FOOD SCIENCE AND NUTRITION - 2023/4

Module code: BMS1027

Module Overview

The purpose of this module is to provide an understanding of the major food components (water, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins) and some important minor food components, in terms of their nature and role in foods. It also provides insight into the nutritional principles of fats, carbohydrates and proteins and how dietary macronutrient requirement values are derived. Alcohol is also covered. These aspects underpin the areas of food science and nutrition that follow later in the programmes in Nutritional Sciences including BMS1057- Practical Explorations in Food Science and Nutrition. The module is also a pre-requisite for BMS2042 Food Science: Perception, Processing and Preservation, which is undertaken by students in Food Science & Nutrition, Nutrition and Nutrition & Dietetics.

Module provider

School of Biosciences

Module Leader

OLOYEDE Bolanle (Biosciences)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 4

Module cap (Maximum number of students): N/A

Overall student workload

Independent Learning Hours: 99

Lecture Hours: 30

Tutorial Hours: 7

Guided Learning: 10

Captured Content: 4

Module Availability

Semester 1

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

N/A  

Module content

Indicative content includes:

Topic
Introduction 1 (What is Food Science, Learning Outcomes, Assessment, Feedback)
Introduction 2 Key concepts in Nutrition (Dietary reference values: terminology & definitions)
Water in foods: chemical and physical nature of water and ice
Water in foods: water activity, water content, quality and spoilage
Alcohol and Nutrition
An introduction to lipids as key food components (nature & occurrence in foods)
Triglycerides: chemical and physical properties & how these influence foods
From commodity to supermarket shelf: How lipids are extracted & refined
How lipids are modified for food use 1: Hydrogenation
How lipids are modified for food use 2: Inter-esterification, tempering, fractionation
Designer lipids: specialised lipids including lipid substitutes
Rancidity 1: lipases (endogenous & exogenous), lipoxygenase & ketonic rancidity
Rancidity 2: auto-oxidation, sensitizers, initiation, propagation, relative susceptibility
Rancidity 3: assessment (sensory & chemical), predicting & preventing rancidity
Lipids: nutritional properties & dietary reference values
Short answer test on Lectures 1-15 (5 short answer questions)
Food proteins 1: Classification, structure and chemical modification
Food proteins 2: Structure function relationships and food enzymes
Food proteins 3: Egg & soya proteins
Food proteins 4: Dough & bread: gluten structure
Feedback tutorial on short answer test results and test questions by JEB/TG
Feedback tutorial on short answer test questions by RE/VG
Food proteins 5: Milk proteins
Food proteins 6: Milk products including cheese making 
Food proteins 7: Meat protein structure & post-mortem changes 
Food proteins 8: Processed meat
Proteins: nutritional properties & dietary reference values
Food carbohydrates: Introduction & monosaccharides and sugar alcohols
Food carbohydrates: disaccharides
Food carbohydrates: polysaccharides and starches
Carbohydrates: nutritional properties and dietary reference values
Minor plant constituents: good or bad?
Novel Foods: food revolution of the new millennium?
Revision tutorial covering past questions and expected answers

 

Assessment pattern

Assessment type Unit of assessment Weighting
Examination Online ONLINE (OPEN BOOK) EXAM - SHORT ANSWER QUESTIONS (120 MINS) WITHIN A 4 HOUR WINDOW 100

Alternative Assessment

N/A

Assessment Strategy

The assessment strategy is designed to provide you with the opportunity to demonstrate:

 

That you can describe, explain, and understand the fundamental chemical and biochemical properties of food components as well as the nature   and role of food macronutrients.

The assessment strategy is also designed to provide you with the opportunity to show that you understand the role of macronutrients (Fat, protein and carbohydrates and alcohol) and the derivation and application of dietary macronutrient requirement values for individuals and populations.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

The examination which is 2 hours in length and is composed of 12 short answer questions that cover all the module topics. All short answer questions should be attempted. The weighting for the exam is 100 %. This assessment is conducted online at present.

Formative assessment and feedback

A compulsory formative short test (5 questions, 50 mins) is given midway into the module in Semester 1. This test is in the same short answer format as the main exam but only covers the material given in the first 15 lectures of the module. The test provides students with the opportunity to answer questions under exam conditions and to receive an indication of their performance and understanding of the module content up to that point. Two one-hour feedback tutorials are provided by lecturing staff after the formative test. At these tutorials, students receive personalized feedback through their annotated test scripts.

Lecturers also go through each question in turn during the tutorial and there is an opportunity to discuss the answers in class.

