FERMENTED FOODS MICROBIOLOGY
cod. 1004074

Academic year 2018/19
2° year of course - Second semester
Professor
Academic discipline
Microbiologia agraria (AGR/16)
Field
Discipline della tecnologia alimentare
Type of training activity
Characterising
42 hours
of face-to-face activities
6 credits
hub: -
course unit
in ITALIAN

Integrated course unit module: Food Microbiology

Learning objectives

The aim of the course is to enable students to autonomously draw conclusions about the effect of the presence and development of microorganisms with the technological aptitude of the virtuous micro-organisms involved in the transformation of foods by fermentation, in agreement with what is defined in the specific objectives of the Degree Course and the food microbiology area. For this reason the student will have to know the biological phenomena that are at the base of the use of virtuous microorganisms for the production of the main fermented foods.
At the end of the course, the student must be able to understand the principles underlying the interactions between process technology and microorganisms used in the production of healthy and high quality fermented foods. The acquired knowledge will allow the student to obtain suitable skills to control the development of microorganisms necessary for the production of fermented foods for both industrial and craft production. In particular, the student must be able to define the effects of guided and spontaneous fermentations in the production of fermented foods obtained with or without starter cultures distinguishing the role of microorganisms, in particular bacteria and yeasts, deliberately added by those naturally contaminating the raw material.
The student must be able to use the scientific language and the specific lexicon of food microbiology in an appropriate manner, demonstrating the ability to illustrate and transmit the acquired concepts in oral and written form.

Prerequisites

The minimum results expected from the first module “food microbiology” must be achieved. That is, it is necessary to have achieved at least 18/30 in the partial test of the first module

Course unit content

The first lessons are about general aspect relating to spontaneous or driven fermentation as food processing method.
The second part of the course covers the knowledge of the main players of the microbial fermentation: lactic acid bacteria and yeasts and their use as natural or selected starter
The third part of the course deals with the characteristics and microbial dynamics responsible for the production of the main fermented foods of animal and vegetable origin

Full programme

Fermentation as a method of food processing
Spontaneous and driven fermentation
Presence of microorganisms in fermented food: Lactic acid bacteria, yeast, natural and selected starter.
Microorganisms in dairy products: fermented milk, yogurt and cheeses.
The microbiological role in wine production. Yeast, lactic acid bacteria and mould in red win, white wine and special wine.
Role of microorganism involved in vinegar and balsamic vinegar production.
Microbiological role in bear production.
Microbiological role in meat fermentation.
The microbiological role in bread production, yeast and lactic acid bacteria.
Other vegetal fermented food: role of microorganisms in soia products,
olives, sauerkrauts,
Extractive fermentation: cacao

Bibliography

Giovanni Antonio Farris, Marco Gobbetti, Erasmo Neviani, Massimo Vincenzini “Microbiologia dei prodotti alimentari” (2012) Casa Editrice Ambrosiana ISBN: 978-88-08-18246-
Didactic material used during frontal lessons

Teaching methods

The teaching will be done through classroom lectures with the help of slides that will represent educational material, to complement the recommended text, made available on Elly in pdf format for students. The lessons include the discussion of examples of real cases
The slides will be made available before each topic teached

Assessment methods and criteria

At the end of the course the level of learning of the expected results will be verified for all the contents offered during the lessons, including the lessons of exercises. The learning verification of the SECOND MODULE will be carried out through a single partial test through a written exam. The written exam, to be carried out within 1 hour and 30 minutes, consists of three parts
• The first part consists of 10 questions that verify the knowledge of the fundamental concepts of the course. For this reason only if the answer to all the questions is correct, the following parts will be evaluated
• 2. The second part consists of 21 questions to assess the level of knowledge acquired in all the topics covered. Each correct answer is worth 1,5 points. The achievement of the sufficiency threshold of this second part is binding for the correction of the third part. The sufficiency of 18/30 is achieved with at least 12 correct answers. The vote achieved will weigh 70% on the voting of the first module
• The third part consists of an open-ended question in which the student must demonstrate that he is able to correctly express the acquired competence with the specific scientific language of food microbiology. The answer will be evaluated in 30ths. The vote achieved in this part will weigh 30% on the voting of the second module.
The achievement of 18/30 in this second module is necessary to pass the integrated exam. The rating obtained (if higher than 18/30) will weigh 50% on the final grade of the integrated course

Other information

Lessons frequency is strongly encouraged