Food Chemistry

For some years now, the interest in healthy and safe food has been increasing. In addition to smell and taste, consumers are attaching great importance to the origins, safety, quality, and health features of food. With the Master's program in Food Chemistry you will contribute to providing society with safe and healthy food. A holistic approach – from the quality of the food through to the composition of the packaging to the way it is prepared – is important.

The degree program trains you in an interdisciplinary context so that you can address these holistic issues and ensure the safety of food and animal feed. Accordingly, you will learn all about the substances generated during the processing and preparation of food, which can be valuable (e.g. smell and taste), health-promoting (e.g. antioxidants) or harmful (e.g. acrylamide) and how to analyze them on a molecular basis. How can you influence the molecular composition by making specific changes to the raw material or the manufacturing process and what is important for food law compliance? How do new technologies affect the molecular composition of food? By training in food toxicology, quality assurance and food law, you will be prepared for all the challenges your professional future might bring.

The consecutive Bachelor's/Master's program at the TUM is equivalent to the previous state examination program.

With a Master's degree in Food Chemistry, you can call yourself a food chemist and can then start the one-year advanced training to become a "state-certified food chemist".

In public administration and state investigation institutions, you can use your knowledge in the development of measures for health-related consumer protection or in the monitoring of foodstuffs, cosmetic products, and consumer goods. In consumer organizations, you will represent the interests of consumers with your expertise and inform them accordingly.

The food industry also has a wide range of roles for you. At the interface between production and quality management, you can decide on the purchase of raw materials based on quality criteria, carry out goods inspections or check production concerning the sensory quality and chemical safety of the product. Besides this, you can support marketing concerning food law issues in labeling and advertising, thereby contribute significantly to the product’s success on the market.

In addition, you will find jobs in the pharmaceutical and cosmetics industry, at expert offices, private laboratories, or state research institutes and at universities, where you can also follow your master's studies with a doctorate.

Building on the Bachelor's program in Food Chemistry, the Master's program focuses more on the interdisciplinary and research-oriented aspects of the subject. In the Master's program in Food Chemistry, you will learn about the compounds produced during the processing and preparation of food and analyze them on a molecular level. You will find out how to influence the molecular composition of food by specifically intervening in the corresponding processes. In this way, you contribute to preventative consumer protection. Further contents of the Master's program in Food Chemistry include food law, food toxicology, and quality assurance.

The degree takes place full-time in four semesters, in which you will earn 120 credits. In addition to the compulsory subjects, elective modules can be attended; these could be from the fields of business administration, applied NMR spectroscopy, or high-resolution analytical methods. In electives, you can also deal more intensively with the development of starter cultures or food biotechnology.

To ensure that the interdisciplinary basics, so-called soft skills, are not neglected, you can take three credits in this area. It does not matter whether it is a practical course,  tutorial-based, lecture-based, seminar-based, or a language course.

In the fourth semester, you write your Master’s thesis.

Interest aroused? Just take a look at an exemplary curriculum!

With your Master's degree in your pocket, you will have an enhanced and detailed knowledge of the subject areas of food, cosmetics, consumer goods, tobacco products, animal feed, and their raw materials – from a chemical-analytical, technological and legal perspective. You will understand the essential reactions during the processing and preparation of food on a molecular level and can assess how value-adding properties such as smell, taste, color, and texture of food are formed.

You will be familiar with analytical methods and techniques of molecular sensory analysis and be able to evaluate the quality of food in terms of sensory parameters and ingredients. You will know how these substances are formed and will therefore be able to develop strategies to increase the health-promoting value of food. When it comes to undesirable ingredients, you will also have extensive knowledge about evaluation, analysis, monitoring, and minimization.

Your studies will have taught you to recognize and analyze problem situations early on and to develop appropriate countermeasures. Through the various internships, you will be familiar with instrumental analysis, and will be able to work independently and understand the functional principle and operation of analytical instruments. Besides this, you will be able to formulate your own goals in response to new questions, to develop and carry out test designs and to evaluate, interpret and communicate the results at a high professional level. You will thereby fulfill all the areas required by the state training and examination regulations (APOLmCh), which correspond to the second section of the state examination.

All students have to pay a semester fee for the student union (Studierendenwerk).

