UMaine to launch online food tech program; CEI gets funds for food businesses
Courtesy / University of Maine
At the University of Maine, Hitchner Hall is home to the Orono school's food science and human nutrition department. UMaine will launch an online graduate program for food and brewing industry professionals, starting in January.
The University of Maine on Tuesday unveiled plans to offer an online graduate program for food and brewing industry professionals, beginning in January.
The 12-credit Graduate Certificate in Food Technology was developed for aspiring entrepreneurs, current professionals and those with a science or engineering background who wish to work in the food industry.
The curriculum aims to prepare graduates for careers in health food markets, brewing, product development, agricultural processing, food safety and quality, research and development, and preservation and packaging.
In its announcement, the school noted that more than 1.5 million people nationwide work at 26,000 food companies, and that the industry faces complex demands.
Challenges include consumers who want healthier foods, an increasing number of food safety regulations, and concern for socioeconomic and environmental effects of food production and manufacturing.
UMaine said the new program will integrate the latest in food science with the core concepts of the food production industry. Students will develop scientific and practical knowledge and learn how to critically assess current research to solve real-world food issues.
The curriculum will also include professional development courses that emphasize ethics, communication, and cultural competence, knowledge, and skills necessary for success as food industry and nutrition professionals.
More information about the program, including how to apply, is available online.
CEI to fund food system businesses
Separately on Tuesday, Brunswick-based Coastal Enterprises Inc. said it it will use a portion of $714,000 in newly awarded federal funds to provide capital to Maine-based food system businesses.
The money comes from an award by the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Community Development Financial Institutions Fund, which distributed a total of $188.7 million to 284 CDFIs throughout the country.
Besides funding food system businesses in Maine, CEI said it will use its award to lend in "persistent poverty" counties, or places that have had poverty rates of 20% or above over the last three decades.
“We are grateful and honored to receive this award, a sure sign of confidence from the Treasury that CEI’s model of investing in economic equity is one that works,” said CEI President Keith Bisson in a news release.
“Our investments are designed to catalyze economic opportunity, recognizing that the success of one food entrepreneur has a ripple effect, creating even more jobs and revenue for others," he added. "That is our path to shared prosperity.”
CDFI Fund awards, based on a competitive application process, have enabled community development financial institutions such as CEI to increase lending and investment activity in low-income and economically distressed communities.
CEI said this is the 16th CDFI Fund award it has received since 1997.
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