Apply a knowledge of foods and their components, and achieve your business goals in health food production or manufacturing.

This Health Food Production course is for anyone working in medium to large commercial food manufacturing, product design and development, farmers markets or small home-based business, specialized kitchens or eateries, hospitality staff, marketing in health foods and retail, or healthy eating and lifestyle influencers. Students develop skills in how to make healthy foods, encourage reflection in product development, and increase confidence to move forward in business!

This course is for:

• • People who work in food retail
  • Home-based or small business owners
  • Specialised food/crop producers
  • Human nutrition specialists Café and restaurant owners
  • Holistic life coaches Speciality kitchens – cooks or chefs
  • Commercial sales and marketing teams
  • Anyone working in hospitality
  • Food and beverage product developers

Course Aims

• Describe alternative foods developed and marketed for a range of dietary requirements and preferences.
• Describe how health food products are developed to satisfy a variety of nutritional requirements.
• Describe the significance of major components – gluten, sugar and fermented products – in health food manufacturing.
• Explain how to manufacture a range of different wheat substitute products.
• Explain how to manufacture a range of different protein substitute products.
• Explain how to manufacture a range of different dairy substitute products.
• Explain how to manufacture a range of different substitute products suitable for vegetarian and vegan consumers.
• Discuss business applications in the health food industry.
• Explain how to market specialized health food products and services.

Detailed Course Outline

This course is made up of a number of lessons or units. Each of these has self assessment questions, a set task (practical homework) and an assignment which you can upload online.

There are 9 lessons in this course:

1. Nature, Scope, and Development of Health Foods

• • Introduction to Health Food
  • Diets for Medical and Health Reasons
  • Diet for Lifestyle or Principle-Based Reasons
  • Diets for Religious and Cultural Reasons
  • Types of Diets – Overview of Each
  • Vegetarian
  • Pescatarian & Pollo-pescatarian
  • Organics
  • Vegan
  • Raw
  • Ketogenic
  • Free From (Gluten free, Soy free, Lactose free, Nut free, Sugar free, Dairy free, Egg free, Sulphite free)
  • Macrobiotic
  • Mediterranean, Eastern and Western
  • Low carbohydrate or No-sugar
  • Carnivore
  • Introduction to Commercial Development of Food Products

2. Health Food and Human Nutrition

• • Introduction to Nutrition Science
  • The Concept of Diet
  • Human Digestion – An overview
  • The Digestive Tract
  • Accessory Digestive Organs
  • Major Food Groups
  • Fats
  • Protein
  • Carbohydrates
  • Specialised Diets & Human Nutrition Deficiencies
  • Vegetarian
  • Pescatarian
  • Vegan
  • Ketogenic
  • Free-from
  • Paleo
  • F.O.D.M.A.P.

3. Significance of Gluten, Sugar, and Fermented Products

• • Gluten
  • Chemistry of Gluten
  • Gluten in the Diet
  • Gluten in Food Industry
  • Gluten-Free (GF) Product Development
  • Sugar
  • The Chemistry of Sugar
  • Sugar in the Body
  • Sugar-free Product Development
  • Sweeteners
  • Sugar Alcohols
  • Fermented Foods
  • Yeasts
  • Chemistry of Fermentation
  • Fermented Foods in the Diet for Human Health
  • Fermented Foods Product Development
  • Kefir
  • Kimchi
  • Kombucha
  • Miso
  • Natto
  • Sauerkraut
  • Common Substitutions and Adjustments

4. Development of Wheat Substitute Products

• • Wheat
  • Wheat Products Free-from Gluten
  • Coeliac Disease Symptoms & Treatment
  • Treatment of Coeliac Disease
  • Making Gluten Free Bread
  • Texture
  • Selecting a Gluten-Free Flours
  • Common Gluten Free-Flour Types
  • Almond
  • Buckwheat
  • Chickpea
  • Coconut
  • Corn
  • Millet
  • Oats
  • Potato Flour
  • Sorghum
  • Soy
  • Rice flour
  • Teff
  • Starches
  • Arrowroot
  • Corn-starch
  • Potato Starch
  • Binding
  • Creating Flour Blends
  • Other Elements in Gluten-Free Bread
  • Animal Proteins
  • Emulsification
  • Leavening Agents and Rising in Gluten-free bread
  • Baking Gluten-Free bread and muffins
  • GF Muffins
  • Recipes

5. Development of Protein Substitute Products

• • Specialised Protein Products
  • Protein and why we need it
  • Essential Amino Acids
  • Non- Essential Amino Acids
  • Conditionally Essential Amino Acids
  • Uses in the body
  • Recommended protein intake
  • Plant-based Substitutions
  • Legumes as a Protein Source
  • Soybeans
  • Chickpeas
  • The dairy-free market
  • Dairy Free Substitutes
  • Egg-free diets
  • How to Replace Eggs in Recipes

6. Development of Vegetarian and Vegan Products

• • Cow’s Milk Protein (CMP)
  • Cow’s Milk Sugar (Lactose)
  • Making Non-Dairy Milk
  • Equipment
  • General Plant Milk Recipe
  • Make Soy Milk
  • Cheese
  • Focus on Flavor and Melt
  • Soft, Creamier Non-Dairy Cheeses
  • Replicating the Cheese-Making Method
  • Plant-Based Yoghurt
  • Principles for Plant-Based Yoghurt
  • Creams and Ice-Cream
  • Cream
  • Basic Nut Cream

7. Development of Vegetarian and Vegan Products

• • Overview of Vegetarianism
  • Types of Vegetarian Diets
  • Overview of Veganism
  • Nutrition in Vegetarian and Vegan Cooking
  • Tofu Products
  • Soybean Products
  • Cooking for Vegetarians
  • Vegetarian Sausages
  • Emulsification
  • Fat
  • Flavor
  • Color
  • Composition
  • Production of Burgers
  • Building Flavor into Foods
  • Vegetarian Produce Suggestions
  • Beans
  • Bean Products – For Manufacture
  • Nuts in Health Food Product Development
  • Types of Nuts
  • Selling Food to the Vegan and Vegetarian Market

8. Business Applications in Health Food Manufacturing

• • Sourcing Ingredients
  • Buy Local
  • Sell Local
  • Sourcing Organics
  • Cross-Contamination and Labelling
  • Labelling Laws
  • Restaurant and Café Menus
  • Consumer Attitudes
  • Changing Habits
  • Business Owner Occupational Health and Safety Responsibilities
  • Insurance
  • Working with Health Professionals
  • Food Coaching
  • Nutritional Counsellor or Therapist

9. Marketing Specialized Food and Associated Services

• • Introduction to Marketing
  • Monitoring and Controlling the Marketing Plan
  • A note on Branding
  • Ultimate Goals of Marketing
  • Marketing Sends a Message
  • Message Execution
  • Words Sell
  • Personalize
  • Deciding to Buy
  • Understand the Buyer
  • Types of Marketing Research
  • Ways of Gathering Data
  • Primary Data Collections Methods
  • Secondary Data Collection Method
  • What is needed to Conduct Effective Research
  • The Outcome of Market Research
  • Modifications to the Marketing Plan
  • Market Share Analysis (Ratios)
  • Marketing Cost Analysis
  • Taking a Product to the Market
  • Wholesaling
  • Face to Face Retail and Online Stores or Mail Order
  • Online Sales
  • Business to Business (B2B)

When you have completed the lessons of your Health Food Production Certificate course, you will be given the option of taking the optional exam. It’s okay if you don’t want the exam, we still issue your Careerline Certificate. For Advanced Certificates however, the exam is compulsory (per module) and are included in the course fee.