94088 - Sensory Traits as Quality Descriptors for Animal Foods Ffrom Land and Waters.

Course contents

Main foods of animal origin.


The concept of quality applied to the various products of animal origin.


Quality as a function of the product's destination.


Meat and meat products: Cutting of carcasses, commercial classification and valorization of cuts. Transformation of muscle into meat. Influence of pre- and post-slaughter treatments on the quality of the carcass, cuts and meat. Meat anomalies and main causes. Classification of meat products (fresh meat, meat preparations, meat-based products). Sensory, organoleptic and technological characteristics of the meat of various animal species and evaluation methods.


Milk and milk products: composition, nutritional value, suitability for cheesemaking and types of products on the market. Methods of hygienic-health, chemical, technological and sensory evaluation of milk.


Eggs: traceability and labeling. Organoleptic-nutritional, hygienic-health characteristics and factors that influence them. Commercial classification of eggs and quality evaluation methods. Main functional properties of eggs (whipping capacity, coagulant power, emulsifying power, colouring power and aromatic power). Definition of egg products and legal requirements. Main egg processing technologies (shelling, pasteurization, concentration and dehydration).


Basic knowledge of the physiological mechanisms underlying sensory perception. Knowledge of the main sensory evaluation techniques applied to different food products, in order to compare and judge their quality and their changes during storage.

Readings/Bibliography

Igiene e Tecnologie degli Alimenti”. Autore: Giampolo Colavita. Editore: PVI Accademia. 2023. ISBN: 978-88-99-21179-0 - disponibile in biblioteca Ercolani

Lawrie’s Meat Science. Edited by Fidel Toldrà. Elsevier LTD. ISBN: 978-0- 08-100694-8.

Alais D. Scienza del latte. Edizione italiana a cura di Ivano De Noci. Tecniche Nuove

Teaching methods

T

Assessment methods

“Traditional” examination: students have to take a 25-30 min. oral examination, during which they are expected to answer two to three questions related to quality problems (and how to prevent/solve them) in meat, seafoods, milk, honey and pertinent derived products.

In details, here is the possible score grid for oral examinations I would like to adopt in the near future:

- a very thorough knowledge of the topics addressed in the course, together with high skills of critical analysis, connection and a sure command of specific terminology will be evaluated with the maximum score (30-30L);

- a thorough knowledge of the topics addressed in the course, together with good analytical and critical skills and the possession of a sure command of specific terminology will be evaluated with good marks (27-29);

- a technically adequate preparation and a sufficient analytical capacity, even if not particularly articulated, expressed in a correct language, will produce fair evaluations (23-26);

- sufficient preparation and capacity for analysis, expressed in a language which is barely formally correct, will determine the sufficiency (18-22).

As an alternative, students are allowed to prepare and discuss a sound technical report around a complex issue concerning animal foods quality, provided the central theme has been previously selected together with the teacher. Instructions to be followed as well as excellent examples will be made available timely.

Teaching tools

Videoprojector, PC, laboratories.

Office hours

See the website of Luca Sardi