Section: Food Chemistry Activities | Food Science and Engineering Resources

Section: Food Chemistry Activities | Food Science and Engineering Resources | OpenDesk

Food Chemistry Activities

Topic
This set of activities was originally developed as 'at-home' food chemistry activities for external students in the CHE2810 Food Chemistry course at the University of Southern Queensland in 2018. In 2020 this kind of approach became more important! Although our students are provided with the lab kit items, this work can be replicated with resourcing in school laboratories or at home.
Please contact Polly Burey at Polly.Burey@usq.edu.au for advice on how to modify this to suit your classroom.
- Moisture (water) content analysis File
  
  Simple activity. Can extend into explaining water activity as well. Appropriate for Year 10 upwards depending on level of fundamental content is added.
- Analysing starch and glucose in food File
  
  Potentially suitable for Year 7/8 upwards. Can extend further into other analyses. Will need to explain that glucose is one sugar type present in food so if it is less than as labelled, this would indicate the presence of other sugar types. Dependent on glucose strip type students will need access to the colour image scale.
- Simple fat content analysis URL
  
  This video can be used to teach students how to write up an experimental protocol and do a risk assessment. Because this was designed to be an at-home experiment for students it was deemed not compulsory as safety procedures cannot be guaranteed without supervision. It could still be done in a supervised lab, samples will need to evaporate in a fumehood.
- pH of foods URL
  
  This short video covers some protocols for prepping solid and semi-solid foods too. For solid foods pH paper can be pressed against the surface OR the food can be blended and then tested. I do realise this needs to be re-filmed due to blurriness at full screen and this will be done in future :)