Sustainable Food Value Chain Transition

About

Overview
This course explores sustainable food manufacturing and food system transitions. Students will investigate how environmental, economic, and social factors interact with food processing and how actors across the value chain can contribute to a just transition. The course is important because future food professionals must understand systemic sustainability challenges and opportunities to drive meaningful change.

Course leader

Samuel Perez Vega, Assistant Professor, LUT University, Marjo Pöysä, Postdoctoral researcher, LUT University

Target group

Bachelor’s / Undergraduate students from food science, engineering, environmental studies, business, and social sciences.

Course aim

By the end of the course, students will be able to:
• Understand sustainable food processing principles and challenges.
• Identify environmental, economic, and social drivers of food system transitions.
• Recognize the roles and capacities of different actors in the food system.
• Reflect on justice issues and ethical perspectives in the context of sustainability transitions.

Content:

The course is preceded by an independent study of the topic through literature. It starts with introductory lectures, which are followed by thematic group work. At the end of the course, the group work results will be presented and discussed in a seminar. Finally, an individual essay on one of the course themes will be written.

The course covers the following topics:

• Food processing for increased palatability and preservability.
• Sustainability in food manufacturing and transition aspects of food systems.
• Economic factors in sustainable food systems.
• Systemic approach to food studies, including global and local food systems perspectives.
• Actors and their roles in the food system.
• Justice transition and ethical perspectives. Issues include power relations, food security, poverty, and inequality in food systems.

Mode of study:

The course is preceded by an independent study of the topic through literature. It starts with introductory lectures, which are followed by thematic group work. At the end of the course, the group work results will be presented and discussed in a seminar. Finally, an individual essay on one of the course themes will be written.

• Individual reading work
• Introductory lectures
• Group work and presentations
• Individual essay writing

Total workload 80 hours.

Evaluation: Passed / failed
In order to pass, students should participate in all teaching activities.

Study material:
• Selected journal articles and book chapters are provided as pre-readings
• Literature related to lectures and seminar topics

Fee info