NEW PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT - 2025/6

Module Overview

This module, strongly linked to BMS1027 and BMS1057 in L4 and  BMS2042 in L5,  will cover the fundamental aspects needed for new product design and development. Students will start learning about the functionality of the main ingredient components in foods (fats, carbohydrates and proteins) and their impact on nutritional aspects as well.
Following this, the module will cover further steps involved in the design of novel products such as marketing evaluation of target consumers, product development, sensory and physical evaluations, shelf-life and packaging, followed by food law legislation key aspects such as labelling. The module covers complementary content to BMS2053, in fact, the sugar and fat reduction practicals are often a good complementation for BMS2053’s practicals on sugars and fats.
 The module will aim to the development of specific solving skills and will include visits to food industries as a mean for the students to have a hands-on evaluation of the realistic industrial based environment.

 

Module provider

School of Biosciences

Module Leader

GIACINTUCCI Veronica (Biosciences)

Number of Credits: 15

ECTS Credits: 7.5

Framework: FHEQ Level 5

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

Module Availability

Semester 2

Prerequisites / Co-requisites

None

Module content

• NPD in the Food Industry and the process involved

• Innovation and drivers for NPD

• Sensory evaluation

o consumer behaviour/preferences

o consumer studies

• Methods to generate new product ideas Food matrices and anti-nutritional aspects

o Carbohydrate

o Fats

o Proteins        

o Functional Foods

o 3D printing and personalised nutrition

• Packaging/Shelf Life

• Physical properties

o Texture

o          Rheology

• Marketing

o Market Research

• Food Legislation:

o Novel Foods regulations, Food Safety Act 1990, Traceability, HACCP

o Labelling

• Practicals:

o Reformulation of food products to understand the functionalities of main ingredients (fats, carbohydrates, proteins). These practical component will help our students develop analytical and basic laboratory skills and critical thinking related to the investigation of the functionality of a range of ingredients. 

o Sensory analysis: this practical will help students develop team work as well as leadership skills. Sensory is a key aspect for New Product Development. The practical will enable students with the right analytical and organisational skills needed to carry out a sensory investigation/sensory panel training/sensory session.

Such practicals will help the students develop the skills and the confidence they will need in case they are going on a placement in year 3.

 

Assessment pattern

Alternative Assessment

Re-scheduled oral presentation for students who have missed the presentation date or an individual 3,000 word essay covering the same learning outcomes for students who have missed a significant proportion of preparation of the presentation

Assessment Strategy

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

The assessment strategy is comprised of two summative assessments. Between assessments, many drop-ins and tutorials are organised as formative feedforward and feedback occasions for our students.

The specific courseworks are designed to give the students the chance to reflect and develop their critical thinking and problem solving skills. The assignments will focus on functional foods, novel trends and challenges related to novel food processes as well as ingredients functionalities.

Thus, the summative assessment for this module consists of:

CW1 is a literature search type of written assignment and focuses on functional foods. Students have the chance to reflect on their topic and identify pros and cons, potential challenges, and opportunities of novel functional foods.
CW2 is in a form of a report where students will develop a concept for a new product to be developed.
Both assignments will enhance students confidence in the area of new product development and will give them the chance to have an in-depth knowledge over the new trends in terms of ingredients, packaging strategies and business areas that are normally not covered in the previous years.

Both CWs are designed to reinforce and further develop professionalism as well as boosting creativity and critical thinking in students. Skills that will be of extreme help to students going on PTY as well as for those who will proceed to the final year.
 

The assessment strategy is also designed to motivate student’s reflections on the topic and to provide students with the opportunity to show that they understand the properties and the roles of food ingredients

Formative assessment and feedback:

There are also a number of specific revision and feedback tutorials for formative assessment in form of in-class revision sessions or as drop-ins (online) that are organized by the Module Leader in consultation with the students.

There are not only occasions for students to get some feedback but also feedforward in preparation for their assessments.

Module aims

• ¿ Understanding of the innovation process and industry management roles when it comes to the development of a food product from the creation of the idea to the market launch
• ¿ Proper understanding of the raw materials functionalities, unit operations and principles of nutrition and food science
• ¿ Understanding of consumer science, food regulations regarding manufacture of food products, labelling and packaging systems

Learning outcomes

Methods of Teaching / Learning

The learning and teaching strategy is designed to:

• Ensure that students achieve the modules learning outcomes and develop competencies in the corresponding aspects of the curriculum framework employability, digital capabilities, global and cultural intelligence, sustainability, resourcefulness and resilience).


