FDSC20110 Food Diet and Health II - Making Healthy Food Choices

Academic Year 2024/2025

Ever wondered what's in your food and is it good for you? This module introduces students to the health attributes of the main food groups Cereal Products, Fruit and Vegetables, Dairy products, Meat/Fish/Eggs. Students will learn how production and manufacturing processes influence the health attributes of foods. Throughout the course you will learn about where foods come from (e.g. organic versus inorganic), how foods are made, the nutritional quality of food and potential health benefits/risks. Students will also learn about the role of additives in foods and food regulation and how to produce effective posters. The goal of the module is to help students make informed food choices based on scientific evidence that can help to maintain health.

NOTE: This module can be taken before or after FDSC10010 Food Diet and Health 1, and Food Diet and Health 3

Stage 4 Food Science students may not access this module as an elective.

This module will contribute to the development of the following COMPETENCIES that are CORE to your development as a professional in Food Science:
-FOOD SAFETY and MICROBIOLOGY:
This module will allow students to explore the use of beneficial microorganisms in fermented food systems, and determine the influence of the food system characteristics and processing parameters on the growth survival, and control of microorganisms.

-FOOD PROCESSING and ENGINEERING:
The group project in this module requires the student to research and understand the variability inherent in raw materials and how they impact the production and quality of fermented foods. Students should be aware of the principles that make food products safe to consume and will explore some processing techniques and the effect of processing parameters on the fermented product quality.

- SUCCESS SKILLS
This module will take a multimedia approach to develop students' research and communication skills. Students will demonstrate Research skills by sourcing 8 relevant peer-reviewed research articles on a selected topic from which they will extract the key points of each paper in a research portfolio. They will communicate this technical information to an expert audience using e-posters.

Assessment will be 100% continuous Assessment.
1. There will be 3 MCQ exams.
MCQ 1: 5 % ONLINE / REMOTE: Delivered in week 4 ( 5%) to ensure engagement with learning materials
MCQ 2: 5 % ONLINE / REMOTE: Delivered in week 8 ( 5%) to ensure engagement with learning materials
MCQ 3: 50% IN PERSON ON CAMPUS Delivered in WEEK 12 at 13.00 - see schedule for venue. Attendance on this date is MANDATORY unless you have valid extenuating circumstances.
MCQ 3A- 50% IN PERSON ON CAMPUS Delivered on Monday WEEK 13 at 13.00 - see schedule for venue. This offering is only for students with clashing core modules who cannot make the Week 12 offering.

2. There will also be a research project worth 40%. This can be completed as a group or as an individual. If working as a group, you will need to join a group by the end of Week 3. Students who have not joined a group by then will complete the project as an individual.
2A. Each student will produce A RESEARCH PORTFOLIO which will be updated each week. In this Portfolio, students will research and summarise 8 recent papers relevant to their topic. They will then write a short essay using these resources as the final entry, using the Scientific Writing Rubric provided. This is worth 20%.

2B. Each student/ group will produce a poster, using the rubric provided, communicating their project findings to PhD students. this is worth 20%.

2C. GROUPS ONLY: Each student must provide a peer assessment, breaking down the contribution of each person in the group. This is to ensure fair distribution of the group grade. This has no assigned grade but is required to complete your submission.

Dates and grade breakdown can be found in the Module 'MY LEARNING' section of the module page.

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Curricular information is subject to change

Learning Outcomes:

On successful completion of this module students should be able to:
1. Demonstrate their knowledge of the production, processing, and nutritional value of the main food groups
2. Know the regulations associated with the production, sale, and consumption of food and drink.
3. Source and critique appropriate peer-reviewed research papers and synthesise findings into a short scientific report directed at an expert audience.
4. Effectively communicate the results of their research to an expert audience using Poster design and voice-over to convey the project message.
5. Evaluate their own work in a fair and useful manner using scoring rubrics, giving evidence-based justification for the scores provided.

Student Effort Hours: 
Student Effort Type Hours
Lectures

20
Specified Learning Activities

25
Autonomous Student Learning

55
Total

100
Approaches to Teaching and Learning:
The teaching and learning strategy in this module is designed to facilitate a range of learning styles. It incorporates a Blended-learning strategy combining virtual classroom delivery with pre-prepared online lectures/learning material to disseminate discipline knowledge. A Dedicated Questions and Answers discussion board will be open to facilitate students who may have further questions. Email should not be used to answer module queries as the rest of the class would miss out on the response. The Module coordinator will hold module office hours (by appointment) from 8.30-10.00 am on Wednesday to support students requiring assistance with group work issues or with general queries. This can be Face to face or via Zoom as appropriate. Email amalia.scannell@ucd.ie with 'FDSC20110 MEETING REQUEST' in the subject to arrange an appointment.

The students will select a Food Science topic to Plan (mindmap) explore (report) and disseminate ( poster) to an expert audience ( group report) and to non-experts ( e-poster). This will make use of Enquiry- based learning to help develop Teamwork skills in a structured way and also help students develop resource curation and synthesis skills. All group work will be subject to peer review across groups, as well as peer and self-assessment within the group matrix. Self-review of submissions will be facilitated through the provision of assessment rubrics, and the reports will be assessed for objective use of the rubric and demonstrated reflective thinking. Self-assessment must be submitted or the component will not be considered to be complete. 
Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.


Module Requisites and Incompatibles
Not applicable to this module.
 
Assessment Strategy  
Description Timing Open Book Exam Component Scale Must Pass Component % of Final Grade
Portfolio: Submit weekly on weeks 1 through 9
A. Summarise 8 peer-reviewed research/ review articles.
B. Write a literature review using those resources. Review using the Scientific Writing rubric.
 n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% Yes

20
Assignment(Including Essay): This POSTER may be done as a group or as an individual.
Those working in groups have till the end of week 3 to join a group.
Students not in a group by then will complete the project individually		 n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% No

20
Quizzes/Short Exercises: There will be 3 MCQ quiz assessments.
Week 4: engagement with section 1 = 5%
Week 8: MCQ 2 engagement with section 2= 5%
Week 12: MCQ 2- ALL COURSE MATERIALS = 50%		 n/a Standard conversion grade scale 40% Yes

60

Carry forward of passed components
Yes
 
Remediation Type Remediation Timing
Repeat Within Two Trimesters
Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. 
Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Feedback individually to students, on an activity or draft prior to summative assessment
• Group/class feedback, post-assessment
• Online automated feedback
• Peer review activities
• Self-assessment activities

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

MCQ Assessments here are designed to merely assess your knowledge of the material covered in the lectures. The associated feedback (grades) will be given via automated online feedback to individual students after the test is completed. The Group project is marked using a clear set of rubrics which are disseminated to the class before the topics are selected. A detailed set of guidelines are also given to the students. The project has been structured into a set of clear tasks: 1. planning : Build a Team Mindmap - upload to discussion board, followed by peer review and Tutor review online; 2. Resource Curation & Synthesis ( expert) : Group report - submit to Brightspace. Post assessment feedback will take the form of Grades, however students are free to make an appointment to meet the module co-ordinator and discuss issues prior to submission, or post- correction as appropriate; 3. Dissemination (non-expert) post Poster on discussion board for Peer and Tutor online review.

Name Role
Dr Emma Feeney Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Professor Ronan Gormley Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Mirjam Heinen Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Dr Fiona Lalor Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Professor Frank Monahan Lecturer / Co-Lecturer
Mr Eoin Campbell Tutor
Ms Puja Rauniyar Tutor