Environment and Workplace Prevention Techniques

Lesson 1 – Introduction and Fundamental Principles • Food, food components, essential nutrients. • Nutritional requirements, LARN (Recommended Nutrient Intakes for the Italian Population) and dietary guidelines. • Concepts of bioaccessibility and bioavailability. • Activity: introductory mini-quiz on dietary habits. Lesson 2 – Carbohydrates and Cereals • Chemical characteristics: mono-, oligo-, polysaccharides, and fibers. • Cereals (wheat, rice) and their derivatives. • Related pathologies (lactose intolerance, galactosemia, fructosemia). • Natural and synthetic sweeteners. • Activity: comparison of labels from cereal products and sweeteners. Lesson 3 – Proteins and Amino Acid Metabolism • Chemical structure, biological value, protein requirements. • Protein sources: meat, eggs, milk, legumes. • Protein hydrolysates. • Pathologies: phenylketonuria, histidinemia, hypertyrosinemia. • Celiac disease: causes, classifications, treatment. • Activity: analysis of clinical/metabolic case studies. Lesson 4 – Lipids and Dietary Fats • Chemical classification: fatty acids, triglycerides, phospholipids, sterols. • Nutritional role and requirements. • Focus on olive oil and butter (production, classification, quality). • Activity: comparison of labels from oils and fat-based condiments. Lesson 5 – Micronutrients and Toxicological Safety • Minerals, macroelements, microelements. • Water-soluble and fat-soluble vitamins. • Toxic elements (lead, cadmium, mercury, arsenic). • Activity: review of EFSA/Ministry case studies on contaminant limits. Lesson 6 – Food Processing and Preservation • Chemical reactions: lipid oxidation, Maillard reaction, fermentations. • Preservation techniques: thermal, physical, chemical, biological. • Impact on nutritional quality and safety. • Activity: discussion of real-life preservation examples (UHT, freezing). Lesson 7 – Food Safety and Risk Assessment • Chemical contaminants and additives: classification and permitted limits. • Food toxicology: dose, exposure, ADI, NOAEL. • Principles of food risk assessment. • Activity: simulated risk assessment (exposure calculation based on labeling). Lesson 8 – Labeling, Legislation, and Innovations • EU Regulation 1169/2011 (consumer information). • EC Regulation 1924/2006 (nutrition & health claims). • Novel foods, probiotics and prebiotics, functional foods. • Innovations: smart packaging, blockchain and traceability, circular economy. • Activity: group project – comparative label analysis and final discussion.

General and inorganic chemistry; organic chemistry; biochemistry

CABRAS-MARTELLI, Chimica degli alimenti, Ed. PICCIN 2023 CAPPELLI-VANNUCCHI, Principi di Chimica degli Alimenti, Ed. ZANICHELLI II edizione Fonti legislative: Principi di legislazione alimentare orizzontale, Pacchetto igiene e successiva evoluzione, Piano Nazionale Residui

Mandatory

Reasoning ability and study autonomy are the elements taken into consideration for the students evaluation. The exam, carried out in the form of an oral interview, is aimed at verifying the student's ability to evaluate, critically and in each aspect, the genuinity and safety of a food product from a chimical and microbiological point of view.

The aims of this course are mainly based on knowledge acquisition. For this reason, frontal lessons represent the principal way of teaching. During the lessons, the teacher verifies the reached degree of understanding promoting an active students participation regard to the proposed question, stimulating the mutual comparison and a critical attitude in evaluate actual problems such as toxicological safety, for example how prevent the food contamination on the basis of the knowledge of the main contaminants classes and their possible source. Particular attention is devoted to the consideration of only scientific data elaborated by the international scientific community.