Food Science & Technology: Courses: Outlines: FOOD2320/2627 Food Microbiology

FOOD1230/1777 - Food Choice: Psychology, Preference and Acceptability

SESSION 2, 2006

Course staff
General course information
- Outline
- Course objectives
- Requisite knowledge and relationships to other courses
- Target students and career prospects
- Structure
Assessment
- Weighting of assessment tasks
- Details of tasks
  - Progress examinations
  - Practical examination
  - Final examination
Lecture and laboratory program
Resources
- Texts

Attendance
Late submission
Plagiarism

Course staff

Name	Location	Phone	Fax	Email
Dr Jane Paton	Room 113 Building C8a	9385 4368	9385 5966	j.paton@unsw.edu.au

Dr Paton is the convenor for the course, and serves as the primary contact in relation to any questions you may have regarding the course.

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General course information

Outline

This course will investigate the factors influencing food choice, which provide a rational basis for the design,
development and marketing of new processing technologies and food products. It is aimed at students with
interests in food and human behaviour.

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Student Learning Outcomes

At the end of this course the student will be able to:

describe the physiological, psychological and genetic factors controlling food intake and food preferences.
list and discuss environmental factors affecting food acceptance, food consumption and food choice.
apply knowledge of age, gender, cultural, socio-economic and religious influences to the design of education,
product development and marketing strategies.
relate factors affecting food intake and food choice to problems prevalent in modern societies such as obesity,
diabetes and eating disorders.

Teaching Philosophy and Strategy

This course gives an insight into the link between human behaviour and food preferences and food selection. It investigates the factors that underpin what foods we like or dislike, factors that direct purchasing behaviours and what factors can be utilised to alter behaviours.

Lectures will introduce a number of factors that have been identified as being significant to human behaviour with respect to food preferences and selection. Students will be able to investigate their own issue relating to food preference through a self-directed survey, as well as explore the expanding areas of research into food acceptance and preferences by selecting a topic of interest and presenting a seminar to their fellow students.

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Requisite knowledge and relationships to other courses

There are no formal prerequisites for this course.

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Target students and career prospects

Given its generic nature almost any student in university would find this course both interesting and of great
value especially if you area of study relates to food, food practices or human behaviour.

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Structure

The course consists of:

2 hours/week lecture/tutorial, Tuesday 2-4pm, Applied Science Building, M07A
2 hours/week lecture/tutorial, Wednesday 10-midday, Room 304, Mechanical Engineering.

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Assessment

This subject consists of 12 units. There will also be three group assignments, with one assignment including an oral presentation. Each student will submit two individual assignments. Quizzes for each topic will be available on WebCT for one week only after completion of the topic. Students will receive a mark based on the number of quizzes attempted. There will also be two spot quizzes during the session that will be based on material used in the WebCT quizzes. There is no formal examination. The loading for each section is as follows:

Weighting of assessment tasks

Item	Weighting
Group exercises (including peer assessment of group seminar)	40%
Quizzes	20%
Individual exercise	40%

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Texts and reference materials

There is no single textbook that covers either the spectrum of the lectures in this course. Lecture material will be released onto the Classroom 2000 website after each lecture/tutoral.

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Lecture and Laboratory Program

The program for this course is below. The timing and content are approximate and may vary slightly. See table in other attachment.

Date	Lecture topic/s
Week 1	Introduction to the course. Pyschobiology of food intake.
Week 2	Pyschobiology of food intake
Week 3	Physiology of taste and smell
Week 4	Physiology of taste and smell
Week 5	Psychology of food intake and food preferences
Week 6	Genetic influences on food intake and food preferences Assignment work
Week 7	Gender issues in food preferences and selection Seminars
Week 8	Influence of age and life stage on food preferences and selection Seminars
Week 9	Cultural influences on food preferences and selection Seminars
NO CLASS - MID-SESSION BREAK
Week 10	Socio-economic influences on food preferences and choices Seminars
Week 11	Effect of mood, food fads, food habits and taboos on food choice Seminars
Week 12	Assignment work
Week 13	Influence of media and marketing on food preference and selection Relationship of eating behaviours to eating disorders
Week 14	Food Choice, sensory evaluation and product development

