Community Nutrition and Hygiene

The purpose of this class is to acquire knowledge on nutritional needs of different ages group population (adolescents, adults, elderly) and provide a basic knowledge of a balanced diet. Furthermore, it aims to provide robust information (databases, software) and competences useful to plan dietary menus for the foodservice (school and hospital catering, nursing homes). The course also provides the basics to understand fundamental concepts of hygiene and epidemiology, safeguarding health and the community.

With the successful completion of this course the students will be abileable to use the guidelines for healthy eating and a healthy lifestyle; estimate the nutritional needs of sub-group populations; know and calculate the nutritional composition of foods with appropriate data sources; identify the nutritional components of a healthy diet and identify the food sources of single nutrients; planning some menus for the foodservice (schools, companies, nursing homes, hospital and for particular needs) using computer applications. Lastly, students will be able to assess a plan for the prevention and prophylaxis of infectious diseases within collective catering contexts and will know how to collaborate in an epidemiological investigation aimed at identifying the causes of an infection/toxinfection/food poisoning originated in the collective catering sector.