Learning objectives
The teaching module aims to provide the fundamental knowledge and understanding in relation to the biochemical processes that characterize the nourishment and nutrition in the human body, as well as to deepen the complex issue of food and nutritional safety, in relation to the official control activities in food hygiene. In this context, the chemical-physical and qualitative characteristics of the nutritive principles and of the main classes of foods, the nutritional characteristics of foods, the functional and protective properties, the fundamental aspects of preventive dietetics are set out. The study of food safety issues contributes to the reinforcement of the regulatory contents dealt with in the field of integrated training activity and aims to develop, in particular, the methodology and the specific tools of inspection control in food hygiene. The prerequisites are represented by the knowledge of biology, chemistry and biochemistry.
Prerequisites
The prerequisites are represented by the knowledge of biology, chemistry and biochemistry.
Course unit content
The initial part of the teaching module deals with general topics of social medicine such as nutrition in today's society, the interaction of man with food, the general principles of food science and human nutrition; an in-depth study of nutrients, their biochemical and nutritional properties, their specific functions on human nutrition. The second part of the teaching module deals with the complex issue of food toxicology through an in-depth study of the characteristics of food contaminants and toxicological evaluation; the third part of the teaching module deals with food safety combined with nutritional safety, included in the reference national and EU Community regulatory framework, updated to the most recent sector laws and procedures.
Full programme
"Food Safety" Teaching Module Program
1. Introduction and general information on food and nutrition. Nutrients: macro and micronutrients. Risk factors in public health and the prevention of obesity. I LARN; approach to Calorie Need and Energy Expenditure: measurement methods and factors that influence it. Macronutrients: Carbohydrates, chemical-physical characteristics, classification, nutritional properties, requirements; monosaccharides, disaccharides and polysaccharides, polyalcohols. Dietary fiber. Vitamins: chemical-physical characteristics and nutritional properties, classification and requirements; water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. 2. The functional groups of biomolecular interest; i Lipids: general information and classification. Saponifying lipids: fatty acids. The main fatty acids, notes on position and geometric stereoisomerism. The nomenclature of fatty acids. Essential fatty acids. Acylglycerols and their function. Phospholipids, Phosphatidylcholines, Sphingolipids, Glycolipids and their respective functions, Sterids and Cholesterol. Non-saponifying lipids: general features and classification; corticoid and sexual hormones, Eicosanoids. The functions of lipids and their nutritional properties, digestion and absorption. Lipoproteins. 3. Amino acids and proteins. Chemical characteristics and functions. Protein structure: primary, secondary, tertiary and quaternary. Protein classification. The nitrogen cycle. The biological value of proteins. Nutritional properties, protein requirements. I Minerals or trace elements: nutritional properties, dietary requirements and sources. Introduction to food and nutrition security: food safety and food security. Fortified, enriched and supplemented foods, "light" foods and food supplements. The "Novel Food" (CE Reg. No. 258/97). 4. Food toxicology: characteristics of contamination; xenobiotics: definition and chemical characteristics; the toxicological evaluation. Bacterial toxins: characteristics and classification; mycotoxins: characteristics; contamination and types of mycotoxins; aflatoxins; ochratoxins; molecules of toxicological interest: nitrates, nitrites and nitrosamines; nitrosocomposite inhibitors; Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons; fat oxidation products and radical oxidation reaction; the oxysterols; the Endocrine Interferents; effects of nutrient variation on the metabolism of xenobiotics (fats, proteins, caloric intake, ethanol). 5. Food safety: Regulation (EC) n. 852/04 - Annex II. The Regulation (EC) n. 882/04: types and methods of execution of the inspection activity; Integrated Regional Plan 2015/2018 and the organization of the Official Control; notes on the DGR n. 200 of 25/02/13 concerning the Guidelines for the exercise of the supervisory and control function; risk categorization: deepening of the Regional Technical Protocol - year 2017; the Official Control Sheet; the Audit technique for the official control on OSA: characteristics, criteria, operational aspects and principles, the phases; the competences of the SIAN and the activity data referring to the year 2017, for the two Functional Areas; examination of the EC Regulation n. 178/02 with particular regard to the field of application, the general requirements for foodstuffs, the traceability and consequent obligations, the rapid alert system for food and feed, the Crisis Unit of the Sanitary Companies; the RASFF system and EU Reg. no. 16/2011.
Bibliography
1. Bibliographic updates of the AME - Italian Association of Medical Endocrinologists; 2. Diseases of the endocrine system and metabolism (G. Faglia, 2013); 3. Manual of Applied Nutrition (Riccardi - Pacioni, 2013); 4. Textbook of Endocrinology - 12th Edition - 2012 (Williams); 5. Food Chemistry (Cappelli - Vannucchi, 2005); 6. Nutrition and Human Nutrition (Cannella - Mariani Costantini, 2006); 7. Guidelines for a healthy Italian diet - INRAN, 2003; 8. I LARN - Italian Nutrition Society (SINU) - 2014; 9. Food toxicology (Dugo - Restani, 2000); 10. Principles of biochemistry (A.L. Lehninger); 11. Updated European Community legislation of the "Food Safety"; 12. Regional document "Technical Protocol for risk categorization" on the subject of official control on Food Sector Operators updated to October 2017; Integrated Regional Plan of official control 2015-2018.
Teaching methods
In relation to the educational objectives outlined above, the teaching of the course takes place through the implementation of lectures conducted with the help of slides and texts; similarly, during the teaching module, students are invited to participate in in-depth seminars related to the techniques of official food hygiene control. During the lessons, moreover, debate and discussions are held regarding the thematic areas covered by the didactic module. The student at the end of the course, also using the knowledge of biology, general chemistry and biochemistry already acquired previously, will have to highlight knowledge and understanding skills in relation to the biochemistry of nutrition and food, the nutritional principles and their use at internal processes of intermediate metabolism. Furthermore, through the knowledge and understanding also exercised in group activities, the student will have to identify the critical elements related to the analysis and assessment of food hygiene risk, elaborate the basic criteria for carrying out the official control activity, including the use of appropriate documentation.
Assessment methods and criteria
Learning outcomes are assessed through the administration of a multiple choice questionnaire which aims to ascertain the achievement of knowledge and understanding of all the contents of the training module or through an oral test; at the request of the candidate, it is possible to supplement the written test with an oral examination.
Other information
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