Courses in the Bachelor’s Program
We are responsible for several core courses in the Bachelor’s degree program in Food Science. These courses cover essential chemical, analytical, and methodological aspects and provide a solid foundation for further studies and practical work in food-related professions.
Food Chemistry I & II
The lectures Food Chemistry I and II form a coordinated unit and convey the descriptive chemistry of food components. The focus lies on the structure, properties, and reactivity of the major constituents of food – particularly proteins, lipids, and carbohydrates.
A key goal is to understand how chemical reactions – such as the Maillard reaction, lipid oxidation, or enzymatic browning – affect food quality. Processing, storage, and preparation can influence color, flavor, aroma, texture, and nutritional value, both intentionally and unintentionally. The lectures build cross-links to analytical methods, food technology, and nutritional physiology, and include changing food chemistry topics such as baking, aroma compounds, alcoholic beverages, or bioactive substances.
Learning Objectives:
- Identify and draw the structures and functional groups of food constituents
- Understand foods as complex systems and explain structure-function relationships
- Understand and formulate chemical reactions (e.g., Maillard reaction, lipid oxidation, enzymatic browning) and assess their effects on food quality
Food Analysis I
This course provides an introduction to fundamental methods in food analysis, including titrimetry, spectroscopy/spectrometry, chromatography, and enzymatic analysis. Beyond the techniques themselves, the course also emphasizes the analytical process as a whole and the evaluation of analytical methods.
Learning Objectives:
- Understand the analytical process as a whole and explain its key steps
- Know and critically compare various food analytical methods
- Justify the selection of specific methods for particular analytical questions
Food Chemistry Laboratory
This laboratory course complements the lectures and offers a hands-on introduction to analytical work in the lab. Students learn core techniques in food analysis, including:
- Titrimetry
- UV/Vis spectrometry
- Thin-layer, HPLC, and gas chromatography
- Enzymatic analysis
- Nitrogen determination according to Kjeldahl
Learning Objectives:
- Independently apply key methods of food analysis
- Generate and analyze experimental results and compile them into scientific reports
- Critically evaluate scientific reports
Scientific Work in Food Science
This course introduces students to the fundamentals of scientific work. It focuses on the methodological support of scientific projects – from literature research and scientific writing (in German and English) to the development of a scientific poster.
Learning Objectives:
- Acquire methodological knowledge for planning, documenting, and communicating scientific projects
- Apply conventions of scientific writing in the natural sciences
- Find and evaluate relevant literature in catalogues and databases, and cite sources correctly
- Design and create a scientific poster in small groups