MVI202 Food Chemistry

The course will deal with food chemistry and analytical methods used for the characterization of foods. The lectures cover major and minor food constituents, i.e., water, proteins, lipids, carbohydrates, enzymes, vitamins, minerals, flavor, colorants, and food additives).

The course provides high-level academic education and is particularly relevant for achieving UN sustainable development goals related to food production and nutrition; 2 (zero hunger), 3 (good health and wellbeing) and 12 (responsible consumption and production).

Knowledge:

In the course's theoretical part, students will learn about the structure and function of the main components of food and how they impact the nutritional and technological characteristics of foods. We discuss processes and analytical methods that are central to food science.

• Has broad knowledge of structure and function of macro and micronutrients in various raw materials for food (proteins, lipids, carbohydrates including polysaccharides, vitamins and minerals) as well as additives and water.
• Can explain the structure and properties of the water molecule, the terms free and bound water, the relationship between water content (%), water activity and durability.
• Can explain the relationship between amino acid composition, protein structure and properties, understand how denaturation affects properties, know the most important functional properties.
• Can explain the structure and properties of carbohydrates, knowing the most important functional properties of polysaccharides.
• Can explain structure and properties of neutral and polar lipids, understand the relationship between fatty acid composition and properties of triacylglycerols, fatty acid composition in vegetable and animal lipids, and how this affects properties such as melting point and stability to oxidation.
• Can reproduce the most important minerals and various factors that affect bioavailability and explain the terms "major elements", "trace elements" and "ultra-tracers".
• Can reproduce the most important vitamins and explain various factors that affect the content of different products and how vitamin content can be optimized.
• Can reproduce the various classes of additives and their function and explain the purpose of use, possible undesirable health effects of some additives and regulations of use.

Skills:

• Can apply knowledge of the various components of raw materials to explain how they affect the texture and quality of different food products.
• Can find scientific literature on relevant topics in books, scientific journals and from various websites.

General competence:

• Can convey central subject matter both in writing and orally and apply this knowledge in other topics.