FST 110L - Food Processing Laboratory

(2 units) Spring Quarter

Prerequistes: FST 50;

A. Student Learning Outcomes - listed on syllabus as “Course Objectives”

  • To describe food processing in terms of unit operations, both conceptually and in the pilot plant
  • To understand the use of mass and energy balances for food processing
  • To gain experience with common food processing equipment at the pilot plant scale
  • To gain proficiency in the use of computers (i.e., spreadsheets) to solve food science problems
  • To work effectively in teams

To apply critical thinking skills to new food processing situations

B. Tools to addresses outcomes - listed on syllabus as “Grading”

Lab conduct & safety: 20% Lab reports: 80%

C. Brief summary of assessment results to date

FST 110L Food Processing Laboratory exercises provide practical application of the theoretical concepts acquired in the associated lecture course, FST 110 Food Processing. Both courses are restricted to Food Science majors and are taken in the Fall quarter of Year 4 after completion of prerequisites: one year of calculus, one year of physics, and FST 50 Introduction to Food Preservation (lecture/lab).

FST 110L has been offered twice in our recently revised curriculum. To focus on quantitative aspects of the course, laboratory format has been streamlined (e.g., computation-oriented). Both effort and performance are evaluated. Lab reports are the performance evaluation at 80% and are graded “straight scale”; lab conduct & safety are the effort evaluation at 20% of the course grade. In Fall 2013, the average course grade was 94.4 ± 6.4 (one standard deviation).