2024/25 Undergraduate Module Catalogue

FOOD5036M Food Processing: From Farm to Shop

10 Credits Class Size: 110

Module manager: Dr Mahmood Akhtar
Email: M.Akhtar@food.leeds.ac.uk

Taught: Semester 1 (Sep to Jan) View Timetable

Year running 2024/25

Pre-requisite qualifications

Completion of year 3/4 BSc programme.

Pre-requisites

Mutually Exclusive

This module is not approved as a discovery module

Module summary

Most of the processed food products in the supermarket shelves are derived from plant and animal origin farm products, such as grains, fruits, vegetables, meat, milk etc. The transformation of these agricultural products to finished food products by food and beverage industries involves a variety of steps including cleaning, separating, disintegrating, pumping, mixing, heating, cooling, freezing, evaporation, drying, acidification, fermentation etc. To facilitate the technological processing of a variety of food products at commercial levels, food processing professionals have developed unifying different food processing principles and unit operations in a rational sequence. This module will allow students to gain knowledge and understanding of such unit operations in the order they appear in a real food processing plant. They will develop an understanding of how the selection of different processing operations and specific conditions is related to the properties of raw materials as well as the physicochemical and biochemical changes in food during processing. The module will be comprised of lectures covering the processing and operational flow charts of different food products such as milk based products, instant coffee, fruit juice, snacks, meat based products etc.

Objectives

Upon completion of the module, students should be able to:
The module aims to:

i) develop students’ understanding in food processing covering the value chain from raw materials to finished product;
ii) build on previous taught modules and explain how chemical, biochemical, physical changes in food dictates processing;
iii) develop students’ ability to choose optimum quality raw materials, right equipment, design appropriate flowchart and identify critical time-temperature conditions to achieve finished product in real-life food processing plants.

Learning outcomes

Upon completion of the module, students should be able to:

(1) demonstrate the importance of choosing raw materials and appropriate equipment to ensure the production of finished product of optimum quality;
(2) design flow charts for food manufacturing plants by integrating key unit operations into complete process lines
(3) identify the critical conditions for inactivation of pathogens or spoilage microorganisms as well as for producing the right texture and/or flavour

Skills outcomes
- Being aware of real-life industrial processing in small and large scale food industries
- Ability to think critically to select optimum processing conditions
- Ability to communicate food processing aspects
- Ability to build on previously gained knowledge and synthesize a variety of unit operations into a complete food processing line in a logical sequence
- Creative problem solving on identifying right critical conditions, and numerical skills

Syllabus

- Food processing flowcharts: determination of correct sequence of unit operations to produce specific products
- Description of raw materials and equipment required for food manufacturing
- Operations involved in converting raw materials into food products, taking as examples meat, milk, fruit, coffee, snack and fat-derived products in a logical sequence.
- Identifying critical conditions and role of time-temperature specifics in the manufacturing line to ensure microbiological and chemical safety

Teaching Methods

Private study

Private study
- Independent online learning using materials from MInerva (e.g., research papers, book chapters, lecture capture): 32 hours

- Private study: 52 hours:
• Revision of notes and videos from lecture slides (20 hours);
• Consultation of recommended book chapters from reading lists and lecture slides (32 hours).

Opportunities for Formative Feedback

- Attendance at lecture and VLE hits will be monitored for each lecture;
- Formative feedback will be provided to the students based on exercises and open questions during remote lectures or on online forums;
- Formative feedback on practice exam questions will be provided during revision lectures.

Normally resits will be assessed by the same methodology as the first attempt, unless otherwise stated

Reading List

The reading list is available from the Library website

Last updated: 29/04/2024

Errors, omissions, failed links etc should be notified to the Catalogue Team