HNE-22806 Food and Health: Practice and Theory

Course

Credits 6.00

Language of instruction:

English

Assumed knowledge on:

Obligatory courses in first two years of the BSc programme in Nutrition and Health; this course is a follow-up of HNE-11306 Nutrition and Health III.

Contents:

Note: This course has a maximum number of participants. The deadline for registration is one week earlier than usual. See 2014/2015 Academic Year (www.wageningenur.nl/en/Education-Programmes/Current-Students/Agenda-Calendar-Academic-Year.htm) -> Registration for Courses 2014-2015.

The overall aim of the course is to develop a new food on household level and to learn how to report this research in a scientific manner. The new food will have a supplementary health-effect compared to existing foods or standard recipes,. In groups, the students will investigate 3 variants of the new food compared to an existing food or standard recipe. The 4 foods will be investigated by means of literature research (e.g. food history, effects of food processing, expected nutrient content, food law and legislation, food storage and packaging), experimental cooking (to find the optimal recipe in a standardized and reproducible manner), chemical analyses (to support the nutrient calculations), and sensory research (to test for specific sensory attributes and/or the acceptability of the foods). Daily progress will be monitored through the use of a digital lab-journal. The research progress will be reported by means of a research proposal and a progress presentation. Finally, a scientific report will be written in which all the research activities are integrated. The students will receive feedback from the teachers during a final meeting after handing in the report.

Learning outcomes:

In a practical group, students will learn to:
- formulate an overall research aim of the total process of product development;
- formulate specific research questions and hypotheses of the literature research, experimental cookery, chemical research, and basic sensory research;
- with help of the reader and supervisors set up and conduct literature research, experimental cookery, chemical research and basic sensory research;
- independently analyse and interpret research results of literature research, experimental cookery, chemical research, and basic sensory;
- formulate specific conclusions regarding the literature research, experimental cookery, chemical research, basic sensory research;
- formulate an overall conclusion and recommendations regarding the total process product development;
- present the performed research in a scientific manner (both orally as written).

Activities:

During the course students will:
- follow lectures and presentations of colleague students;
- in a practical group:
1. design a research proposal for product development research;
2. perform product development research (i.e. literature research, experimental cookery, chemical analyses, sensory research);
3. keep a digital daily journal on all research activities;
4. present research progress to colleague students;
5. write a scientific report on the product development research.

Examination:

- No written examination, but report discussion with extensive feed-back on the report.
- usually, the total practical group will receive the same mark, however in individual cases the examiners can decide to give individual marks in a group.

Literature:

Course reader will be available at the WUR-shop in the Forum.
The course is supported by a digital Blackboard learning environment.