Food Chemistry Fundamentals (16:400:513)

(Revised Fall 2022)

Additional Faculty:

To be determined

Goals of Course

Graduate students in Food Science come from many different backgrounds – Chemistry, Biochemistry, Engineering, Microbiology, Nutrition, and more. This course aims to bring students from all these backgrounds to a common base of working knowledge about food chemistry. Focus will be on teaching fundamental food chemistry with connections to food systems to increase your knowledge of materials you will be working with in this field.

Working knowledge will encompass

• physicochemical and molecular bases of food properties and behavior
• chemical structures of important classes of food molecules (water, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, vitamins, bioactive compounds
• functional properties of water, proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates in foods
• structure-function relationships of food molecules
• reactions governing food quality, nutrition, and stability
• important molecular interactions that affect food properties, qualities, and stability
• understanding food behaviors as food chemistry
• some nutraceutical aspects of foods

The course will also stress applications of this basic knowledge to foods.

Course Materials

Course notes and support materials for each lecture will be posted on Canvas FOOD CHEMISTRY FUND 16:400:513:01 Lecture files are posted under Lessons, and support materials are under Resources. Please take advantage of the extra materials in Resources. Includes some e-books.

Students are also encouraged to read additional outside materials. Two books that serve as excellent references and are strongly recommended are:

• Food Chemistry, Belitz and Grosch, Springer-Verlag (in Resources)
• Fennema’s Food Chemistry (various versions) CRC Press (in Resources)

For additional background and understanding of foods, we also recommend that you read "On Food and Cooking", by Harold McGee.

Announcements about the course and any change in classes (if they occur) will be oisted on Cavasunder Announcements. Watch for these regularly, especially before each class.

Target food systems:

Fruits, vegetables
Dairy -- milk, cheese, ice cream, yogurt
Wheat-based products (e.g. bread) (may add other grains such as quinoa, maize, etc)
Eggs
Soy products
Muscle proteins

Grade Basis: 5 exams covering course materials and applications
Exams will be weighted proportionately to the number of lecture periods for the topic, e.g. 30 for water/pH and interactions, 60 each for carbohydrates, lipids, and proteins, 20 for natural products. However, points on exams may not match that percentage.

Exams will be posted on Canvas under Assignments.
Exams will be take home to allow students time to think about what they have learned and apply it, not just memorize and regurgitate.
Exams will be available on Canvas after the last lecture of an exam section (see schedule) andwill be due one week later (allowing one class period free to work on exam).

Take-home exams are open book. Students may use any materials that help them understand the topics and answer questions. If materials outside class are used, source must be cited.
All students must work independently and may not ask anyone else for help, discuss questions with anyone else, or have any help with the answers in any way.

You may not at any time simply copy-paste information from course materials or any other source as answers to questions on exams. You must use your own words to show that you understand the question and the material.
All exams will be submitted to TurnItIn for plagiarism detection.

Honesty on these exams is expected and taken very seriously.
Any students caught cheating on the exams, including copying answers directly from notes or any other references, will automatically be reported to the Academic Affairs Office, Academic Integrity unit. Details are submitted, hearings are held, and sanctions are determined. At a minimum, students will receive an F for the exam, but may also fail the course.