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Biotechnologists will ensure the safety of your life
Sergey Tikhonov, head of the Department of Food Engineering at Ural State University of Economics, spoke about the prospects of the Food Biotechnology training area: what disciplines are taught to students, where graduates can work, what job they can do, and how much they earn.
- Sergey Leonidovich, what are areas of training and specialties implemented at your department?
-At the USUE Department of Food Engineering, two areas of training are being implemented. The first is Food Biotechnology. Students learn both how to improve products and how to create completely new ones. When I first got into biotechnology, which was 20 years ago, adding enzymes to sausages was called “biotechnology”. Today, these are the usual necessary manipulations with raw materials to improve preservation and taste. Today, special acidic lactic bacteria are added to sausage, and as a result, the human body receives extremely important peptides, the so-called short proteins. They are like antibiotics because they inhibit the growth of harmful bacteria. But unlike antibiotics, peptides are not addictive, and in fact, eating sausage can cure inflammation, even a stomach ulcer. The main thing is to cook this sausage properly. And our department teaches how, what, where and in what quantities to add.
The second area of training is Technological Machines and Equipment. Today, not a single food-related industrial enterprise can work without biofermenters, refrigerators, and cooking equipment. Production will simply halt. The USUE graduates majoring in Engineering of Technological Equipment are engaged in creating of just such equipment.
- How does the USUE Unified Laboratory Complex help students in their studies?
-The USUE Unified Laboratory Complex (ULC) is a powerful scientific association, where modern equipment is concentrated. Our students use all this equipment during their studies and preparing of final qualification works under the guidance of experienced teachers of the USUE Department of Food Engineering. The ULC includes a virtual laboratory, the only one in Yekaterinburg. This is a unique opportunity to conduct practical research. For example, to inoculate microorganisms to a feed medium, sterile conditions are required, which cannot be reached in a classroom. However, thanks to the VR lab, we get reliable experimental results.
What are biotechnologists responsible for?
- For the most important thing - for quality! The quality of the finished product is influenced by two factors: the raw materials that a biotechnologist selects, and the manufacturing technology, which, again, is handled by the biotechnologist. The same specialist is responsible for expiration dates, while it is important to consider the safety of the product, including microbiological safety, and it is the biotechnologist who is also responsible for safety.
- Where do the students of the USUE Department of Food Engineering undertake their internship?
- Future biotechnologists, who study at USUE, have tested their skills at almost all food production facilities in the Sverdlovsk and Chelyabinsk regions. Ural State University of Economics entered into over 50 cooperation agreements with enterprises that manufacture food products, and these are such well-known brands as Cherkashin, Smak, and Makfa. We try to get students to practice at different enterprises every year. In this way, students gain knowledge and experience at various companies of food industry. This allows graduates to be employed in any industry related to biotechnology and take well-paid positions. On average, recent graduates in this field receive 50 thousand rubles.
This year, we invited representatives of Russian universities and food industry enterprises to USUE. Experts surveyed students and graduates of our university, talked with teachers, and examined our laboratories. As a result, the program Biotechnology got the professional and public accreditation. USUE was the first university in the Urals to receive such a high rating from colleagues and top managers of the country’s food industry enterprises.