++ NEW ++ International students from third countries, i.e. countries that do not belong to the European Economic Area, will be charged tuition fees as of winter semester 2024/25.
All information on fee levels, waivers and scholarship programs can be found on the website on tuition fees for international students.

During the application period you can easily apply for a place in the winter semester via the application portal TUMonline. You simply upload your documents for admission to the Food Chemistry course directly to the portal.

To apply, you must have at least a six-semester qualified bachelor's degree or an at least equivalent degree that you have obtained at a German or foreign university. Besides this, you must provide proof of your professional qualification according to APOLmCh (Ordinance on the Training and Examination of State-certified Food Chemists). You will have usually obtained these qualifications as a graduate of the Bachelor's program in Food Chemistry. If you have a different bachelor's degree, for example in chemistry, biochemistry, or pharmacy, you can only prove this professional qualification if you have taken food chemistry modules as electives.

In a subsequent aptitude assessment, we will check whether you have the necessary prerequisites and motivation for the program.

The degree program is taught in German, so you will have to provide evidence of sufficient German language skills when applying. With this, you fulfill the minimum requirements for admission to the course. However, for the successful completion of the degree program it may be necessary for you to expand and deepen your language skills.

The admissions process is described in the appendix to the Academic and Examination Regulations of the program.

When you receive your admission, you will have to submit a few certified hard copies for your enrollment.

• Curriculum
  • Curriculum 20221
  • Curriculum 20151 (expiring)
    The degree chart gives you an overview and recommendation, which modules you should take in which semester according to academic and examination regulations (FPSO).
• Timetable (TUM ID required for login):
  This timetable is intended to give you an overview of the planned compulsory and elective modules of a semester. It is for orientation purposes only and will not be updated during the semester! 
  
  Via TUMonline you can have a timetable created for each semester according to FSPO.
  
  You can also create your own individual timetable, which can contain not only the dates of the selected courses, but also your personal appointments.
  
  First steps with TUMonline

• General Academic and Examination Regulations at TUM (APSO)
• Academic and Examination Regulations (FPSO)
  • Academic and Examination Regulations 20151

• Examination dates & registration via TUMonline
  In TUMonline you can register for the module examinations that accompany your studies. 

  Important: You can only take most of the exams if you have actively registered yourself via TUMonline within the registration period. The registration and deregistration period will be displayed at the exam date.

• Further examination matters
  • Scientific Project Planning is a compulsory examination for master's students in food chemistry and is worth three credits. It is an independent module that must be completed before starting the master's thesis. The exam duration is 50 minutes. The students have 25 minutes to present the topic and project plan of the master's thesis. This is followed by a disputation, which extends from the subject of the master's thesis to the focus of study and related areas of knowledge. The examination is carried out by the topic author of the Master’s thesis and another TUM university professor from another working group.
  • Academic progress check
  • Examinations
  • Recognitions
  • Theses
     
• Board of Examination
  The board of examination is a committee consisting of university professors and lecturers of the degree program. The chairperson of the board of examination of your degree program is Prof. Dr. rer. nat. habil. Michael Rychlik. Applications to the board of examination are received by the secretary and submitted to the board of examination for decision. You can reach the secretary by sending an email to examination.co(at)ls.tum.de.

Research Internship

A pre-study internship before the start of the course is not required for admission.

The research internship is a compulsory module in the Master's program in Food Chemistry, which can usually be started from the 3rd semester. The scope of the internship is 15 semester hours per week. The research internship can be carried out either during the semester or as a block. A link in terms of content to the topic of the master's thesis is possible but not mandatory. The assessment of the research internship is based on the practical work (80%) and the research report (20%). Part of the report is a five-minute poster presentation about the results of the work.

Research internships can be offered by qualified academic staff members of the Chair of Food Chemistry and Molecular Sensory Sciences, the Chair of Analytical Food Chemistry, and the Chair of Functional Phytometabolomics, as well as the Leibniz Institute for Food Systems Biology at TUM and the Bavarian Center for Biomolecular Mass Spectrometry (BayBioMS).

If the research internship is to be completed at other TUM chairs or institutions, at other universities in Germany and abroad, and companies (“external”), the approval of the examination board in advance is mandatory. If you have these questions, please get in touch with the academic advisor. Note: External work requires an expert examiner from TUM whose willingness to supervise the external internship must be clarified by the students in advance.
 

More information about

• Internships
• Excursions