Course administration

Attendance and absence

The policies in Food Science and Technology on attendance at classes and absence from or failure to submit assessment tasks reflect the policies provided in the UNSW Student Guide. Students who fail to attend at least 80% of classes may be refused permission to sit for examinations or marking/grading of other forms of assessment. Consideration of non-attendance at classes and/or non-completion of assessment tasks will be given to students who experience genuine and properly documented cases of hardship, such as recent bereavement or serious illness. The process by which consideration is granted is documented in the UNSW Student Guide.

Equity and Diversity

Students with disabilities that may affect their ability to learn or participate actively within the teaching environment are advised to discuss their needs with the course coordinator or the Equity Officer (Disability) in the Equity and Diversity Unit (9385 4734 or www.equity.unse.edu.au/disabil.htm). Issues such as access to material, additional exam and assessment arrangements etc. should be discussed as early as possible to enable any adjustments to be made.

Submission of assignments

Assignments must be submitted by the due date, unless another date is negotiated with the academic coordinator of the course. Assignments should be submitted with a completed assignment cover sheet, available from the Homepage of this Food Science and Technology website.

Assignments will not be accepted via e-mail. Students should always make a hard copy of their work as computer and printing difficulties will not be accepted as valid reasons for late submissions or extensions. The assignments should be placed in the assignment box located outside of the CEIC School office (Room 317) on the 3^rd floor of the Applied Science Building by 9.00 am on the due date. Late submissions will have marks removed (5% per day). Assignments can be mailed in by a due date, however the package must be date marked and an extra copy must retained by the student in case of posting problems.

Academic misconduct (plagiarism)

Plagiarism policy

Plagiarism is the presentation of the thoughts or work of another as one's own.*

Examples include:

direct duplication of the thoughts or work of another, including by copying material, ideas or concepts from a book, article, report or other written document (whether published or unpublished), composition, artwork, design, drawing, circuitry, computer program or software, web site, Internet, other electronic resource, or another person's assignment without appropriate acknowledgement;
paraphrasing another person's work with very minor changes keeping the meaning, form and/or progression of ideas of the original;
piecing together sections of the work of others into a new whole;
presenting an assessment item as independent work when it has been produced in whole or part in collusion with other people, for example, another student or a tutor; and,
claiming credit for a proportion a work contributed to a group assessment item that is greater than that actually contributed. **

Submitting an assessment item that has already been submitted for academic credit elsewhere may also be considered plagiarism. Knowingly permitting your work to be copied by another student may also be considered to be plagiarism. An assessment item produced in oral, not written form, or involving live presentation, may similarly contain plagiarised material.

The inclusion of the thoughts or work of another with attribution appropriate to the academic discipline does not amount to plagiarism.

Students are reminded of their Rights and Responsibilities in respect of plagiarism, as set out in the University Undergraduate and Postgraduate Handbooks, and are encouraged to seek advice from academic staff whenever necessary to ensure they avoid plagiarism in all its forms.

The Learning Centre website is the central University online resource for staff and student information on plagiarism and academic honesty. It can be located at:

www.lc.unsw.edu.au/plagiarism

The Learning Centre also provides substantial educational written materials, workshops, and tutorials to aid students, for example, in:

correct referencing practices;
paraphrasing, summarising, essay writing, and time management;
appropriate use of, and attribution for, a range of materials including text, images, formulae and concepts.

Individual assistance is available on request from The Learning Centre.

Students are also reminded that careful time management is an important part of study and one of the identified causes of plagiarism is poor time management. Students should allow sufficient time for research, drafting, and the proper referencing of sources in preparing all assessment items.

* Based on that proposed to the University of Newcastle by the St James Ethics Centre. Used with kind permission from the University of Newcastle.

** Adapted with kind permission from the University of Melbourne.

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