FNH 309: Food Processing

Syllabus Version: 9th January 2025

Instructor: Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh (anubhav.singh@ubc.ca)

Office: Room: 213, Food Nutrition and Health Building

Teaching Assistant:  Xanyar Mohammad (‎xanyar91@mail.ubc.ca)

Course Details

Lecture: Thursday 2:00:5:00pm (UBC Vancouver Campus > Biological Sciences Building (BIOL) > Floor 2 > Room 2200)

Tutorial: Wednesday 4:00-5:00pm  (UBC Vancouver Campus > Biological Sciences Building (BIOL) > Floor 2 > Room 2200).

Instructor’s Biographical Statement: 

Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh is the Director of the BC Food and Beverage Innovation Centre, and holds the Endowed Professorship in Food & Beverage Innovation from the BC Ministry of Agriculture, Food & Fisheries. Dr. Anubhav Pratap-Singh is a chemical engineer by education (BTech+MTech in Chemical Engineering from IIT Kharagpur in 2011), and a food scientist by training & practice (PhD in 2015 from McGill University, postdoc from University of Toronto in 2016). Dr. Pratap-Singh sits on the UBC Vancouver Senate and is a member of the UBC Academic Policy Committee.

Dr. Pratap-Singh's main research focuses on exploring novel approaches that: a) minimize the deleterious effect of food processing on food quality & nutrition, and b) overcome the biological barriers to the absorption of nutritional components of food. Some of the major research directions in his laboratory include:

1. developing non-thermal (pulsed light, ultrasound & cold plasma) technologies for the decontamination of food products,
2. using extrusion & other plant-based meat development technologies,
3. fortification of tea, salt & other food products with multiple nutrients (iron, zinc, vitamin B, folic acid etc.) together,
4. developing buccal and sublingual sprays/tablets for delivery of insulin & other bioceuticals orally bypassing GI-tract
5. development of encapsulated rhACE2 for treating mild symptom CoVID-19 patients
6. upcycling of food industry wastes into value-added products, biodegradable & packaging solutions for the food industry,  

Text Book/Required Material

1. Ramaswamy H. & Marcotte M. (2005). Food Processing: Principles and Applications (1^st Edition). CRC Press. (Available as e-book in UBC Library https://www.taylorfrancis.com/books/9780203485248)
2. Brennan J. and Grandison A. (2011). Food Processing Handbook, Second Edition. Wiley-VCH Verlag. (Available as e-book in UBC Library https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/book/10.1002/9783527634361)
3. Fellows, P.J. (2016). Food Processing Technology: Principles and Practice (4^th Edition). Elsevier Science & Technologies. (Available as e-book in UBC Library https://ebookcentral.proquest.com/lib/ubc/detail.action?docID=4711752)
4. Lecture slideshows, assignments and other readings posted on Canvas.
5. Additional reading/background material will be made available as required.

Course Objective

The course is structured to cover the physical, chemical and microbiological basis of the various methods of food processing/preservation with special reference to thermal processing, freezing, dehydration and novel processing technologies. Thermal processing section covers everything from historical perspectives to classification and principles of thermal processing, concepts of lethality and resistance to microorganisms, simple process calculations, and a brief discussion of a wide variety of equipment used commercially. This chapter also covers quality aspects of thermally processed foods. Food freezing section covers refrigerated storage, food freezing and thawing, the quality and stability of frozen foods, simple mathematical models for the calculation of freezing and thawing times and a discussion of equipment. Food Dehydration section details the principles and practices involved in successful production of high quality frozen/dried foods and covers basic concepts as equilibrium moisture content, water activity, drying kinetics, psychrometry, drying time caclulations and some novel drying technique. In last part of the course, a flipped-classroom approach will be used to provide introduction to Emerging novel processing technologies finding usage in food preservation. Each student (in groups of ~7) will be involved in preparation & delivery of a lecture on any Novel Processing Approach to peers, and complete a group assignment & individual quiz on the topics covered by the individual groups on the last day of the class.