• Begin to integrate what they have learned in previous modules such as BMS1027, BMS1057, and BMS2042.


• Develop knowledge and skills using up-to-date research-based knowledge.


• Gain an appreciation of how to start the creative and technical process of developing novel foods for different categories of people and following the current trends (sustainability, personalised nutrition, novel technologies).


• Work in a healthy and constructive team spirit with peers and teaching staff thus building a safe space where students can interact with the teaching team and with peers in exchanging ideas and hypothesis related to food trends, novel processing and consumer behaviour.


• Gain confidence in their lab skills and laboratory environment as well as developing analytical skills and critical thinking that will be beneficial for their placements as well as for their final year.

 

The learning and teaching methods include:

A mixture of:

• Lectures, tutorials, practicals

The face to face sessions comprise of lecture, tutorials and practicals, and are reserved for active student learning to enhance understanding. Tutorials are specifically designed to offer students guidance towards the design of their assessments 1 and 2. Such sessions allow students to ask questions about specific topics and engage in peer confrontations. Practical sessions allow students to apply their knowledge and develop key technical and transferable skills (teamwork, professionalism, communication) in understanding the sensory characteristics and functionalities of food components and how they can be modulated to design novel healthier foods. Students are encouraged to participate actively in the tutorial and practical sessions and support one another to become informed, confident, collaborative, and independent learners.

 

• Discussions/brainstorming

Discussions and brainstorming are designed to develop critical thinking and boost the creative process that is needed to design novel food concepts. Such occasions are offered as tutorials but also via drop-ins. Students are encouraged to interact with one another (during face to face lectures, practicals and discussion board) in order to develop team work and enhance communication skills which will eventually build their pool of professional skills.

Indicated Lecture Hours (which may also include seminars, tutorials, workshops and other contact time) are approximate and may include in-class quizzes or discussions.

The module leader usually sets up online drop-in sessions where students can participate asking questions and venting out doubts. This is a good occasion for students to get further feedforward.

 

 

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: BMS2078

Other information

Employability: This module will provide students with a theoretical and a working knowledge of the  fundamental aspects covered for new product design and they include not only aspects related to marketing strategy but also ingredients functionality (fats, carbohydrates and proteins). This module builds up on the content from BMS1027 in L4 and from BMS2042 in the first semester of L5.This module will enable students develop their critical thinking and independent learning as well as a component of team working as the practicals are designed to reformulate a classic product (bakery products, sugar and fat reduction) in groups. Transferable skills that are developed thanks to this module are then: team working, team leading, critical thinking, creative thinking, writing skills, ability to recap complex content into a brief document, analytical skills.

Digital capabilities: Students are encouraged to collaborate and interact with each other and the module leader via the use of platforms such as Teams or Zoom as these are digital tools that they will most likely keep using once their university journey is over and out in the job market. Students can interact with their peers or the module leader via sharing their screens and using the whiteboard as well as engaging in  conversations during online tutorials/revisions or pre-submissions drop-ins organised by the module leader. As with all modules, students are expected to engage with online materials and resources via SurreyLearn.

While a selection of relevant literature (e.g. books, original research papers, systematic reviews and meta-analyses) will be provided, students are also encouraged to familiarise themselves with searching and retrieving peer-reviewed literature from online databases (e.g. PubMed, Scopus) and identifying good sources versus questionable ones.

Global and cultural capabilities: be aware of availability of different novel ingredients globally as well as an awareness of the different legislation systems and how to navigate food development in the different areas of the world (Americas, Europe, Asia etc.)

Sustainability: students will be aware of the sustainability aspects of the ingredients overviewed that will affect their availability, costs and perception from the consumer when used in complex food formulations. Aspects as novel technologies for global food security and environmental technologies (es. 3D food printing, sustainable packaging, alternative proteins) are some of those that the students will study and focus on in this module.

Resourcefulness and resilience: this module will require practical problem solving skills. This will enable our students to solve unseen problems or to be able in the future to actively respond to a specific problem-based task related to es. product development, ingredient reduction, fortification, reformulation. This module will enable students to further develop their critical thinking helping them integrate information from science and regulatory aspects in order to let them appreciate the boundaries and opportunities of working with food systems (according to their region). By the end of the module, students will understand challenges, limitation and opportunities of food ingredients and how to integrate them in order to produce a financial viable and legal food product prototype aligned with the current food trends.

 

 

 

 

Programmes this module appears in

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 2025/6 academic year.