Uncover the critical interactions between food, environment, and health in our program, where you’ll study and address the impacts of toxins and pollutants on human well-being and ecosystems.

Food and environmental toxicology is a rapidly expanding area of science concerned with understanding the adverse effects of chemicals, physical, and biological agents on human beings. Humans are continually being exposed to and challenged by these natural or man-made chemicals present in our environment, i.e., compounds in air, water, soil, and food.

Finding scientifically sound answers to these very important questions is what food and environmental toxicologists can do. They will investigate which chemicals pose danger to us, how could these be eliminated from the environmental or their biological fates in living organisms, what are their harmful effects, and at what doses these will harm us? A Master’s degree in food and environmental toxicology would be challenging, stimulating, financially rewarding, as it would lead to an exciting professional career that contributes to the welfare of human beings and their environment.
The Department of Food Science & Nutrition is the first in the State of Kuwait to offer B.Sc. and M.Sc. degrees in Food Science as well as Nutrition area. The Department of Environment Technology Management is the first in the State of Kuwait to offer a B.Sc. degree in Environment Technology Management area. With a limited forest and greenery cover in the country, all the pollutants produced by the vehicle exhaust, oil and chemical industries are bound to linger in the environment for an extended period of time.

It, therefore, becomes necessary to monitor the food, air, water and soil for the presence of toxic compounds. With a total of more than 3 million residents in Kuwait, it is essential to procure or produce sufficient amount of good quality and safer food to meet the nutritional requirements of this population. The State of Kuwait meets its food requirements by importing most (about 90%) of the food materials from almost all countries of the world.

At present, Kuwait meets a part of its requirements for some of the vegetables, eggs, meat, fish, milk, and some fruits (e.g., date fruits and strawberries) through local production. Because Kuwait imports most of its food from many developing countries, it becomes imperative to ascertain its quality and safety through proper food testing procedures. Indiscriminate use of many pesticides, herbicides and weedicides in most of these developing countries is prevalent. Most of these man-made chemicals are known to have an adverse effect on human health. It is essential to develop a pool of technically trained manpower to examine imported as well as the locally produced foods for the presence of these agro-chemicals.

The Departments of Food Science & Nutrition, and Environment Technology Management, College of Life sciences at the Kuwait University are proposing a two-year Master of Science joint degree program in Food and Environmental Toxicology. In addition to full-time students, part-time students will also be admitted to this program.

Food and environmental toxicologists, when employed by industry, government or private establishments, research laboratories and academic institutions, will be dedicated to achieving the greatest possible degree of safety for human beings. The program is designed to prepare post-graduate students for a career with Food Control Department, Kuwait Municipality, Ministry of Commerce and Industries, Environmental Protection Authority, Food & Nutrition Administration, Ministry of Health, and other organizations dealing with food production, food imports, wholesale and retail food business, educational and research institutions, social service agencies, environmental protection authority, and other governmental regulatory bodies. This program will devote special consideration to the existing factual situation related to Kuwaiti food and environmental toxicology issues.

Under this program, a wide range of potential areas for research will be available to students. Research areas include: food toxicology, physical, chemical and microbiological food hazards, food quality control, food testing, problems related to air, water and soil pollution, food safety issues, formulation of policies related to food and environmental toxicological issues, management of food and environmental testing laboratories. This program is designed mainly to develop individualized career building of the students to take up various challenges faced by local residents of the State of Kuwait.

The proposed program aims to blend food science, environmental technology and toxicological principles to provide technical skills, as well as management knowledge to develop effective food and environmental testing policies for ensuring safe environment as well as safe food for every resident of the State of Kuwait.

Mission
The mission of the Master of Science in Food and Environmental Toxicology (MSFET) program is to train new food and environmental toxicologists who would address pertinent food and environmental toxicology questions through education and research. The multi-disciplinary and professional nature of the MSFET program addresses a variety of training demands not encountered in the more traditional scientific disciplines at the Kuwait University.

Program Educational Objectives
Such an academic program does not exist in Kuwait University and it is likely to fill the need of the nation by training graduates who are capable of thinking about the fact that how these toxins in our food supply would affect the humans to cause many new diseases, if these contaminated foods are consumed by the Kuwaiti population. The objective of the program is to produce graduates who will have the ability to:

Harness chemical, genetic, biological, and epidemiological tools to make fundamental advances in food and environmental toxicology area for the welfare of human beings.
Provide leadership in developing sound multidisciplinary approach to solving real world problems in food and environmental toxicology.
Provide a variety of safe and healthy foods and environment to the Kuwaiti residents.
Master the cutting-edge food and environmental toxicology principles in today's competitive world market.
Keep pace with the fast-changing food and environmental regulations at the local, regional and international levels.
Mastering skills to tackle emerging problems and policies related to food and environmental contamination issues for the welfare of human beings and their environment.

Procedural Objective  
The procedural objective of the program is to produce graduates who:

Define the major classes of toxicants present in the environment, and identify sources and modes of exposure to toxic agents.
Identify chemical, genetic, biological, and epidemiological tools to make fundamental advances in food and environmental toxicology area for the welfare of human beings.
Understand the cutting-edge food and environmental toxicology principles in today's competitive world market.
Keep pace with the fast-changing food and environmental regulations at the local, regional and international levels.
Provide leadership on toxicological issues and to identify significant data gaps concerning health effect of environmental chemicals to solve real world problems in food and environmental toxicology area.
Design, develop and implement food control, surveillance and intervention program that provide suitable solutions to the emerging food and environmental toxicological problems.
Acquire toxicological knowledge to solve issues related to the assessment of risk related to environmental or occupational exposures by the State of Kuwait’s residents.
Use technical skills for detecting and eliminating toxins in our food and environment for assuring optimal safety and quality of life for Kuwaiti population.   
 

Master's Thesis

Comprehensive Examination

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