By the end of this course, students should be able to:

1. Describe the science (mechanism of action), history, importance, benefits and disadvantages of various processing approaches commonly applied in food industry.
2. Select appropriate mathematical models and Calculate important food processing parameters in order to Design an industrial food process.
3. Evaluate the destruction kinetics of a pathogen (or other biological entities) and Suggest the minimum time required at a particular temperature for complete death of that microorganism.
4. Construct the heat penetration curve from a time-temperature data, and Calculate the process lethality of a particular process or process time to achieve a particular lethality using various general and formula methods.
5. Explain the difference between moisture content and water activity and Correlate them using a moisture sorption isotherm.
6. Employ a suitable dehydration/freezing process for increasing the shelf-life of a food product.
7. Recognize emerging technologies and concepts in food processing.
8. Know where to look and how to find information about food process science and engineering principle, design and equipment.

Checklist for Course Preparation

• Sign up for groups on Canvas (Go to Canvas FNH 309 - People page - Groups - Join as soon as possible and before Wednesday 15^th January 2025.
• Bring a smartphone or computer to all classes.
• Have access to a scientific calculator for all classes including tutorials and exam.
• Have access to course lectures, tutorials, assignments, textbooks and other materials posted on Canvas throughout the course.
• Use the discussion boards on Canvas to ask and answer questions. In the event you need to send a message to your instructor directly/privately, please send to: anubhav.singh@ubc.ca

Course Content

Introduction

Course outline, Tutorial schedule, Exam Structure

Module 1: Thermal Processing

Suggested Reading Material: Ch. 3 - Ramaswamy and Marcotte; Ch. 8, 11 & 12 – Fellows; Ch. 2 - Brennan and Grandison

Historical Overview & Thermal Processing Fundamentals

Thermobacteriology, Destruction kinetics

Heat Penetration Curve, Thermal Process Parameters

Thermal Process Calculations: General, Improved General and Formula methods

Thermal Processing Equipment; Retort Systems: Recent developments

Module 2: Food Freezing

Suggested Reading Material: Ch. 4 - Ramaswamy and Marcotte Ch. 20 & 22 – Fellows; Ch. 4 - Brennan and Grandison

Freezing Fundamentals, Thermophysical Properties influenced by Freezing

Freezing Methods and Models

Novel freezing techniques

Quality and Storage Stability of Frozen Foods

Module 3: Food Dehydration

Suggested Reading Materials: Ch. 5 - Ramaswamy and Marcotte; Ch. 14 – Fellows; Ch. 3 – Brennan and Grandison

Calculation of Moisture Content, Moisture Analysis Methods

Measurement and Prediction of Water activity

Constructing a Moisture Sorption Isotherm (MSI)

Understand Hysteresis and Associated Theory

Moisture Migration Between Components of Multi-Component Foods

Dehydration Fundamentals & Process

Drying Process and Technology

Novel Drying Techniques

Quality and Storage Stability of Dehydrated Foods

MID TERM EXAMS 

Flipped-Lecture Module: Novel Processing Technologies

Suggested Reading Materials: Ch. 7 – Fellows; Ch. 6 & 7 – Brennan and Grandison

Students will work in groups to choose from one of the topics, then deliver group lectures on their chosen topic, attend a tutorial and solve a group assignment, & complete an individual quiz.

Group 1: Microwave and Radiofrequency processing

Group 2: Ohmic Heating

Group 3: High Pressure Processing

Group 4: Pulsed Electric Field

Group 5: Pulsed light Processing

Group 6: Ultrasonication Processing

Group 7: Cold Plasma

Group 8: Irradiation Processing

Group 9 - Novel Encapsulation Technologies

Group 10 - Novel Biotechnologies in food

Group 11 - Novel Extraction and Separation technologies

 Group 12 - Sustainability and Food Processing

Group 13 - Novel Packaging technologies

Tentative Course Outline Breakdown of Semester Timeline

See Course Summary or Calendar on Canvas

Assessment

The overall grade for the course will be calculated according to the following table.

Mid term Exam – Closed Book - 2 hr (50%).

• Exams are Closed Book In-Person.
• Date: Thursday 27th March 2025 2:00pm - 4:00pm in-class.
• Students should bring a scientific calculator to the exam, while required formulae will be provided.

Group Work (40%).

