Food Physical Systems (11:400:419)

(Revised on Month Day, Year)

COURSE WEBSITE, RESOURCES & MATERIALS

There is no required text for the course. Content will be covered through materials available through the course Canvas site under Modules. Recommended book: On Food and Cooking (2004) by Harold McGee, a highly readable scientific description of a wide variety of foods, enlivened with history and culture. This is a book that belongs on every food science student‚s bookshelf. It is available at a substantial discount from Amazon.

All of the materials that you will need for this course- Lecture notes, materials for case studies- will be posted in the class Canvas website. Textbook: There is NO mandatory textbook required for this course.

COURSE DESCRIPTION:

The physical chemistry of foods and food ingredients; microscopic properties of foods in terms of molecular structure and physical principles; properties of aqueous solutions, colloids, biopolymers, and crystalline and amorphous solids; effects of temperature, pressure, water activity, solvent, and matrix properties.

LEARNING GOALS:

FOOD SCIENCE LEARNING GOAL #2: Graduates will demonstrate and apply knowledge of the core competencies in Food Chemistry and analysis.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

This is an introductory course in the physical chemistry of foods.

• It introduces students to those physical and chemical principles that describe how food composition, molecular properties, and interactions among molecules give rise to food properties.
• We will investigate how the chemical composition and molecular structure of specific foods and food ingredients determines their structure (at levels from nanometers to centimeters), molecular behavior, macroscopic physical properties, interactions with other foods, chemical reactivity, and response to specific processing operations such as heating, freezing, drying, mixing, pouring, and pressurizing (squeezing).

ASSIGNMENTS/RESPONSIBILITIES, GRADING & ASSESSMENT

Course Format:

Readings: The content of this course is provided through readings available on line (in the Modules section of this Canvas site) and links to videos, websites, and documents therein.

Readings for each class are listed in the table below by number. It is essential that you review the assigned readings before class so that we can discuss and apply the concepts to specific foods in class. The detailed schedule of class days, topics, readings, and assignments is provided in this table.

Class activities: Class discussions, problem solving, case studies, and (hopefully short) presentations will provide the main mechanisms for learning in class; however, keep in mind that most actual learning occurs outside class. Given the complexity of the concepts we will investigate (mostly advanced topics in physical chemistry as noted above), it is essential that you prepare for class by reviewing the assigned material. Class activities will often assume that you have done so. Failure to do so will have consequences: you may be bored, confused, and frustrated in class. As a consequence, you may not do as well in the course as you would like. You also, most certainly, will not have as much fun!

Weekly meetings by arrangement with each student to let you ask the questions you are reluctant to ask in class and to discuss specific issues regarding assignments and the term paper. This is something new that should help each of you navigate this course under difficult circumstances.

This course thus serves as a conceptual and explanatory bridge between food chemistry and food engineering. It will be a sort of food engineering course with molecules.

We will emphasize a conceptual over a quantitative understanding of how chemical structure results in macroscopic physical properties, how molecular interactions give rise to specific food structures, how specific physical chemical mechanisms determine a food’s response to specific processing operations, and how physical chemical concepts can be used to understand, predict, and thus control food quality and stability. Our efforts will describe the molecular mechanisms that underlie the macroscopic behavior of foods and explain these mechanisms in terms of the structure and physical chemical properties of specific molecules. Since a full coverage of food physical chemistry is impossible in one semester, or ever in an introductory course, only selected topics will be covered. However, as you might expect, these topics are all fairly complicated as they describe multiple and varied interactions in complex liquids and solids ranging from simple foods like vitamin water to complex foods like ice cream or lemon meringue pie. In other words, most of the topics are actually advanced, even graduate level, physical chemistry. Despite this complexity, you will learn the basics and how they apply to foods, and, hopefully have some fun doing it.

Assignments: Required assignments will be due throughout the semester, typically being due on a Monday to give you plenty of time to complete. These assignments will involve problem sets as well as other challenges that require you to apply concepts covered in class to specific food problems.

Original Analytical Paper: You will choose a specific food or food ingredient to research and write up a detailed physical chemical analysis of it. This analysis will relate the molecular composition, molecular properties, and structure (at levels from nanometers to centimeters) to the specific macroscopic properties of the food. It will thus be an exercise in applying the physical chemical concepts learned in class to a specific food. More information about this requirement will be provided at the appropriate times. However, you should begin choosing a topic that you want to investigate as soon as possible based on discussions with your peers and with the instructor.

Exams: There will be a midterm and a final exam. Both will be traditional "take home" exams with a defined time period of several days to a week for generating the answers.

Grading: The final grade will be based on the following weighting of the course content.

CLASS SCHEDULE

Final Exam/Paper data and Time: Online Final Exam Schedule.

ACCOMODATIONS FOR STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES

Please follow the procedures outlined at Rutgers Office Of Disability services Registration form. Full policies and procedures are found in the Rutgers Office Of Disability services website.

The Rutgers Office Of Disability services is located at Lucy Stone Hall, Suite A145, Livingston Campus, 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue, Piscataway, NJ 08854. The contact phone number is (848) 445-6800.

Rutgers University welcomes students with disabilities into all of the University's educational programs. In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, a student with a disability must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation at Rutgers Office Of Disability services documentation Guidelines website. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus’s disability services office will provide you with a Letter of Accommodations. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your courses as possible. To begin this process, please complete the Registration form on the ODS web site at: Rutgers Office Of Disability services Registration form.

Absence Policy

The University does recognize that temporary conditions and injuries can be problematic and may adversely affect a student’s ability to fully participate in class.

The Dean of Students Office at Rutgers University-New Brunswick provides solutions, services, and support to help students navigate Rutgers University. By focusing on students’ educational, social, and personal development, staff in the Office promote academic success and student retention. The Office serves as a student support network by providing advocacy, problem resolution, and critical incident intervention for those times when additional assistance is needed.

ACADEMIC INTEGRITY

The university's policy on Academic Integrity requires that a student:

Failure to uphold these principles of academic integrity threatens both the reputation of the University and the value of the degrees awarded to its students. Every member of the University community therefore bears a responsibility for ensuring that the highest standards of academic integrity are upheld.

Cheating and Plagiarism

(From Spring 2010 Andy Egan 01:730:252 Eating Right): "Cheating on tests or plagiarizing materials in your papers deprives you of the educational benefits of preparing these materials appropriately. It is personally dishonest to cheat on a test or to hand in a paper based on unacknowledged words or ideas that someone else originated. It is also unfair, since it gives you an undeserved advantage over your fellow students who are graded on the basis of their own work. In this class we will take cheating very seriously".

Turnitin will be used to assess students‚ submissions and all suspected cases of cheating and plagiarism will be automatically referred to the Rutgers Academic Integrity office.

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Disability Services

The Office of Disability Services phone number is (848) 445-6800, and it is located at Lucy Stone Hall, Suite A145 Livingston Campus 54 Joyce Kilmer Avenue Piscataway, NJ 08854

Rutgers University welcomes students with disabilities into all of the University's educational programs. In order to receive consideration for reasonable accommodations, a student with a disability must contact the appropriate disability services office at the campus where you are officially enrolled, participate in an intake interview, and provide documentation at Office of Disability Services Documentation Quidelines website. If the documentation supports your request for reasonable accommodations, your campus's disability services office will provide you with a Letter of Accommodations. Please share this letter with your instructors and discuss the accommodations with them as early in your courses as possible. To begin this process, please complete the Registration Form.

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