Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding
At the end of the course, the student will have acquired the basic knowledge about the most frequently used unit operations in the food industry for the removal or reduction of biological, physical and chemical hazards.
The student will be also able to understand and adopt the international and European guidelines guidelines for the effective GHP prerequisites and HACCP System implementation.
Through the lectures held during the course, the student will acquire the methods and knowledge necessary to understand the significance of the presence of microorganisms in food production and their impact on food quality and safety.
Applying knowledge and understanding
The student will be able to set up and control a food process with reference to product safety.
Using examples (case studies, scientific articles) related to food products and processes, students will learn how to apply the knowledge acquired in a real context. During the course, students will be given laboratory experiences related to the theoretical study and aimed at understanding the role of microorganisms in food as well as their determination, illustrating the main methods of analysis of food products and thus acquiring specific skills to students.
Making judgements
The student will be able to extend the approach used in this course to further processes used in the food industry and related hazards.
The student must be able to understand and critically evaluate the microbiological aspects related to products and food production. Using the acquired knowledge he will be able to evaluate the significance of the presence of microorganisms in the different phases of the food supply chain, from primary production to distribution and consumption. In particular, he must acquire the ability to independently assess the quality and microbiological safety of food products and processes.
Communication skills
The student will learn the vocabulary specific for food processing, food safety and food equipments.
Through lectures, laboratory practices and the comparison with the teacher, the student will acquire the specific vocabulary related to food microbiology. It is expected that, at the end of the course, the student is able to transmit, in oral and written form, the main contents of the course, such as dangers and microbiological risks related to food, food safety and / or quality problems.
Learning skills
Student will be able to deepen its knowledge in the field of food processing by independently examining specialized texts, international journals or magazines.
After attending the course, the students will be able to deepen their knowledge on food microbiology through the independent consultation of specialized texts or scientific journals, even outside the topics dealt with strictly in class, in order to face effectively insertion into the working context or undertake further training courses.
Prerequisites
There are no compulsory prerequisites, but students are advised to attend the courses of Biological hazards in food.
Moreover, knowledge of the principles of general microbiology is recommended.
Course unit content
The Food Technology and Microbiology course is an integrated course consisting of the Food Technology and Food Microbiology modules. The integration of the two modules makes it possible to acquire integrated knowledge and skills in the field of food technology and microbiology.
Regarding Food technology, the contents are Principles of unit operations in the food industry aimed to the removal or reduction of biological, chemical and physical hazards: cleaning of equipments and raw materials, heat treatments, cooling and freezing, operations operating on water content or water availability.
Interaction between unit operations for managing variables (temperature, pH, aw and redox potential) functional to the prevention and elimination/reduction of hazards.
Description and comment on European food hygiene rules and guidelines for the effective GHP prerequisites and HACCP System implementation.
Examples of food additives utilization and their management with the aim of food stability and safety.
Regarding Food microbiology, the first part of the course deals with general topics related to microbial contamination of foods.
The second part of the course deals with the effects of the development of pathogenic, alterative and virtuous microorganisms in different foods.
The third part of the course explores the factors that influence the growth of microorganisms in foods and the modalities for their control in order to prevent or reduce the development of pathogenic and alterative and to favour the development of virtuous ones.
Full programme
Contamination, spoilage and processes
Hygienic requirements
Microbial stability
Heat treatments
Retorting
Hot filling and aseptic processing
Sanitation of raw materials and equipment
Cooking
Drying and freeze-drying
Cooling and freezing
European policy on food safety
Guidelines for the effective GHP prerequisites HACCP system.
Microbiology and foods: concepts of contamination and microbial development in food.
The microbiological quality of food: contamination indexes, process indicators.
Microbial contamination and food.
Stages of growth of microorganisms and factors that regulate microbial development: i) intrinsic, ii) extrinsic and iii) implicit. i) Water activity, pH, Redox potential, structures and nutrients, antimicrobials. ii) Temperature, humidity, packaging atmosphere, preservatives, treatments. iii) interactions between microbial populations.
The alterations of microbial origin of foods: the alterative microorganisms and the different types of alterations.
The microorganisms causing foodborne illnesses. The analysis of microbiological risk in food. Hazard identification, hazard characterization, exposure assessment and control measures of the main microbial pathogens responsible for foodborne diseases.
The control of micro-organisms in food. Safety, sterility and stability. Main process strategies for the control of microorganisms in food: heat treatments, reduction of water activity, pH lowering, antimicrobials.
Main microbiological problems of the different categories of food (water and non-alcoholic beverages, milk and dairy products, meat, fish products, vegetable products, eggs, preserves ...).
The program of practical lessons consists in the application of direct (microscopy) and indirect (plate count) techniques to check the presence or absence of a specific microorganism and estimate the number of specific microbial populations in food.
Bibliography
• P. J. Fellows “Food Processing Technology: Principles and Practice” http://www.webpal.org/SAFE/aaarecovery/2_food_storage/Food%20Processing%20Technology.pdf
• R. L. Earle “Unit Operations in Food Processing” http://www.nzifst.org.nz/unitoperations/index.htm
• J.G. Brennan “Food Processing Handbook” http://www.kelm.ftn.uns.ac.rs/literatura/pdms/FoodProcessingHandbook.pdf
• Modern Food Microbiology. James M. Jay, Martin J. Loessner, David A. Golden
Teaching methods
The theoretical topics of the course are explained by means of lectures enriched with practical examples and case studies.
Food microbiology module includes laboratory practices concerning the principles and methods of analysis that underlie research and the direct and indirect detection of microorganisms in food.
Assessment methods and criteria
Regarding Food Technology.
Written examination which consists of 4 questions and each of them is worth up to 7.5 points. Students who gained at least 18/30 in the written examination may apply to take an oral supplementation (which will account for 50% of the final grade), or to verbalize the mark of the written test.
Regarding Food microbiology.
At the end of the course the level of learning of the expected results will be verified for all the contents offered during the lessons, including the laboratory experiences. The learning verification related to the module will be carried out through a single partial test by a written exam. The written exam will consist of two parts:
1. The first consists of 10 closed questions that verify the knowledge of the fundamental concepts of the course. The answers will be evaluated in 30ths. The vote achieved in this part will weigh 30% on the voting of the module.
2. The second part consists of 10 synthetic open-ended questions to assess the level of knowledge acquired in all the topics covered. The answers will be evaluated in 30ths. The vote achieved in this part will weigh 70% on the voting of the module.
The achievement of 18/30 in this module of the integrated course is necessary in order to consider the module successful. The vote achieved will weigh 50% on the final grade of the integrated course.
Other information
Attendance at theoretical lessons is not mandatory, even if strongly recommended. The frequency of laboratory practices is mandatory: the student will be admitted to take the exam if he / she has attended all the experiences (for documented reasons the absence to an experience among those foreseen will be accepted).
