NFOK19002U Food Structure and Functional Ingredients

Volume 2026/2027
Education

MSc Programme in Food Science and Technology. 

 

Content
  1. Foods are structured materials that we destroy with our mouths. These structured materials are formed by different types of molecules (typically from plants and animals) that come together and organize themselves in different arrangements. In practice, we do not add molecules to the foods, but we add them in form of ingredients, those ingredients have a specific function depending on the molecules they are made from.
  2.  

In this course we will study food structures from molecules passing through ingredients, and all the way to the macroscopic structures that sit on our plates. The course follows four themes:

  1. 1. Food macromolecules and their structuring mechanism
  2. 2. The physical chemistry of foods
  3. 3. Techniques to characterize food structure
  4. 4. Structuring foods for the future.
  5.  
  6. Each theme will have 12h of lecture and 4h of exercise or in-class group work.
Learning Outcome

Knowledge:

  • Understanding of concepts of how macromolecules form food structures.
  • Knowledge of the interactions and forces that stabilizes and destabilizes colloidal systems and create and stabilize structure.
  • Understanding of phase diagrams and the theory behind phase diagrams.
  • Knowledge of physical chemistry concepts including surface chemistry and theory of surface tension.
  • Understanding how food ingredients are used in the industry to develop new food based on sustainability principles.
  •  Knowledge of techniques used to characterize food structure including rheology, microscopy, and scattering.

 

Skills:

  • Skills in presenting and explaining complex relations and theory and relating it to practical implications within food structure and stability.
  • Skills in applying theoretical concepts and making calculations.
  • Skills in selecting appropriate ingredients for specific applications, based on scientific principles.
  • Ability to theoretically evaluate ingredient functionality in food systems. 
  • Skills in using techniques to characterize food structure.

 

Competences:

  • Competences in analyzing data from experimental techniques to study properties of foods.

See Absalon for a list of course literature.

Qualifications within the field of basic chemistry, basic physical chemistry, and basic food chemistry on bachelor level is recommended.

Academic qualifications equivalent to second year of bachelor of food science and nutrition is recommended.
Lectures, group work, project, poster presentations, open discussion.
  • Category
  • Hours
  • Lectures
  • 64
  • Preparation
  • 109
  • Project work
  • 20
  • Seminar
  • 12
  • Exam
  • 1
  • Total
  • 206
Oral
Individual
Collective
Peer feedback (Students give each other feedback)
Credit
7,5 ECTS
Type of assessment
Oral examination, 20 min
Type of assessment details
Oral examination without preparation time. The examination takes its starting point in the poster produced by the students.
The student presents the poster. The presentation soon develops into a scientific conversation with the examiners. The examiners pose questions in the full curriculum and might include supplementary materials (graphs, tables, pictures and drawings).
Examination prerequisites

Students must prepare a poster based on their project and present the poster in a poster session.

Aid
No aids allowed
Marking scale
7-point grading scale
Censorship form
No external censorship
Several internal examiners
Re-exam

Same as ordinary exam.


If the student has not handed in a poster, the studen must produce a poster and hand it in three weeks prior to re-examination.

Criteria for exam assesment

See Learning Outcome