Module aims

  • Introduce students to the field of Food Science and Nutrition and help students become familiar with the variety of terms used in this field
  • Develop students understanding of the sources, nature, role and importance of macronutrients; water, fats, carbohydrates, and proteins as well as some more minor components in foods
  • Help students appreciate the changes that can occur to the major components in foods related to their deterioration
  • Develop students understanding of the nutritional importance of the macronutrients and the process required to derive their respective requirement values

Learning outcomes

Attributes Developed
001 Distinguish between water content and water activity, and perform simple relevant calculations related to water; be able to relate water activity to stability/spoilage, and define the factors that affect water quality KCP
002 Have a sound knowledge of the chemical and physical nature of lipids, how they might be modified, and how this influences their behavior (including rancidity) and use KCP
003 Understand the structure and physical-chemical properties of food proteins and (bio)chemical principles underlying denaturation, gelling and other changes that occur during food processing which influence food acceptability KCT
004 Explain the (bio)chemical nature, behaviour and roles of sugars, oligo- and poly-saccharides in foods as well as their dietary significance KCT
006 Have a sound knowledge of the major dietary components of food in terms of the nutritional features of proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, and alcohol KCT
007 Describe the energy content of the macronutrients in food and discuss the factors that determine the requirements for energy from these food components KCT
005 Understand the concept of functional foods and the ability of selected food constituents (non-nutrients) to influence human health KC

Attributes Developed

C - Cognitive/analytical

K - Subject knowledge

T - Transferable skills

P - Professional/Practical skills

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to provide students with a supportive, step by step approach to enable a thorough grounding and appreciation of the key macronutrients in Food Science and Nutrition. The module is divided into sections covering water, lipids (fats and oils), proteins and carbohydrates. It covers the fundamentals related to Food Science and is complimented by lectures covering the nutritional features of these nutrients.

Each week consists of 2-3 hours of teaching per week. In each teaching session students are encouraged to participate and there are opportunities for formative assessment each week. After the first 15 hours of teaching there is a formative test which covers all the topics covered so far. This test is designed to enable students to develop test experience on an online platform but to also allow students to see what they understand from the material at that point. The test is marked, and feedback tutorials are provided to offer opportunities to understand where students may have gone wrong and how they can improve. This aligns with the programme strategy to help students to acquire and develop a thorough understanding of food science and nutrition in the early stages of their programme.

The learning and teaching methods include:


  • Lectures (with interactive question and answer sessions) 

  • Formative test 

  • Revision tutorials with example test questions

  • SurreyLearn video clips on some aspects of the module


Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class tests where one or more of these are an assessment on the module. In-class tests are scheduled/organised separately to taught content and will be published on to student personal timetables, where they apply to taken modules, as soon as they are finalised by central administration. This will usually be after the initial publication of the teaching timetable for the relevant semester.

Reading list

https://readinglists.surrey.ac.uk
Upon accessing the reading list, please search for the module using the module code: BMS1027

Other information

Resourcefulness and Resilience

The formative test given halfway through the module allows you to work individually in an environment similar to the real exam. This exposure allows you to gain the necessary skills and test your resilience for sitting the exam later on. The formative feedback helps you appreciate areas you need improvement and allows you to appreciate if you need to seek LSA/ND needs. Receiving feedback can be difficult for some, so students will be offered support in interpreting feedback and turning it into action.

 

Global and Cultural capabilities

Lectures will cover a wide range of foods and food systems across different cultures and topics related to global issues. This is also a combined class with other Programmes within Nutritional Sciences which will provide you with opportunity to work and interact with students across various cultures, which allows you to learn from each other about various food cultures and systems.

 

Sustainability

You will develop an awareness of how Food Science is trying to be achieve sustainability through its raw material sourcing, processing, and preservative methods. An example of which is the creation of Egg alternatives. You will be able to appreciate what goes into making foods more sustainable and the effect of these modifications on the final product. You will also be exposed to features that are related to Global development goals (SDG goals: 2, 3, 6, 12, 13, 14, 15).

 

Digital capabilities

Your digital skills will be developed as the module involves the use of various programmes such as Surreylearn, Team, Zoom and Panopto for online interaction and review of content. A high content of digital external resources will also be used to support lectures such as You tube channels. The module uses an On-line formative test to develop digital skills as well. While a selection of relevant literature (e.g., books and journal articles) will be provided on the reading list, you will be encouraged to familiarise themselves with searching online databases to obtain materials for further reading.

 

Employability

You will develop theoretical, and a working knowledge of several food analyses methods currently being used in the industry to measure the characteristics of various food products. These include analysis of water content, fat content, protein content as well as Glycaemic index (GI) and Glycaemic load (GL). You will also be exposed to opportunities in the Food and Nutrition industry and the various areas of specialisation available.

Programmes this module appears in

Programme Semester Classification Qualifying conditions
Nutrition BSc (Hons)(CORE) 1 Core Each unit of assessment must be passed at 40% to pass the module

Please note that the information detailed within this record is accurate at the time of publishing and may be subject to change. This record contains information for the most up to date version of the programme / module for the 2023/4 academic year.