MSc Sustainable Food Systems – Double Degree program

Become an expert of sustainability in the food industry and be a part of the transition towards a new and sustainable food system !

Training managers of the food sector

During courses, you will gain basic knowledge in all topics that are relevant for the food industry, from farm to fork, such as sustainability, supply chain, technologies, processing, entrepreneurship and new developments, combined with a specialization in a specific field of interest.

In your final year, you will need to implement all this knowledge in problem-based work project from the industry.

Upon completion of the programme, as a graduate student, you will be able to :

• Manage international teams in a cross-cultural and multidisciplinary environment
• Understand the food chain industry “from farm to fork”
• Identify and control the factors that impact sustainability in the food chain production
• Understand and use the technologies in order to plan, perform and control sustainable food production and processing
• Evaluate and solve problems related to sustainable food production within a food company

The MSc Sustainable Food Systems is a 2 year and 120 credit point programme taking place in 2 or 3 different universities.

First Semester - Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Cremona, Italy)

• Introduction to sustainability of food systems (e-learning) – 5 ECTS
• Economic impact of agricultural and food regulations – 5 ECTS
• Food footprint : the environmental impact of the agro food chain – 5 ECTS
• Food Supply Chain Management – 5 ECTS
• Biochemistry of food – 4 ECTS
• Food microbiology for food production – 6 ECTS
• Compulsory seminar on theological issues

Second Semester - You choose !

Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore (Cremona, Italy) : Focus on food processing, innovation and tradition

• Food Technology and plants – 10 ECTS
• Food quality assurance and international certification – 5 ECTS
• Digital data processing – 5 ECTS
• Law and regulation in food value chains – 5 ECTS
• Food risk analysis and management – 5 ECTS

OR Ghent University (Ghent, Belgium) : Focus on food technology

• Food Safety and Risk Analysis – 5 ECTS
• Functional foods – 5 ECTS
• Planning and Project Design – 7 ECTS
• Scientific Reading, Writing and Presentation Skills – 3 ECTS
• Packaging Technology – 5 ECTS
• Food Legislation – 5 ECTS

Third Semester - ISARA (Lyon, France)

This is a comprehensive, applied semester including group works in strong cooperation with partner industries.

• Intrepreneurship and sustainable development in food industries – 12 ECTS
• Food processing and managerial innovation – 12 ECTS
• Literature review – 6 ECTS

Fourth Semester - You choose !

Carry out your Master’s thesis at Isara or Università Cattolica del Sacro Cuore. It can also be carried out along an internship in a food organization or food companies. Thus, the master thesis will be supervised by one of the universities – 30 ECTS

Our MSc Sustainable Food Systems programme has an excellent placement record for its graduates on the international job market, worldwide !

High demand of qualified professionals, specialized in sustainability

Typical job opportunities will be project manager or managing positions within the fields of :

• Supply chain
• Quality and food safety
• Production and processes
• Sustainable development
• Food system innovation
• Sales and marketing
• Global management
• Research
• Teaching

As reference, some companies that offer career opportunities for our students :

Cargill – Danone – Ecocert – Lactalis – Mars – WeLoop - ePac Flexible Packaging