Hands-on experiences for NSAC students
By Dr. Muhammad Yousaf, Organic Purification Chemist

On October 16, a group of eight students from the Functional Foods and Nutraceuticals class, along with BioProducts Professor Vasantha Rupasinghe, of Nova Scotia Agricultural College took an informative
trip to the Food Technology Centre.

The students were welcomed by Executive Director, Dr. Jim Smith, who briefed them about the role of FTC as a quality technology provider to its many local, regional, national and international clients. This was followed by a seminar presented by FTC’s Organic Purification Chemist, Dr. Muhammad Yousaf, about separation science, chromatography and the processes and instruments used by FTC scientists for the extraction and purification of natural products.

Stephen Gould, Senior Extraction Technologist, gave the students a tour of FTC facilities including the Sensory Analysis laboratory, the instrumentation laboratory, microbiological and chemical laboratories, product development laboratory, the natural products extraction suites equipped with supercritical solvent, refrigerant solvent and ultrasonic extraction technologies.

Food Scientist/Engineer, Dr. Leigh Gao, gave a tour of the two CFIA-registered pilot plants where commercial-scale food products and processes are developed. The students enjoyed seeing the activity at FTC and appreciated the chance to converse with engineers and scientists. Before the end of the tour, the students viewed the function and operation of a number of instruments.