FDSC10010

Source: https://hub.ucd.ie/usis/!W_HU_MENU.P_PUBLISH?p_tag=MODULE&MODULE=FDSC10010&TERMCODE=202500&ACYR=2026 Parent: https://hub.ucd.ie/usis/!W_HU_MENU.P_PUBLISH?p_tag=COURSE&MAJR=UAS1&AUDIENCE=

Academic Year 2025/2026

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Food Diet and Health (FDSC10010)

Subject: : Food Science

College: : Health & Agricultural Sciences

School: : Agriculture & Food Science

Level: : 1 (Introductory)

Credits: : 5

Module Coordinator: : Dr Daniel Hurley

Trimester: : Autumn and Spring (separate)

Mode of Delivery: : Online

Internship Module: : No

How will I be graded? : Letter grades

Curricular information is subject to change.

This module will introduce students to the principles and understanding of Healthy Eating Guidelines and Food Science, with a particular emphasis on the composition and manufacture of key food and beverage commodities, Food Safety (including microbial and non-microbial contamination of foods), and Nutrition-related issues (such as food choice and obesity).\ \ This module will be delivered entirely online. Online video lectures, accompanied by notes, will be released weekly. Students are requested to watch and read the lecture material independently and then submit questions or queries each week for a scheduled online live classroom, where questions and issues raised will be addressed.

About this Module

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What will I learn?

Learning Outcomes:

On completion of this module students should be able to: \ Describe the principle and basis of healthy eating guidelines. \ Understand healthy eating guidelines and role of nutrients in health and disease. \ Describe the manufacture of key food and beverage products. \ Demonstrate an awareness of the contribution of these foods to a healthy diet. \ Know the chemistry underlying the properties and reactions of various food components and know the unit operations required to produce a given food product.\ Identify key food safety issues. \ Know some of important pathogens and spoilage microorganisms in foods and the conditions under which they will grow. \ Identify the conditions, including sanitation practices, under which the important pathogens and spoilage microorganisms are commonly inactivated, killed or made harmless in foods.\ Be aware of current topics of importance to the food industry.

Indicative Module Content:

This module is split into 4 sections:\ • Nutrition\ • Food Science\ • Food Safety\ \ The lecture topics covered include:\ • Food Pyramid – The science and details of the current healthy eating guidelines\ • Dietary Reference Values – How do we know how much of each nutrient we should be eating\ • Food Labelling – How to read and understand food labels.\ • Macronutrients – Understand the function and requirements for carbohydrate, fat and protein\ • Vitamins 1 – Understand the function and requirements for water soluble vitamins \ • Vitamins 2 - Understand the function and requirements for fat soluble vitamins \ • Dairy: Milk composition – What is in milk and why is it important for health \ • Dairy: Principles of dairy processing – What processing does milk undergo and why? \ • Dairy: Cheese manufacture – Principles of making cheese \ • Meat, Diet and Health – Understanding what is in milk and how its consumption can effect health \ • Meat Quality – What are the factors that influence meat quality \ • Meat Product Manufacture – How to make meat products such as ham and sausages. \ • Food Safety – How and why we need to keep our food safe for consumption \ • Body Composition /Obesity – What is obesity and how do we measure it. \ • Food Choice – What factors influence food choice? \ • Functional foods – What is a functional food and how does it affect our health? \ Fad diets – What is a fad diet, examples explained.

How will I learn?

Student Effort Hours:

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Approaches to Teaching and Learning:

This module is taught using a flipped classroom model – this means the content for each interactive class is given in advance and the time spent in classroom is used to go over the material you have already studied and/or answer any questions that you have. A flipped classroom allows you to learn in your own time and at your own pace. Giving you the material in advance allows us, the lecturers, time to give you more one-on-one instruction as well as giving you the opportunity to ask questions about the content you found confusing or difficult. \ \ In addition to being in a flipped classroom format, this module is also delivered completely online – this means, rather than having your questions answered in a traditional lecture theatre, we will use an online classroom facility in Blackboard. You will simply log in to Blackboard and click on the link to the live classroom in the module where you will see and hear the lecturer and be able to view a presentation being discussed. You will be able to ask questions in this online classroom just as you do in a traditional lecture theatre. \ \ So, what does this mean for you as a student on this module? \ • You are responsible for watching the online videos / reading lecture material each week. \ • You need to note any questions you have on this material and post these in the discussion board in Blackboard each week. These will be addressed in the online classroom with by the relevant lecturer. \ • You will attend and participate in the scheduled online classroom each week. \

Am I eligible to take this module?

Requirements, Exclusions and Recommendations

Not applicable to this module.

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Module Requisites and Incompatibles

Not applicable to this module. \  \

How will I be assessed?

Assessment Strategy

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Carry forward of passed components

No

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What happens if I fail?

Please see Student Jargon Buster for more information about remediation types and timing. \

Assessment feedback

Feedback Strategy/Strategies

• Online automated feedback\

How will my Feedback be Delivered?

Students will receive a grade on completion of each of the online MCQ. Feedback will then be given at a class level in terms of topics / areas of the MCQ that caused issues or we answered incorrectly by a significant amount of the cohort. Feedback on individual questions will not be given.

When is this module offered?

Timetabling information is displayed only for guidance purposes, relates to the current Academic Year only and is subject to change.

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