The Graduate Program in Food Engineering and Science (PPGECAL) was recommended in 2006, and since then it has evolved every year, becoming a reference in the training of qualified professionals in the food sector in the interior of the country.

PPGECAL was created on the UESB campus in Itapetinga, a small to medium-sized city with approximately 65,000 inhabitants and an average HDI of 0.667, located 100 km from Vitória da Conquista and 170 km from Ilhéus. This campus already offered a degree in Food Engineering, and the creation of a postgraduate course was due to the demand for increased professional qualifications in the food sector, resulting from the growing number of technical and higher education courses in this segment, the economic and industrial growth in the region, and the desire of the professors involved in the area of ​​Food Engineering and Agricultural Sciences at UESB, who were already developing research activities based on regional and national demands.

It was the first Postgraduate Program in Food Engineering in the Northeast Region at the master’s level. It is still the only Postgraduate Program in the food area at the doctoral level outside of a capital city in the North, Northeast and Central-West regions, being an important center for the internalization of knowledge in the area in our country.

Currently, PPGECAL has a Concept 4 in the Capes Quadrennial Assessment for the period 2017-2020.

Check out our timeline:

2006 – Recommendation for the creation of the course at the master’s level, concept 3, with the name of Postgraduate Program in Food Engineering and area of ​​concentration in Food Engineering. The first in the Northeast with these characteristics.

2007 – First master’s degree awarded.

2010 – Result of the 2010 Triennial Assessment – Concept 3.

2011 – The 50th master’s degree awarded in the Program.

2012 – Name changed to Graduate Program in Food Engineering and Science. Change in the profile of the Program, with activities in two areas of concentration – Food Engineering and Food Science.

2013 – Result of the 2013 Triennial Assessment – Progress to Concept 4.

2015 – Creation of the Doctorate-level course and admission of the first class. First doctorate-level postgraduate course outside a capital city in the entire North, Northeast and Central-West. The only one in these regions in the area of ​​Food Engineering.

2015 – The 100th master’s degree awarded by the Program.

2017 – Result of the 2013-2016 Quadrennial Assessment – Maintenance of Concept 4.

2019 – The 150th master’s degree awarded by the Program.

2019 – The 1st doctorate awarded by the Program.

2021 – Granting of the 1st patent to a professor of the Program.

2022 – Result of the Quadrennial Evaluation 2017-2020 – Maintenance of the Concept 4.

2022 – Sending of the 1st student for a sandwich doctorate period abroad – Iowa State University/USA.

2022 – The first foreign students, from Benin, arrive to study for a master’s and doctorate degree in the Program.

2024 – The 200th master’s degree is awarded by the Program.