Course Title: Food Quality Assurance

Part A: Course Overview

Course Title: Food Quality Assurance

Credit Points: 12.00

Important Information:

To participate in any RMIT course in-person activities or assessment, you will need to comply with RMIT vaccination requirements which are applicable during the duration of the course. This RMIT requirement includes being vaccinated against COVID-19 or holding a valid medical exemption. 

Please read this RMIT Enrolment Procedure as it has important information regarding COVID vaccination and your study at RMIT: https://policies.rmit.edu.au/document/view.php?id=209. 

Please read the Student website for additional requirements of in-person attendance: https://www.rmit.edu.au/covid/coming-to-campus 


Please check your Canvas course shell closer to when the course starts to see if this course requires mandatory in-person attendance. The delivery method of the course might have to change quickly in response to changes in the local state/national directive regarding in-person course attendance. 



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,
Sem 1 2020,
Sem 1 2021,
Sem 1 2022

Course Coordinator: Assoc Prof Peter Torley

Course Coordinator Phone: +61 3 9925 5095

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

Course Coordinator Location: 201.06.002

Course Coordinator Availability: By appointment. Please email for an appointment.


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 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.


Objectives/Learning Outcomes/Capability Development

Course Learning Outcomes (CLOs)

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

  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
  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
  3. Describe the quality attributes relevant to food processing, including process yield as a quality parameter, and sensory and instrumental quality measurement
  4. Apply systematic tools to identify the cause and solution to quality defects
  5. Understand the impact on product quality of the variability intrinsic in processing agricultural commodities into ingredients or finished food products
  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: 

  • Private study, which includes working through the course syllabus materials (online learning modules) 
  • Attending tutorials (online or in-person) where you will work on your team project 
  • Preparing quality documentation and documentation 
  • Online assessments providing opportunities for feedback on student progress and understanding  
  • Private study where you will work through the theory that was presented in lectures, and gaining practice at solving problems during the practical sessions

There will be approximately guided learning activities including: 

  • Tutorials 
  • Practicals

In addition, there will be team and individual learning activities including: 

  • 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 course syllabus materials in preparation for tests 


Overview of Learning Resources

The following learning resources will be made available: 

  • Recorded course syllabus presentations posted on the course Canvas site 
  • Worked examples and template quality documentation posted on the Canvas site

There is no textbook 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 – Develop a food quality manual

Weighting 50% 

This assessment task contributes to CLOs 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 


Assessment 2 – Reporting on Quality Testing 

Weighting 30% 

This assessment task contributes to CLOs 1, 2, 4 and 6 


Assessment 3 – Online Knowledge Check

Weighting 20% 

This assessment task contributes to CLOs 1 to 6