Teaching code

4S001403

Credits

6

Coordinator

Fabio Favati

Language

Italian

Scientific Disciplinary Sector (SSD)

AGR/15 - FOOD SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY

Courses Single

Authorized with reserve

Moodle Seminars 0

The teaching is organized as follows:

Learning objectives

The course is focused on the problematics and interactions among product, process, storage and packaging within the production processes of the food industry. Aim of the course is to provide the students: • basic knowledges and skills to understand how to deal with the food production problematics; • technical skills to set up and define the most appropriate technological processes and operations needed to achieve and optimize the quality characteristics of a food product; • basic knowledges about properties and characteristics of food packaging materials to select the most appropriate ones, taking into account the production process. The course comprises 5 CFU of frontal teaching and 1 CFU devoted to solving practical numerical exercises and to conducting technical visits to food production plants. The course is focused on the problematics and interactions among product, process, storage and packaging within the production processes of the food industry. Aim of the course is to provide the students: • basic knowledges and skills to understand how to deal with the food production problematics; • technical skills to set up and define the most appropriate technological processes and operations needed to achieve and optimize the quality characteristics of a food product; • basic knowledges about properties and characteristics of food packaging materials to select the most appropriate ones, taking into account the production process. The course comprises 5 CFU of frontal teaching and 1 CFU devoted to solving practical numerical exercises and to conducting technical visits to food production plants.

Prerequisites and basic notions

In order to attend the course, it is necessary to possess adequate competencies in mathematics, physics, general and organic chemistry, as well as microbiology and biology.

Program

- Classification of the unit operations. Dimensional analysis. Steady-state and unsteady state mass and heat transfer. Mass and energy balance. Fluid dynamics and pumps. Fundamentals of rheology. Unit operations: sedimentation, centrifugation, filtration, reverse osmosis, crystallization, evaporation, drying technology.
- Food products characteristics: safety, technical and commercial characteristic – how and why. - The practical approach to the production of a food item: row material-process-product, interaction and limits. - Food preservation, theoretical and practical approach; available technologies, potential applications and limits. - Basic elements of food packaging. - Basics of food legislation. - Detailed description of selected case-studies: - fruit and vegetable products; - eggs and egg products; - fish products - pasta, bread and bakery products; - chocolate products. The various production processes will be discussed in details with respect to food safety, commercial requirements and processing opportunities and limits. Besides the suggested books some reading material could be delivered to the students after the lessons. If possible specific seminars will be organized inviting professionals of the food industries.
Students will be guided to solve real problems of food product development that may occur in the food industry and will be guided to find practical answers by also solving numerical exercises. This will oblige the students to have a global approach to the various issues and to take care of all the possible interactions that may occur among the different components of the raw materials and the various production steps, including the packaging one. Within this frame, students will also participate in guided visits to food production plants or to factories manufacturing equipment for the food industry

Bibliography

Didactic methods

The lessons will be delivered exclusively in person without any recourse to emergency online teaching methods. It will not be provided in other ways except limited to students who, due to Covid, cannot access the University, upon presentation of the relative request on the appropriate form. The delivery methods relating to this case will be decided by the teacher and may include sending the recording, organizing a lesson in streaming, sending additional material or organizing a meeting in person or remotely.

Learning assessment procedures

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MM: Theory
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Oral exam - Initially the student will be asked to discuss one of the topics of the course that he considered of the utmost interest. Afterwards, the lecturer will present a practical problem that may be faced in the real working life and will evaluate how the candidate will organize and utilize the scientific and technical skills acquired during the study to highlight a possible solution to the problem. In this way the student will be oriented to study for acquiring not a mere "theoretical knowledge" but a "practical" one. The student will be graded over a score of 30 points, being 18 the minimum score to pass the exam. No different evaluation modalities are planned for students who have attended or not the theoretical and/or the practical part of the course.
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MM: Practical work
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Students are not required to take a specific exam for the practical part of the course. However, the acquired knowledge and skills will be evaluated within the oral exam set for the theoretical part of the course, taking into account the students’ capability to adapt and use in the real productive world the acquired theoretical knowledge and skills.

Evaluation criteria

The evaluation of the acquired knowledge and skills will be carried out taking into account not only what the student has learned, but also how he can organize in a critical manner his thinking in order to give a solution to practical problems.

Criteria for the composition of the final grade

The student will be graded over a score of 30 points, being 18 the minimum score to pass the exam. No different evaluation modalities are planned for students who have attended or not the theoretical and/or the practical part of the course.

Exam language

Italiano (Italian) On a case-by-case basis, ERASMUS students might be allowed to take the exam in English

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