• Group Signup: 9 Groups with suggested topics for lectures have been created on Canvas. Students can enroll in a group of their choice on a first-come first-service basis through People page. Each group can accommodate a maximum of 6 members. Each group is already allocated a suggested topic for the group term chapter & lecture (which can be changed with permission of the instructor) and it is thereby important to sign up for the groups on Canvas - People - Groups page as soon as possible.
• Group Assignments (18% weightage): There will be 6 homework group assignments (each 3% weightage, 3 from Module 1: Thermal Processing, 1 from Module 2: Food Freezing, and 2 from Module 3: Food Dehydration) at the end of each tutorial which will be submitted in groups on Canvas as per dates highlighted in the Course Summary on Canvas. There is another 2.5% weightage to the group assignment on Flipped Module: Novel Processing Techniques. Tutorials will be held on Friday with TA to help solve group-assignments, and time is allocated on Wednesdays for the groups to work together and finish assignments on time.
• Peer Evaluation (2% weightage): Each group member will distribute 100 points amongst other group members, except themselves. Total points should not be more than 100 and no one student can get more than 30 points, else the scores submitted by the student will not be counted and all group members will receive default 100/(n-1) points (where n is the number of group members). One can allocate less than total 100 points. Total score received by each group member from their peers will be counted towards the 3% weightage of the course. Please note that over-contributors can get more than 100% marks in this scoring format, while those not contributing can get 0% marks. 
• Flipped-Module Activity (20% weightage): Each group will deliver a 20-minute group lecture, followed by 5-minute of Q&A on the group topics and date identified in the Course Content and Course Summary respectively. Final lecture presentation must be uploaded as a .ppt/.pptx file on Canvas before 5pm on the day of lecture, and shall be made available to the peers for the Individual Quiz on Flipped Module: Novel Processing Techniques that must be taken by 8th April 2025. Each group is already allocated a suggested topic (which can be changed with permission of the instructor) and it is thereby important to sign up for the groups on Canvas - People - Groups page as soon as possible. The lectures will be graded equally on following rubric:
  • the quality of the lecture delivery;
  • extent of information covered on the proposed topic;
  • ability to answers questions and doubts from other students;
  • quality of the ppt file submitted;
  • Participation in Lectures & question asking. 

Individual Quizzes (10% weightage).

• The attendance in the course will be tracked through 5 surprise quizzes (each with 2% weightage), that will count towards 10% of the course.

Additional Notes

Academic accommodations will be made in accordance with university policies. Students requiring accommodations should notify the instructor as soon as possible.

The instructor reserves the right to deviate from the syllabus as needed. Students requesting an exception to the syllabus must submit the request via email to the instructor.

Learning Analytics

 Learning analytics includes the collection and analysis of data about learners to improve teaching and learning. This course will be using the following learning technologies: Canvas. This tool captures data about your activity and provide information that can be used to improve the quality of teaching and learning. In this course, I plan to use analytics data to:

• View overall class progress
• Review statistics on course content being accessed to support improvements in the course
• Monitor adherence to academic integrity by applying analytics on quizzes, assignments and on-line exams.

Academic integrity

The academic enterprise is founded on honesty, civility, and integrity. All UBC students are expected to behave as honest and responsible members of an academic community. At the most basic level, this means submitting only original work done by you and acknowledging all sources of information or ideas and attributing them to others as required. This also means you should not cheat, copy, or mislead others about what is your work.

It is the student's obligation to learn, understand and follow the standards for academic honesty. Students must be aware that standards at the University of British Columbia may be different from those in secondary schools or at other institutions.

Violations of academic integrity lead to the breakdown of the academic enterprise, and therefore serious actions are taken. Plagiarism or cheating may result in a mark of zero on an assignment, exam, or course. More serious

consequences may apply if the matter is referred to the President’s Advisory Committee on Student Discipline. Academic misconduct may result in a one-year suspension from the University and a notation of academic discipline on the student's record.

The UBC Library has a useful Academic Integrity website that explains what plagiarism is and how to avoid it. If a student is in any doubt as to the standard of academic honesty in a particular course or assignment, then the student must consult with the instructor as soon as possible. A more detailed description of academic integrity, including the University’s policies and procedures, may be found in the Academic Calendar.Links to an external site. All course work may be submitted to Turnitin.com for review.

University Policies

UBC provides resources to support student learning and to maintain healthy lifestyles but recognizes that sometimes crises arise and so there are additional resources to access including those for survivors of sexual violence. UBC values respect for the person and ideas of all members of the academic community. Harassment and discrimination are not tolerated nor is suppression of academic freedom. UBC provides appropriate accommodation for students with disabilities and for religious observances. UBC values academic honesty and students are expected to acknowledge the ideas generated by others and to uphold the highest academic standards in all of their actions.

Details of the policies and how to access support are available on the UBC Senate website.