29414 - Food Technology And Principles Of Packaging

Learning outcomes

To give competencies on stability factors of foodstuffs, to understand the impact of the adopted technologies on food quality and on sanitation technology to achieve the stability in the production of canned and stabilised foods (by mild technology, drying, freezing, etc.). Ability to evaluate, understand and critically review the food processing, evaluation of the adopted technologies and ability to modify, optimise and improve the process conditions, ability to control the storage conditions from the quality maintenance viewpoint, including basic knowledges on packaging, materials, methods of traditional, active and intelligent packaging.

Course contents

The course contents will include the following topics:

Module 1: Food Technology 2 (Prof. M. Dalla Rosa)

Presentation of the course.

Common preliminary treatments of the production of canned and semi-preserved food. Principles of Hurdle Technology. Production processes of tomato derivatives, jams and marmalades, fruit juices and nectars. Production of semi-dried, candied and extruded snacks.

Mass balances in osmotic dehydration process: Classroom exercises.

Module 2: Principles of food packaging (Prof. Santina Romani)

Presentation of the course. Definitions and trends of food packaging. Importance and functions of food packaging. Basic knowledge of characteristics, properties and employments of food packaging materials: glass, metal, cellulose and plastic materials. Biobased and biodegradable food packaging materials. Food packaging operations and technologies: general aspects and applications. Legal requirements for food contact materials. Shelf-life of packed food products: definitions, general principles. Food products stability and packaging requirements.

Module 3: Innovative food technologies for safety and sustainability (...............)

Presentation of the course. Bases, general concepts and importance of using innovative technologies in food processing as an alternative to thermal ones, especially in terms of sustainability. General principles and examples of application of pulsed electric fields (PEF) and ultrasound (US) in the food processing (extractions, microbial inactivation, mass exchange etc.). Vacuum impregnation treatment to enrich food products. General principles of the use of cold plasma on food. High hydrostatic pressure (HHP) and high-pressure homogenization (HPH): general aspects and applications. Food irradiation: general aspects and applications. Examples of industrial applications.

Mass balances in osmotic dehydration process: Classroom exercises.

Vacuum impregnation: Laboratory practicals.

Application of pulsed electric fields for mass exchanges: Laboratory practicals.

Readings/Bibliography

Lectures notes and updated selected papers supplied by the teachers.

Reference books and scientific material for a detailed study:

Module 1:

Introduction to Biochemistry and Food Technology. Volume 2. Cheftel, J.C., Cheftel, H. and Besancon, P. (1983) 4th Edition. Lavoisier. Paris.

Module 2:

“Food packaging science and technology” D. Sun Lee, K.L. Yam, L. Piergiovanni. CRC Press, 2008.

Module 3:

“Nonthermal Processing Technologies for Food”, H.Q.Zhang, G.V. Barbosa-Canovas, V.M. Balasubramaniam, C.P.Dunne, D.F.Farakas & j.T.C. Yuan- Eds. Wiley-Blackwell, A John Wiley&Sons, Ltd., Publication.

Teaching methods

Frontal teaching, individual and group exercises, use of spreadsheet, seminars.

Assessment methods

The assessment of learning will be done through a final written test for each module, that will contain a series of multiple choice and open questions.

The written test will contain a series of multiple choice and open questions.

Module 1 (Food Technology 2, Prof. M. Dalla Rosa): The assessment of learning will be done through a final written test, that will contain 13 questions, 9 of which will be of multiple choice and 4 of open answer. Drawing and description of a flow diagram of a chosen processed food will be one of the open questions.

Module 2 (Principles of food packaging - Prof. S. Romani): The assessment of learning is through a final written test, that will contain 10 multiple choice and open questions. The test aim to assess and verify the skills and knowledge on the whole program acquired throughout the lessons.

Module 3 (Innovative food technologies - ...............): The assessment of learning will be done through a final written test, that will contain 13 questions, 9 of which will be of multiple choice and 4 of open answer. The test will assess and verify the skills and knowledge acquired in the issues addressed throughout all the course program.

Partial Scores will be measured on the basis of /30 and it will considered as a part of the final evaluation of the Integrated Course.

The final score of the entire integrated course is calculated as a weighted average of grades obtained in the 3 modules. Dr. Urszula Tylewicz will record the exam in AlmaEsami.

Teaching tools

Beamer, PC, Videos, Internet, WWW.food-info.net, when possible, visits to industries.

Power point slides of the lectures will be available through the piattaforma Virtuale. https://virtuale.unibo.it/

Office hours

See the website of Marco Dalla Rosa

See the website of Santina Romani

See the website of Silvia Tappi