Understanding Food from Field to Function II (NUTR230)

Students create a digital, interactive visualisation tracking the flow of specific nutrients (not just foods) through a regional food system. For example, mapping protein quality and availability across a dairy production network, or tracing micronutrient preservation in grain production and processing. The map must identify critical points where nutritional value is enhanced or diminished, quantify nutritional changes, and analyse how alternative approaches could improve nutritional outcomes. Students must incorporate bioavailability considerations and identify populations at nutritional risk within the mapped system.

In this assessment students trace a specific food product (e.g., a specific fruit or vegetable or oil product) from production to consumption, creating a multimedia portfolio documenting how its nutritional profile changes at each stage. The assessment requires detailed analysis of nutrient retention/loss during processing, bioavailability factors affecting absorption, and how different production methods impact macro and micronutrient content. Students must quantitatively assess nutritional density at each stage and evaluate how processing methods could be optimised to enhance nutritional outcomes while addressing regulatory and sustainability considerations.

In small groups, students analyse a current nutritional controversy related to one of the unit's food groups (e.g., seed vs. olive oil, organics vs inorganic fresh produce). Each group creates a comprehensive evidence-based analysis that evaluates the physiological mechanisms involved, examines the quality of scientific evidence, considers agricultural production factors that might influence the nutritional variables, and addresses regulatory implications. Students must specifically evaluate how the controversy affects dietary recommendations and consumer nutritional outcomes.

3 Food for Thought Quizzes

Quizzes based on the unit reading material