| The Department of Chemistry The University of the West Indies Mona Campus Kingston 7 JAMAICA Tel (876) 927-1910 |
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| The Department of Chemistry The University of the West Indies Mona Campus Kingston 7 JAMAICA Tel (876) 927-1910 |
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The Department of Chemistry provides undergraduate and postgraduate training in various areas of Food Science and Applied Chemistry. Our graduates are ideally suited for industry and many are currently employed in the agribusiness sector. Courses offered by the Chemistry Department may be audited, with permission, by non-UWI students. In addition short certificate courses are occasionally mounted which target members of the food processing industry.
Three majors leading to the Bachelor of Science (BSc) degree are offered in the Chemistry Department, namely Chemistry, Applied Chemistry and Food Chemistry. Majors in Applied Chemistry and Food Chemistry can only be obtained as double majors with Chemistry.
Chemistry - The principles of inorganic, organic and physical chemistry are studied in some detail.
Applied Chemistry - The courses are integrated to acquaint the student with analytical procedures, environmental chemistry, industrial chemistry, process principles, project evaluation and management.
Food Chemistry - The courses are designed to provide a knowledge of analytical procedures, quality assurance, food processing, food microbiology, sanitation, biotechnology, food chemistry, project evaluation and management.
The Department currently offers only research degrees (MPhil and PhD) in its graduate programme. Research relevant to the agribusiness sector is currently conducted on commodities such as ackee, coffee, spices (nutmeg, pimento, red peppers), and sugar cane as well as in the area of pesticides. The chemistry of some of these are discussed on the Chemistry web site under "Jamaican Themes".
Thermal Processing for the Food Industry - Similar in content to the Better Process Control Schools held in the USA and Canada. It provides instruction in thermal processing of low acid and acidified food as required by international and local regulations, microbiology, plant sanitation, aseptic processing, closures for glass and metal containers, documentation, and food container handling. This course is to be offered biennially. These courses have been audited and approved by the USFDA. The 1999 course was held between January 4-8th, 1999 and the next course will be held in January 2001.
Other short courses are developed and operated as required.