Advanced Food Chemistry

Objectives

It is intended to provide students with advanced knowledge on a) chemical and biochemical changes induced by food processing, distribution and storage; b) Chemical additives, contaminants and other agrochemicals; c) new and innovative methods (especially instrumental or rapid) for determining the nutrient and non-nutrient compounds.

General characterization

Code

12124

Credits

6.0

Responsible teacher

Ana Luísa Almaça da Cruz Fernando

Hours

Weekly - 2

Total - 54

Teaching language

Português

Prerequisites

Frequency requirements for this UC are not defined.

Bibliography

Food: The Chemistry of Its Components. Coultate, T.P. 3rd Edition, RSC Paperbacks, 2001.

Belitz, H. D., Grosch, W., Schieberle, P. (2009) Food Chemistry, 4th Edition, Springer (Publs), 1071 pp. (ISBN 354069935X)

Papers in Journals with high impact, such as

Annual review of food science and technology, Trends in Food Science and Technology, Food chemistry, Food and bioprocess technology, Food Research International, Food Hydrocolloids, Journal of Food Composition and Analysis

Teaching method

The teaching methodologies include sessions with an oral presentation of topics followed by its discussion and critical analysis, along or at the end of the presentation with the proactive participation of students. Students develop an individual work of application and analysis of case-studies, in order to consolidate the acquired knowledge and to develop presentation capabilities, as also individual and group reasoning. The evaluation consists of the elaboration, presentation and discussion of an individual work. The non-approved students carry out a final examination. The curricular unit approval requires a minimum classification of 9.5 values (out of 20 values).

Evaluation method

Accomplishment of monographic work (80% of the final grade)

Presentation of the monographic work proposal (20% of the final grade)

Subject matter

1. Major food chemical structures. Water. Aminoacids, peptides and proteins. Enzymes. Lipids. Carbohydrates. Aroma compounds. Vitamins and minerals. 2. Chemical and biochemical processes in food. 3. Chemical, physical and sensory properties, advances on its relation to the chemical structures and to the chemical and biochemical processes. 4. New and innovative methods (especially instrumental or rapid) for the identification and quantification of components in foods. Each year there will also be guests who will present research work in the area of Advanced Food Chemistry, such as Polysaccharides as raw material in the production of bioplastics; Nanotoxicity; Hydrocolloids; Fraud identification techniques; Food toxicology; Nutraceutical and functional products; Natural extracts as technological tools in food preservation.