Food Science and Nutrition, BSc (Hons)

As populations expand, optimizing resources for nutritious and healthy food production is essential. This accredited course integrates nutritional and food science, building expertise in food, nutrition, and physiology to elucidate the diet-health link. Students will explore the effects of food processing on nutritional value and quality, gain cutting-edge knowledge from international research, develop skills in sensory evaluation and product innovation, and utilize specialized labs for real-world projects. The program emphasizes applying science to create sustainable, safe foods through facilities like processing, quality control, microbiology, flavor, and sensory labs, while fostering industry connections.Opportunities include developing and presenting new food products in the third year, potentially entering competitions like Ecotrophelia, and optional placements such as a year in industry or a computer science module. The curriculum progresses from first-year introductions to nutrition, biochemistry, and sustainable food properties with company visits, to second-year studies on physiological responses, process engineering, and food preservation, culminating in a final-year research project and advanced topics in public health nutrition and flavor perception.

In the first year we’ll introduce you to nutrition and the biochemistry that explains the connection between nutrition and health. You’ll explore the chemical and physical properties of food materials and appreciate how to consider sustainable options. At the end of the year, we visit different food companies, so you can see how this is applied in real-life. In the second year, you'll examine how the body regulates responses to food, appetite and energy expenditure. You'll get a detailed understanding of process engineering. You will follow the whole process from the ingredients used to the final packaged food. You'll develop skills in sensory evaluation. Using techniques, you'll understand how to test consumer acceptance of new products. You'll study technical, scientific and engineering concepts in food spoilage, food preservation and food quality. In the final year you will carry out a unique research project supervised one-on-one by our academic team. You'll deepen your knowledge of public health nutrition. You'll study food flavour, looking at aroma, taste and texture perception. Using this knowledge, you'll work as a team to develop a new product to present to your peers and industry.