Course Title: Food Quality Assurance

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Food Quality Assurance

Credit Points: 12.00

Terms

Course Code

Campus

Career

School

Learning Mode

Teaching Period(s)

ONPS2378

City Campus

Postgraduate

135H Applied Sciences

Face-to-Face

Sem 2 2008,
Sem 2 2009,
Sem 2 2010,
Sem 2 2011

ONPS2530

Bundoora Campus

Postgraduate

171H School of Science

Face-to-Face

Sem 1 2017,
Sem 1 2018,
Sem 1 2019

Course Coordinator: Assoc Prof Peter Torley

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 5095

Course Coordinator Email: peter.torley@rmit.edu.au

Course Coordinator Location: Building 201 level 6 level 02


Pre-requisite Courses and Assumed Knowledge and Capabilities

There are no pre-requisites or co-requisites for this course. However, it would be an advantage to have completed one or more food technology courses and an introductory statistics course before attempting ONPS2530 Food Quality Assurance.

Recommended courses: in addition to ONPS2530 Food Quality Assurance, it is recommended that you take ONPS2377 Food Safety Plans. As the name suggests, ONPS2377 Food Safety Plans focuses on food safety and HACCP. These skills are much sought after in the food industry.


Course Description

Consistently meeting customer and consumer quality expectations is an important for the food processing industry. Thus, it is important for people working in the food industry to develop the skills required to manage food quality, including: understanding quality systems and standards in use, measuring quality attributes, and identifying the cause and solution of problems that are encountered.

This course includes both the theory and practice of procedures required to ensure food quality. It complements the course ONPS2377 Food Safety Plans that focuses on managing the food safety aspects of food production.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

On successful completion of this course you will be able to:

  • CLO 1: Understand the relationship between quality control, quality assurance and total quality management, and the international and industry standards that are used in the food industry
  • CLO 2: Understand and use statistical methods relevant to food quality, such as sampling plans, monitoring quality trends over time, and designing experiments for product quality optimisation
  • CLO 3: Describe the quality attributes relevant to food processing, including process yield as a quality parameter, and sensory and instrumental quality measurement
  • CLO 4: Apply systematic tools to identify the cause and solution to quality defects
  • CLO 5: Understand the impact on product quality of the variability intrinsic in processing agricultural commodities into ingredients or finished food products
  • CLO 6: Describe typical process control strategies, sensors, actuators, and how to use process control in different situations


This course contributes to the following Program Learning Outcomes for MC237 (Master of Food Science and Technology) at AQF Level 9:

  • PLO 2. Critically analyse and solve problems in food science and technology.
  • PLO 3. Apply food science and technology knowledge and skills.
  • PLO 4. Communicate technical knowledge.
  • PLO 5. Display personal and professional responsibility.


Overview of Learning Activities

You will learn in this course by:

  • Attending lectures and tutorials where material will be presented and explained, and the subject will be illustrated with demonstrations and examples;
  • Participating in practical classes where you will perform product manufacture and product quality assessment activities;
  • Private study where you will work through the theory that was presented in lectures, and gaining practice at solving problems during the practical sessions;

 

Total study hours

There will be approximately 55 hours of face-to-face activities including:

  • Lectures
  • Tutorials
  • Practicals

In addition, you will spend approximately 65 hours on the following activities:

  • Team activities (e.g. discussing your quality assurance documentation and preparing for your practical sessions)
  • Individual work on your part of the quality assurance documentation
  • Individual review of lecture and tutorial materials in preparation for the final examination


Overview of Learning Resources

The following learning resources will be made available:

  • Lecture presentations posted on the course Canvas site
  • Lectures recorded and available on Canvas

 

There is no text book for this course, but reference will be made in the lecture presentations to book chapters that are relevant to the topic. These book chapters will be available for download from the RMIT Library.


Overview of Assessment

Please note there are no hurdles in this course.

 

Assessment 1 – Product Specification Development - 30%

  • Through a combination of practical work and information sourced from scientific and technical publications, you will develop the quality specifications and analytical methodologies required to routinely monitor product quality.
  • This assessment task contributes to CLOs 2, 3 and 5.

 

Assessment 2 – Ensuring Consistent Quality - 30%

  • In this task you will develop the procedures and supporting documentation to consistently manufacture your product to a consistent specification.
  • This assessment task contributes to CLOs 1, 2, 4 and 6.

 

Assessment 3 – Final Examination - 40%

  • This assessment task contributes to CLOs 1 to 6.