FS495 & FS591 Food Ingredient Functionality

FS 495/591: Special Topics – Food Ingredient Functionality (Spring semester, even year, 3 credits)

Structure determines Function. This course focuses on the applied skills regarding how to utilize the chemistry knowledge to select proper ingredients and to construct the targeted food structure/texture based on the considerations of processability, phase stability, and consumer preferences. The course integrates key knowledge and skills involved in three topics: “food ingredient functionality,” “polymer and colloidal properties of foods,” and “food rheology.” Ingredient functionality is an essential aspect of product development. Specifically, the course covers food ingredient functionalities in regards to the construction of different food structures (sols, gels, emulsions, and foams), stabilization of physical and physicochemical properties of foods, and control of food texture for meeting processability and mouth feel requirements.