FBMSFS: Applied Sensory and Flavour Science

Module code: FBMSFS

Module provider: Food and Nutritional Sciences; School of Chemistry, Food and Pharmacy

Credits: 20

Level: Postgraduate Masters

When you'll be taught: Semester 2

Module convenor: Dr Stella Lignou, email: s.lignou@reading.ac.uk

Module co-convenor: Dr Jane Parker, email: j.k.parker@reading.ac.uk

Pre-requisite module(s):

Co-requisite module(s):

Pre-requisite or Co-requisite module(s):

Module(s) excluded:

Placement information: NA

Academic year: 2024/5

Available to visiting students: Yes

Talis reading list: Yes

Last updated: 21 May 2024

Overview

Module aims and purpose

The module provides you with a comprehensive understanding of sensory science, its application to the assessment of the food and the underlying physiology and psychology behind perception.

You will work in a team to research, organise and implement strategies to solve a customer complaint and to prepare an individual report for the technical director, describing the problem, and making recommendations to control the process and prevent reoccurrence. 

Module learning outcomes

By the end of the module, it is expected that students will be able to:

1. Explain the physiological and psychological mechanisms which drive perception of food, from physical stimulant to the response outcome and critically assess the validity of sensory methodologies
2. Discuss the occurrence and mitigation of common industry taints
3. Select, design, conduct experiments to answer hypotheses
4. Review and evaluate data, abstraction of salient points

Module content

The following will be covered in lectures, practical classes and group work:

• The science behind sensory perception: the senses and cross-modal interactions
• Sensory methods (discrimination, descriptive, temporal, rapid descriptive and consumer methods)
• Running sensory panels (from recruitment and screening to training, maintenance, ethics, and health & safety)
• Characterisation of typical taints and off-notes
• Techniques for analysing taints and strategy for selecting appropriate techniques
• Common sources of taints in the food industry
• Case histories from the food industry

Structure

Teaching and learning methods

Students will master their knowledge in sensory science and flavour science by attending live lectures and practical classes. Independent learning skills and lateral thinking will be developed through wider independent reading including published research from TALIS reading list, Web of Science, textbooks, industry reports, etc. Students will be working in groups to select, design, conduct sensory tests and present their results for a given question. Through practical classes they will develop hands-on experience in analytical and affective sensory methods. By preparing and presenting their sensory experiment, they will consolidate and articulate their understanding on using sensory methods. Students will put into practice learnings from the lectures and other modules (FBMMSH, FBMC20) to undertake a case study. By working as a group, and including some role play, they will develop an overall strategy for solving a consumer complaint (based on a real case), from selecting the appropriate analytical techniques for identifying the taint to determining the origin of taint and discussing mitigation strategies. Through collaboration and discussion, they will deepen their understanding by engaging in dialogue and debate with their peers. One seminar will be dedicated to helping the students learn how to extract only the relevant information from a wealth of data provided, abstract the salient points, summarise, interpret, and display their data and decide how to communicate their recommendations to a non-specialist technical director. 

Study hours

At least 59 hours of scheduled teaching and learning activities will be delivered in person, with the remaining hours for scheduled and self-scheduled teaching and learning activities delivered either in person or online. You will receive further details about how these hours will be delivered before the start of the module.

Please note the independent study hours above are notional numbers of hours; each student will approach studying in different ways. We would advise you to reflect on your learning and the number of hours you are allocating to these tasks.

Semester 1 The hours in this column may include hours during the Christmas holiday period.

Semester 2 The hours in this column may include hours during the Easter holiday period.

Summer The hours in this column will take place during the summer holidays and may be at the start and/or end of the module.

Assessment

Requirements for a pass

Students need to achieve an overall module mark of 50% to pass this module.

Summative assessment

Penalties for late submission of summative assessment

The Support Centres will apply the following penalties for work submitted late:

Assessments with numerical marks

• where the piece of work is submitted after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): 10% of the total marks available for that piece of work will be deducted from the mark for each working day (or part thereof) following the deadline up to a total of three working days;
• the mark awarded due to the imposition of the penalty shall not fall below the threshold pass mark, namely 40% in the case of modules at Levels 4-6 (i.e. undergraduate modules for Parts 1-3) and 50% in the case of Level 7 modules offered as part of an Integrated Masters or taught postgraduate degree programme;
• where the piece of work is awarded a mark below the threshold pass mark prior to any penalty being imposed, and is submitted up to three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline), no penalty shall be imposed;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension to the deadline): a mark of zero will be recorded.

Assessments marked Pass/Fail

• where the piece of work is submitted within three working days of the deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): no penalty will be applied;
• where the piece of work is submitted more than three working days after the original deadline (or any formally agreed extension of the deadline): a grade of Fail will be awarded.

The University policy statement on penalties for late submission can be found at: https://www.reading.ac.uk/cqsd/-/media/project/functions/cqsd/documents/qap/penaltiesforlatesubmission.pdf

You are strongly advised to ensure that coursework is submitted by the relevant deadline. You should note that it is advisable to submit work in an unfinished state rather than to fail to submit any work.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment is any task or activity which creates feedback (or feedforward) for you about your learning, but which does not contribute towards your overall module mark.

Feedback will be provided after a 4-min individual presentation on a given taint (4 per group) during S2 Teaching Week 8. After each of the 3 workshops (S2 teaching weeks 10, 11, 12) the groups will each submit their proposed experimental design and will receive at least one round of feedback before the next session.

Reassessment

Additional costs