Food Chemistry

By Dr. Chandra Nayaka | University of Mysore

Learners enrolled: 311

Food chemistry mainly deals with chemical structure and properties of food constituents, and with chemical changes food undergoes. The course covers a broad range of subjects related to foods including basic scientific principles to food systems and practical applications. The course is divided into different modules which are arranged systematically and gives the learner the basic information about chemical composition of main types of foods, bio molecules such as carbohydrates, proteins and enzymes, lipids, vitamins, pigments, flavours, minerals and other micro components, additives and contaminants. In addition, the course also covers aspects of novel product development and value addition of foods.

Summary

Course Status :	Upcoming
Course Type :	Elective
Language for course content :	English
Duration :	12 weeks
Category :	Agricultural and Food Engineering
Credit Points :	4
Level :	Undergraduate
Start Date :	05 Jan 2026
End Date :	30 Apr 2026
Enrollment Ends :	28 Feb 2026
Exam Date :
Translation Languages :	English
NCrF Level	5.0
Industry Details :	Teaching

Page Visits

Course layout

Week – II | 5. Electrophoresis | 6. Spectrophotometer | 7. Spectroscopy |

Week – V | 16.Sources of Fat and Oil | 17. Proteins ( Part-I) | 18. Proteins ( Part-II) |

Week – IX | 31. Quality control and management Liquid Waste | 32. Trickling Filters | 33. Value addition to Fruits and Vegetables through Processing |

Week - X | 34.Treatment Method-Solid Waste |35. Biological Composting | 36. Drying and Incineration |

Week - XI | 37. Browning reactions in food Part I | 38. Browning reactions in food (Part 2) | 39. New Product Development |

Books and references

Reading material	Author & Year	Type of publication (article/notes)	Content Abstract
Basic Food Microbiology. Westport, Conn.: AVI. Chapter 4, Factors that affect microbial growth in food	Banwart GJ. 1979	Text Book	Food Microbiology
Food microbiology: fundamentals and frontiers. 2nd ed. Washington (DC): American Society for Microbiology	MP, Beuchat LR, Montville TJ, editors. 2001.	Text Book	Food Chemistry
The microbiological safety and quality of foods. Volume 1 & 2. Gaithersburg (MD): Aspen	Lund BM, Baird-Parker TC, Gould GW, editors. 2000	Text Book	Food Microbiology
Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers, Third Edition, ASM Press	Doyle, M. P. and Beuchat, L. R. 2007.	Text Book	Food Microbiology
Food Microbiology by Westhoff, Fourth Edition, Tata McGraw-Hill Publishing company Ltd.	William C Frazier and Dennis C. 1998.	Text Book	Food Microbiology

Instructor bio

Dr. Chandra Nayaka

University of Mysore

I, Dr. Chandra Nayaka, currently serve as Professor and Principal Scientist in the Department of Studies in Biotechnology, University of Mysore, Mysuru, and as Course Coordinator for the Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) on Food Chemistry. I obtained my Master’s and Doctoral degrees with distinction from the University of Mysore. With over 19 years of teaching and research experience, my specialization lies in Food and Agricultural Biotechnology.

My research experience includes international collaborations as a Visiting Scientist at the Danish Government Institute for Seed Pathology (Copenhagen University, Denmark), China Agricultural University (Beijing, China), and the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT, Hyderabad, India).

I am the recipient of several prestigious awards, including the Japan International Award for Young Agricultural Researchers and The Millennium Plaques of Honour awarded by the Prime Minister of India for outstanding contributions to Science and Technology, conferred by the Indian Science Congress Association, DST, Government of India. I have also received the Best Scientist Award from ICAR-AICRP, Government of India.

To date, my research has garnered over 2,000 citations, with an h-index of 27 and an i10-index of 60. I hold four national patents for innovative research projects and have published over 100 research papers in high-impact national and international journals. Additionally, I have authored eight books and twenty book chapters published by reputed publishers such as CABI, Springer, Elsevier, Nova Science, and Wiley. My work also includes technical publications such as application notes for Agilent Technologies (USA), several technical bulletins, and popular science articles. Furthermore, I have submitted more than 1,000 nucleotide sequences of seed-borne pathogens and biocontrol agents to international databases such as NCBI (USA), EMBL (Europe), and DDBJ (Japan).

My research has made significant contributions to Food Chemistry, Mycotoxicology, Seed Health Technology, Molecular Plant Pathology, and Biological Control of Plant Pathogens. I have developed novel immunological and molecular tools for the rapid and accurate detection of plant pathogenic and toxigenic fungi, and have identified new bioagents and formulated seed treatments to enhance seed quality, field emergence, and disease management.

My work has provided critical insights for researchers, quarantine officers, and industry professionals in the accurate detection and characterization of food- and plant-borne pathogens. I have also trained numerous scientists and industry professionals from Vietnam, South Korea, Bangladesh, Nepal, and Tanzania in the field of Food and Agricultural Biotechnology.

Course certificate

1.End-Term Examination:

o Weightage: 70% of the final result

o Minimum Passing Criteria: 40%

2.Internal Assessment:

o Weightage: 30% of the final result

o Minimum Passing Criteria: 40%

3.Calculation of IA Marks:

o Out of all graded weekly assessments/assignments, the top 50% (equal-weighted) shall be considered for calculation of the final Internal Assessment marks.

All students who obtain 40% marks in the internal assessment and 40% marks in the end-term proctored exam separately will be eligible for the SWAYAM Credit Certificate.

SWAYAM Helpline / Support