2024/25 Undergraduate Programme Catalogue

BSc Food Science

Total credits: 360

Entry requirements:

Entry Requirements are available on the Course Search entry

School/Unit responsible for the parenting of students and programme:

School of Food Science and Nutrition

Examination board through which the programme will be considered:

Relevant QAA Subject Benchmark Groups:

Agriculture, Horticulture, Forestry, Food, Nutrition and Consumer Sciences.

Professional Body Offering Accreditation:

IFST (Institute of Food Science and Technology)

Programme specification:

The information on this page is accurate for students entering the programme in 2023/2024 or before. For students entering the programme from September 2024 or after, you can find the details of your programme:

BSc Food Science (For students entering from September 2024 onwards)

Food science is a multidisciplinary subject that brings together the pure science subjects of chemistry, biology, physics and nutrition to the study of nature, sustainability, properties and composition of foods and the changes they undergo during storage and processing. Food scientists play an important role in understanding how raw materials are transformed into finished food products, ensuring that the food we eat is safe, good quality and meets our nutritional and dietary needs. Our food science degree will give you a solid understanding of the importance of food in human society – from challenging current issues in food production to applying scientific concepts to grasp the complex characteristics of food. Throughout the course, your studies will be guided by our internationally recognised cutting-edge research and innovation in food science. You will benefit from our strong collaborations and partnerships with industry, the commercial sector and the professional body Institute for Food Science and Technology (IFST) enabling you to develop the required literacies, skills and competencies that are relevant to your needs and ambitions as food scientist.
Throughout the course, you'll learn a combination of core food science topics, alongside a range of optional and skills development modules to give you the technical skills, specialist knowledge and professional experience you'll need for your future career. At the start of the course, you'll gain solid foundations in food and nutrition, exploring their relationship to health, including where food is sourced from and how that fits within a ‘sustainable' global food system framework. You'll also cover aspects key to providing a safe and healthy diet, including food preservation and sensory evaluation. Throughout the course, you will build on these foundations, and you will develop your knowledge of the science underpinning the relationships between food processing, nutritional analysis, food formation and quality and safety, investigating the operations used to preserve foods and the procedures used to produce everyday commodities. In addition to considering the issues surrounding the sustainability of ingredients and manufactured products, you'll also study the effects that food has on our health and wellbeing.
By the final year of your programme, you will explore more specific and specialised areas of current thinking in food science and reflect on how these can be applied to solve real-world local and global food challenges. We'll also encourage you to think creatively as a food scientist, designing your own food as part of an interdisciplinary team-based product development project and explore creative and innovative ways of designing food using specialist software.
Each year of this course is designed around a combination of compulsory core modules, which provide essential foundational subject-specific knowledge and skills. You'll also have the opportunity to explore a range of optional modules, further enhancing your understanding of many dimensions of food sciences and exploring areas of interest within the wider area of food and food systems.
In addition to subject-specific modules, we also offer a range of skills development modules that'll give you an insight into possible careers, the variety of professional roles that our food science graduates go into and how to enhance your employability. This continuous professional development, combined with the technical knowledge you'll develop through teaching and research activities, will not only ensure you have an exten sive skill set and knowledge in food science, but the confidence to apply them in the workplace once you graduate.
Discovery modules are available throughout your degree, as long as you're taking enough credits of your own subject for that year.
Each academic year, you'll take a total of 120 credits.
Year 1
In year 1, you'll develop a grounding in the core concepts in the field of food science. You'll explore different themes, including food sourcing and production within a sustainable food system, key food nutrients, food preparation and food safety, sensory aspects of food and human nutrition.
You'll also have opportunities to develop your laboratory and experimentation skills through laboratory work as well as transferable skills that are crucial for your success throughout the programme. Consequently, the portfolio of modules in your first year will allow you to gain insight into the origins of food, the role of food as a carrier of essential nutrients with specific roles in the body and appreciate how food and its constituent components affect health, which will set the foundation for your studies in subsequent years.
Year 2
In your second year, you'll deepen your knowledge of food science. Learning will focus on understanding the scientific basis of food such as food texture, flavour and taste by examining physical, chemical and other properties of foods. You'll be introduced to the theory behind food formulation, new product development and quality control, with an emphasis on the study of how food components affect the chemical and microbiological safety of food. You'll delve deeper into food processing, investigating all the stages involved in getting food from the farm to the shop, the quality and safety regulations and laws, how processing impacts the nutritional value of food and analysis of the nutritional value of foods.
What you're taught will be informed by recent developments in the area, e.g. application of colloid chemistry in plant-based products. During this year, we introduce problem-solving activities that relate to actual research or industrial situations, alongside learning the concepts and methodologies underpinning food science research. By working on new food product development and quality control, you'll further appreciate the role of a food scientist in the food industry and other related fields.
This year will provide a core programme of research and career skills training, which will build on key skills explored in year 1, including use of specialist software, careers knowledge and employability and professional aspects of food science roles in industry and other related settings.
Year 3
In your final year, you'll learn how to think creatively when it comes to developing foods, using specialist software when looking at innovation and design principles for foods. Working alongside your peers on an interdisciplinary food product development project, you'll explore the role of food scientists in developing and marketing new, healthy food ranges for food manufacturers. You'll apply your knowledge and skills to designing new foods, from concept through to formulation including processing, sensory evaluation, packaging and marketing. Your team project based on new product development (NPD) ends with a pitch to industry and nutritional experts.
A major part of our food science degree is your final year project work. Here, you'll undertake a real-life, independent capstone research study, together with experienced academics. The experience will develop your research and transferable skills, which are key to all graduate roles and career paths. You'll be given a choice of topics to investigate, which may include experimental or computational research.
One-year optional work placement or study abroad
During your course, you'll be given the opportunity to advance your skill set and experience further. You can apply to either undertake a one-year work placement working in an industry, ' interests, or studying food science at one of our partner universities worldwide, both of which provide valuable experience and personal development.
Both schemes add an additional year to the course, taking the total course length to 4 years.

Accredited by the Institute for Food Science and Technology
This accreditation signifies that Leeds offers the best possible food-related education, giving students the opportunity to develop the knowledge and skills necessary to enter into employment in the food industry, research, education and the public sector. Studying an accredited degree programme can help you to stand out to employers because it assures them that you meet the standards of the food profession.

Year1 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules

Discovery modules:

Candidates will be required to study 10 credits of discovery modules

Year2 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Discovery modules:

Candidates will be required to study 10 credits of discovery modules.

Year3 - View timetable

[Learning Outcomes, Transferable (Key) Skills, Assessment]

Compulsory modules:

Candidates will be required to study the following compulsory modules:

Optional modules:

Students will be able to choose 10 credits of optional modules from a choice of three.

Discovery modules:

Candidates will be required to study 10 credits of Discovery modules:

Last updated: 11/10/2024 15:11:45

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