This Course Guide has been taken from the most recent presentation of the course. It would be useful for reference purposes but please note that there may be updates for the following presentation.
SCI S404
Advanced Topics in Food and Health Sciences
SCI S404 is a five-credit, one-semester Higher level course. It is offered by the School of Science and Technology, andis a core course for the BSc programme with honours in the Applied Science (Biology and Chemistry).
SCI S404 is designed for students of varying backgrounds who are primarily majoring in biology and chemistry, and who aim to explore food science and health-related issues. Knowledge of foundational science or the equivalent is therefore strongly recommended for this course.
The purpose of the course is to help students attain knowledge of advanced research areas in food and health sciences in the contemporary world, as well as to develop students' independent abilities in academic analysis and presentation skills through various learner-based projects.
There are three emphases throughout the course: the role of nutrition; food safety; and the global challenges related to food and health. After being introduced to the basic concepts of nutrition and discussing worldwide threats to food safety, students are expected to be able to convey their own thoughts in related disciplines effectively and professionally.
Mode of delivery
SCI S404 will be delivered in the blended learning mode. The study units will be delivered in printed form, and the course includes readings from an e-book and other online resources, including some from Hong Kong government websites.
Course aims
SCI S404 Advanced Topics in Food and Health Sciences aims to:
Learning outcomes
Upon completion of SCI S404 Advanced Topics in Food and Health Sciences, students should be able to:
Course organization
| Unit | Title | Study time (weeks) | Assignment |
| 1 | The roles of nutrition and a healthful diet | 3 | |
| 2 | Food safety and regulations | 3 | Assignment 1 (Units 1–2) |
| 3 | Functional foods and health | 4 | |
| 4 | Advanced food processing technology | 3 | |
| 5 | Selected topics in contemporary food science | 3 | Assignment 2 (Units 3-5) |
| Total | 16 |
There are two assignments for the course. Students are required to submit all of them. (For details, please refer to the section 'Assignments' later in this Course Guide.)
Course Guide
This Course Guide for SCI S404 explains how the course is organized and how you can best approach the course. The Course Guide has already covered and reviewed course aims and objectives, and it will also review the types of study materials and the IT equipment and skills needed on the course.
Study units
There are five study units in this course. In addition, journal and review articles will be provided as references for the discussion of contemporary issues in food and health sciences.
The five units in the course address nutrition and diet (Unit 1), food safety and regulations (Unit 2), functional foods and health (Unit 3), advanced food technology (Unit 4) and selected topics in contemporary food and nutritional science (Unit 5). Each study unit is broken down into a number of topics. Each topic will provide a list of key concepts, discussion of the topic, and activities and self-test questions. Case studies adopted from HKSAR government will also be discussed. At the end of each unit suggested answers are provided for self-test questions and sometimes activities.
In addition to the study units and assignments, a final examination will be used to assess students' comprehension and understanding of the principles of contemporary food and health sciences.
Unit 1 The roles of nutrition and a healthful diet
Have you ever heard the old adage 'we are what we eat'? In the past, people just knew that consuming food was the only way to survive. But nowadays, especially in developed countries, people believe that different eating habits will shape different kinds of people, and may be the key to disease prevention. Trends in healthcare therefore are moving towards the goal of 'healthy eating'.
Unit 2 Food safety and regulations
In this unit we will focus on food microbiology and food toxicology to convey the biological and chemical aspects of food contamination. We will also discuss strategies that the government and other stakeholders apply to try to maintain public health.
Unit 3 Functional foods and health
This unit introduces you to the role of functional foods in the food industry. It is important to ensure that there is sound scientific evidence for the usefulness of functional foods before putting any claims on labels. Functional foods have been developed for the sake of human health. This unit can help you to understand that the regulation of food labelling and claims is done to ensure that consumers obtain sufficient information before purchasing or consuming and items.
Unit 4 Advanced food processing technology
Have you ever wondered about the refrigerator in your home? It seems that putting food into the fridge to prevent food spoilage is common sense. In fact, it is the best example of how technology becomes part of our daily lives. Of course nowadays food technology is not just limited to refrigeration and freezing. There are many techniques for keeping food fresh and safe. In this unit, we will briefly overview the development of such food technologies. We will also discuss several state-of-art food technologies such as nanotechnology and genetically modified food that may help to accommodate the ever-increasing demands on our food supply.
