours of lectures, 100 hours of practicals, and 58 hours of tutorials in Biology, Chemistry, Food, Mathematics, and Physics.
Year 2: approximately 264 hours of lectures, 138 hours of practicals, and 16 hours of tutorials in Biochemistry, Food Chemistry, Microbiology, Process Engineering, and Statistics.
Year 3: approximately 234 hours of lectures, 126 hours of practicals and factory visits, plus a 24-week work placement.
Year 4:Food Chemistry and Processing Technology: 240 hours of lectures, 60 hours of practicals, and a team new product development project over teaching periods 1 and 2
Assessment: Written exams will take place before Christmas and in May. Not all modules will have formal examinations. Many modules use other types of assessment including in-semester multiple choice question examinations and laboratory write-ups. Some modules will have a project report as the main outcome of the module and this is also assessed.
BSc Nutritional Sciences students take the following teaching schedules over their 4 year programme.
Year 1: Approximately 300 hours of lectures, 100 hours of practicals, and 58 hours tutorials in Biology, Chemistry, Nutrition, Mathematics, and Physics.
Year 2: Approximately 234 hours of lectures, 126 hours of practicals and self-directed learning in Biochemistry, Food Chemistry, Microbiology, Molecular Biology, Nutrition, Physiology and Statistics.
Year 3: Approximately 204 hours of lectures, 66 hours of practicals and self-directed learning, and eight hours of tutorials in Food Science, Microbiology and Nutrition. You will also undertake a library project
Year 4: Approximately 222 hours of lectures, 12 hours of practicals, 12 hours of directed or self-directed study, a 14-week laboratory-based research project and seminars in Immunology, Nutrition and Toxicology.
Assessment: Written exams will take place before Christmas and in May. Not all modules will have formal examinations. Many modules use other types of assessment including in-semester multiple choice question examinations and laboratory write-ups. Some modules will have a project report as the main outcome of the module and this is also assessed.
What is Work Placement?
Food Science
An integral part of 3rd year of both the Food Science and Nutritional Sciences programmes is a six-month work placement. You will be placed on a 6-month Work Placement by the UCC Careers Services. Placements will provide you with a practical insight into the commercial world of food science and strengthen your communication and professional skills while developing your business contacts, which greatly enhances your employability as a graduate. Placement opportunities are available in companies and hospitals across Ireland and a lesser number in European companies. Companies range from national and multinational food companies such as Carbery, Dairygold, Glanbia, Kerry Group, PepsiCo, Nestlé, Irish Distillers, Dunnes Stores and Supervalu. Students may also choose placements in smaller craft food businesses. Nutritional Science students may be placed in a hospital/clinical settings. Tasks include laboratory-based work, product development and clinical and nutritional assessment.
Nutritional Sciences
Work Placement Stories
Susan is a credit to UCC School of Food and Nutritional Sciences!
Dave Savage- Pepisco R&D, Cork
Susan Aherne spent her Internship with Pepsico R&D in Cork working in the Concentrate Development Team.
I was involved in bringing the product 'Velo Tandem' from idea to shelf. This was of course a huge success for a small local producer - suffice to say my workplace mentor was thrilled!
Jennifer Ramsbottom - 4th Year Nutritional Science student
From the knowledge I had acquired while studying at UCC, I was able to put theory into practice by developing a “meat-like” sausage from plant based ingredients.
Kate Collins - 4th Year Nutritional Science student
Susan Aherne spent her Internship with Pepsico R&D in Cork working in the Concentrate Development Team.
As part of her Internship, Susan worked very closely with one of our team members in Concentrate Development, and found herself as the lead Analyst in the department where she demonstrated experience beyond her years in how she led and managed the day to day analysis for a key Sugar Reduction project. This work involved full quality testing, sensory profiling and documenting all results which she presented to R&D leadership team and Product Development colleagues in Valhalla New York on a weekly basis.
This gave Susan huge exposure to the wider R&D community here in Cork while enhanced her communication skills. As well as this Susan also completed a Gatorade Harmonization Programme for six different formula, examining the common links between the various formulae and again documented same and presented to R&D Pepsico Global Sensory Team based in Little Island.
She played a key role in the Intern Project “PepsEco” which was the designated project all the Interns completed as a group and presented to all Pepsico employees during August this included Global Manufacturing Leaders, showing great presentation skills.
Susan is a credit to UCC School of Food and Nutritional Sciences!
Dave Savage
R&D Concentrate Development, Pepisco R&D, Cork
Jennifer Ramsbottom - 4th Year Nutritional Science student
My placement was in Velo Coffee Roasters from which I gained fantastic experience. As part of the internship I worked on a project - Grow with Aldi - which was an initiative to give small Irish food producers an opportunity to become listed with Aldi should they be successful after a trial period in store.
We progressed through various rounds and were eventually chosen as one of five producers to be taken on permanently as core products at Aldi nationally. I was involved in bringing the product 'Velo Tandem' from idea to shelf. This was of course a huge success for a small local producer - suffice to say my workplace mentor Rob was thrilled!
The coffee has been on the shelves in 137 Aldi stores nationwide since January. I am still involved with the business and helped get the opening order ready in January over the Christmas break.
Below I've included some of the media coverage received if it is of interest.
Kate Collins - 4th Year Nutritional Science student
My name is Kate Collins and I am currently in my final year of BSc Nutritional Sciences in UCC. During my 3rd year 6-month work placement at Drover Foods Ltd., I was given a project to undertake. This was to create a vegan sausage that could replace a normal sausage in sandwiches, rolls, ready meals etc. From the knowledge I had acquired while studying at UCC, I was able to put theory into practice by developing a “meat-like” sausage from plant based ingredients. Learning how different food macronutrients, specific ingredients and other minerals interact with each other, especially upon heating and pressure really helped with creating this product. Also, having done modules in microbiology helped with determining shelf life stability. All in all, I had to pull information I had learned in many of the modules I had undertaken here at UCC to create this product, which is now a part of Boots UK vegan sandwich line.
Do I need Biology or Chemistry in my Leaving Cert?
The Minimum requirement for the BSc Food Science or Nutritional Sciences is one Laboratory Science subject [i.e., Chemistry, Physics, Biology, Physics with Chemistry (joint) or Agricultural Science] and two other subjects recognised for entry purposes. Additional Requirements: H4 in a Laboratory Science subject or Mathematics or Applied Mathematics. For those who enter the programme without a particular science subject, teaching from 1st year, is on the basis that some of the cohort of students entering the programme will not have studied the subject before. Science subjects are taught from the initial concepts and tutorials are available to assist students.
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