To enable the students to analyse and understand food production chains and the interdependence of the parts of these. The focus is on understanding the interactions between production, quality, raw material properties and rheology as well as mass and energy balance, process design, production planning and innovation aspects on a basic level. En studerende, der fuldt ud har opfyldt kursets mål, vil kunne:

• Analyse a food production chain and identify safety, quality and planning issues, and the interactions between these and process operations.
• Apply mass and energy balance related to the unit operations.
• Apply process analysis to overview a production chain from raw material to consumer.
• Define innovation and explain different innovation models.
• Describe the elements of an innovation process in a food company
• Describe the major parameters that influence the quality of food.
• Evaluate where in the value chain optimisation in relation to quality can be addressed.
• Validate solutions to practical problems using quantitative and qualitative methods.
• Identify raw material properties of importance to the final product.
• Make a concise oral presentation of a technical matter.
• Give constructive feedback to contribution from other course participants.
• Write (as team-work) a technical report suitable for decision making in a company.

The course aims to teach the student how to understand and analyse the basic interactions along food production chains. The interactions concern quality and production planning all of which must be considered as integral in order to make proper production planning and design. Problems will be analysed and solutions suggested by teams. Team work is central in the course, and the teams will study cases that exemplify a wide range of common issues in various steps associated to food production. Furthermore, separate elements are included such as process technology, bottlenecks and other challenges for the food industry as well as innovation and presentation techniques. If possible, excursions will be arranged to relevant actors in the food sector. Guest lectures are an important part of the course. Kurset er obligatorisk på kandidatuddannelsen i Fødevareteknologi 26. oktober, 2016