Unit 5 Selected topics in contemporary food science
After covering nutrition, food safety, functional foods, and technology, students should be equipped with general concepts related to how food science influences our daily lives. But there are many techniques and much knowledge still waiting to be discovered. In this unit, we select several notable topics from previous units and elaborate their specific contents through the use of cases:
Topic 1: Phytochemicals
Topic 2: Food safety
Topic 3: Food technology
Topic 4: Water and health
Topic 5: Integrated topic
Nutrition Information on Food Labels, Centre for Food Safety, Food and Environmental Hygiene Department, HKSAR Government: http://www.cfs.gov.hk/english/whatsnew/whatsnew_act/whatsnew_act_19_Nutrition_Labelling_Scheme.html
Risk assessment reports published by Centre of Food Safety, Hong Kong Government: http://www.cfs.gov.hk
Central Health Education Unit, Department of Health, HKSAR Government: https://www.chp.gov.hk/tc/index.html
Shen-nong Limited (Education: Traditional Chinese Medicine): http://www.shen-nong.com/eng/front/index.html
Institute of Food Technology: http://www.ift.org
The Food Technology Magazines, Institute of Food Technology, the United States: http://www.ift.org
National Center for Biotechnology Information Online and multimedia materials: http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
Peer reviewed journals including Annual Review of Nutrition, Critical Reviews in Food Science and Nutrition, Journal of epidemiology and community health, American Journal of Epidemiology and related articles and reviews.
The study units for SCI S404 Advanced Topics in Food and Health Sciences will be delivered as printed materials. The units will also be posted as PDF files on the OLE. In addition to the study units, students will be required to read through an e-book and the articles and materials provided in or referred to in the units, and access the accompanying online resources.
Print materials
Readings
You may be instructed in the study units to read articles or other supplementary materials. These will be available online or provided as hard copies at the backs of the study units.
Excerpts from the following sources will be integrated into the SCI S404 course materials as core readings:
For online readings referred to in the units, instead of typing in the URL, you can click the link in the online study unit provided in the OLE.
E-Library E-Reserve readings
You may be instructed to read articles or books in the E-Library E-Reserve. To read these items, go to the HKMU E-Library and click E-Reserve. Log in, click Accept/Agree on the Copyright Restrictions page, fill in the Course Code box, and click Search.
Online and multimedia materials
OLE
SCI S404 is supported by HKMU's Online Learning Environment (OLE). The course materials and latest course information will be delivered via the OLE. A discussion board also offers a platform for you to communicate with the tutor, Course Coordinator and other students.
Other online resources
Some units cover contemporary technologies and worldwide news on food and health science. Such resources are predominantly available on official government websites, and most of them are freely accessible.
Supplementary media
No supplementary media will be needed for SCI S404.
Equipment needed (IT resources)
Hardware:
Students will need access to a computer system suitable for connecting to the Internet. The recommended minimum computing requirements are:
Software:
Students will need access to a computer with Microsoft Windows XP/Vista/7 and a Web browser.
The assessment for SCI S404 comprises assignments and a final examination as the means of formal assessment of student performance. Assignments will serve as the continuous assessment component, and account for 50% of the overall course score (OCS). The final examination will be conducted at the end of the course, and will account for the other 50% of the OCS. To pass the course, students must obtain at least 40% or above on the overall continuous assessment score (OCAS), and 40% above in the overall exam score (OES) in the final examination.
Assignments
There are two assignments for the course. Since the assignments are important for students to secure the concepts they learn from the study units. Students are required to submit all the assignments. Upon receiving assignments from students, tutors are required to mark the assignments and return them to students with their comments and feedback.
Assignment 1 and Assignment 2 will comprise short essays that cover Units 1 to 5. Students will be required to perform a literature review on a specific topic (the details and topics for the review project will be listed in the Assignment File of the course materials).
Examination
At the end of the course students will be required to attend a final examination that will aim to test students' understanding and comprehension of the advanced topics in food and health sciences covered in the course. The examination will last for two hours. It will comprise a mixture of short- and long-question essays.
The assessment items are outlined in the following table.
| Assessment | Course area covered | Weighting |
| Assignment 1 | Units 1–2 | 25% |
| Assignment 2 | Units 3–5 | 25% |
| Final examination | All units | 50% |
| Total | 100% | |
There are two different kinds of student support in the course, including direct personal contact and support through electronic means.
Direct personal contact support
Direct personal contact support includes telephone tutoring, tutorials and surgeries.
Telephone tutoring
Each tutor will allocate four to six hours per week for answering telephone calls from students.
Tutorials
There will be four tutorial sessions in the course, totalling ten hours, involving a number of interactive learning activities. Supplementary materials for the activities in these meetings will also be supplied to the tutors.
Surgeries
As a supplement to the telephone tutoring and tutorials, the course also supplies surgery sessions that will be held every three or four weeks for a total of four surgeries spread out throughout the course.
Each surgery aims to prove a face-to-face consultation environment on individual students' study problem areas.
Electronic support
Online learning environment (OLE)
HKMU provides a Web-based online delivery system, the Online Learning Environment (OLE), to enhance the learning experience. The OLE provides an interactive learning environment for communication among students, tutors and the Course Coordinator. Details about the OLE will be available for students before the course commences.
Students may submit their study problems to their assigned tutor through email. This channel provides flexibility to both tutors and students in overcoming the limitations of telephone tutoring for solving more technical issues.
