Saskatchewan is known as the "bread basket of Canada," referring to its strength as a primary producer of agricultural commodities and its contributions to agro-biological science and biotechnology. These areas extend the scope of agriculture to food and bioproducts. The Food and Bioproducts Sciences Department has two streams of research: food science and applied microbiology. Food Science applies principles from chemistry, biology, microbiology and engineering to the study of food and the development of food technology and to non-food uses of agricultural materials.