Learning objectives
Knowledge and understanding:
At the end of the course, the student will have acquired the basic knowledge about the processes most frequently used in the food industry and about the working principles of the correspondent equipment.
Applying knowledge and understanding
The student will be able to set up the design of a food process and its equipment
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 equipment
Communication skills
The student will learn the vocabulary specific for food processing, food safety and food equipment
Learning skills
Students will be able to deepen their knowledge in the field of food processing by independently examining specialized texts, journals or magazines.
Prerequisites
There are no compulsory prerequisites, but students are strongly advised to have attended the course of technical physics as well as the frequency of the classes of food microbiology and food chemistry partly delivered in the first semester.
Course unit content
Principles of unit operations and processes in the food industry ( Cleaning of equipment and raw materials, Cutting and dimension reduction, Mixing, incorporating, structuring, Heat treatments, Cooling and freezing, Unit operations aimed to food components separation and rheological modification) with examples of the corresponding machines.
Full programme
Contamination, spoilage and processes
Hygienic requirements
Microbial stability
Heat treatments
Retorting
Hot filling and aseptic processing
Aseptic packing
Sanitation of raw materials and equipment
Size reduction
Mixing, structuring
Cooking
Drying and freeze-drying
Separation operations: particles filtration; fluid component, centrifugal separation; liquid liquid extraction and solid liquid extraction
Cooling and freezing
Excercises on unit operations.
Bibliography
• P. J. Fellows “Food Processing Technology: Principles and Practice”
• R. L. Earle “Unit Operations in Food Processing”
• J.G. Brennan “Food Processing Handbook”
• Pompei C. (2009) Operazioni unitarie della tecnologia alimentare. CEA Milano
Teaching methods
Lectures will be held on-site in compliance with safety standards, provided that further instructions on the ongoing health emergency are not implemented. Supporting material will be available on the specific, student-reserved platform (Elly) and will include slide presentations, audio-video aids or video-recording of the lectures.
Assessment methods and criteria
The learning test will be carried out through a written test both in presence or via web. The test is composed by 2 parts. The first part consists of 10 closed-ended questions for the access to the exam; maximum errors for closed-ended questions will be 2 on 10, otherwise the student won't go on the second part. The second part contains 3 open questions. The time available to the student will be 120 minutes. Students who gained at least 18/30 in the written examination may apply to take an oral supplementation (which will account for 5% of the final grade), or verbalize the mark of the written test.
The value of every open questions is 10 points. Honor will be given to students that will answer correctely and completely to all questions.
Duration of the test will be 120 minutes.
Other information
Attendance at a course is not mandatory but strongly recommended.
in case of severe sanitary emergence lessons and exams could be modified and vairations will be published on Elly page and/or degrre course homepage.
2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
