Course Outline
NUT312 Food Service Systems
Course Coordinator:Danielle Cave (dcave@usc.edu.au) School:School of Health - Nutrition and Dietetics
2026Trimester 2
UniSC Sunshine Coast |
Blended learning | Most of your course is on campus but you may be able to do some components of this course online. |
Please go to unisc.edu.au for up to date information on the
teaching sessions and campuses where this course is usually offered.
What is this course about?
Description
This course provides you with an introduction to food service systems. You will learn the concepts of the Food Service System Model as it relates to foodservice systems, and the principles of assessing and improving food provision to nutritionally vulnerable groups in institutional settings. You will develop skills in menu assessment, menu planning, and recipe modification for therapeutic use.
How will this course be delivered?
| Activity | Hours | Beginning Week | Frequency |
| Blended learning | |||
| Tutorial/Workshop 1 – In-person workshop | 2hrs | Week 1 | 7 times |
| Laboratory 1 – In-person kitchen practical (runs for 2.5 hours) | 3hrs | Week 5 | 5 times |
| Learning materials – Online structured activities | 1hr | Week 1 | 12 times |
Course Topics
- Introduction to food service systems
- Components of the Food Service Systems Model
- The menu – menu assessment and menu planning in healthcare food service settings
- Improving food provision quality in healthcare food service settings
- Modification and standardisation of recipes for therapeutic use
What level is this course?
300 Level (Graduate)
What is the unit value of this course?
12 units
How does this course contribute to my learning?
| Course Learning Outcomes On successful completion of this course, you should be able to... | Graduate Qualities Completing these tasks successfully will contribute to you becoming... | |
| 1 | Analyse and interpret a healthcare food service menu in comparison to nutrition and menu standards and menu planning principles. | Empowered |
| 2 | Prepare a menu for a healthcare food service that meets nutrition and menu standards, menu planning principles, consumer needs, and the food service's capacity to implement menu changes. | Empowered |
| 3 | Explain the impact of recipe modification on the components of the Food Service System Model, within the context of a healthcare setting. | Knowledgeable |
| 4 | Summarise research literature to demonstrate knowledge of the nutritional impact of food provision in healthcare settings. | Knowledgeable |
| 5 | Examine the implications and feasibility of modfiying recipes for therapeutic diets on the healthcare food service system. | Creative and critical thinker |
| 6 | Evaluate and justify menu changes according to nutrition and menu standards and menu planning principles, and explain the rationale of the decision-making process in revising the menu. | Creative and critical thinker |
Am I eligible to enrol in this course?
Refer to the UniSC Glossary of terms for definitions of “pre-requisites, co-requisites and anti-requisites”.
Pre-requisites
NUT202 and enrolled in Program SC302 or SC406
Co-requisites
Not applicable
Anti-requisites
Not applicable
Specific assumed prior knowledge and skills (where applicable)
It is assumed students will have knowledge and skills in nutrition assessment and food studies
Microcredential Information
Not applicable
How am I going to be assessed?
Grading Scale
Standard Grading (GRD)
| High Distinction (HD), Distinction (DN), Credit (CR), Pass (PS), Fail (FL). |
Details of early feedback on progress
You will submit a menu gap analysis report in week 4, which is a formative task (ungraded). Learning activities will help you to develop skills in menu assessment and gap analysis procedures, which will help you to complete the formative assessment task for week 4. You will then receive feedback on the submitted gap analysis regarding the accuracy of analysis and interpretation and given feedback to identify gaps in the analysis and areas for improvement for final submission, which will be graded. This feedback will help you to be able to complete the final menu project.
Assessment tasks
| Delivery mode | Task No. | Assessment Product | Individual or Group | Weighting % | What is the duration / length? | When should I submit? | Where should I submit it? |
| All | 1a | Artefact - Professional | Group | 0% | 1 x quantitative gap analysis |
Week 4 | Online Submission |
| All | 1b | Artefact - Professional | Group | 40% | 1 x quantitative gap analysis 1 x qualitative gap analysis 1 x 2 week cycle menu |
Week 12 | Online Submission |
| All | 2 | Artefact - Creative | Individual | 30% | 12 minutes |
Week 10 | Online Submission |
| All | 3 | Oral | Individual | 30% | 10 minutes |
Refer to Format | To be Negotiated |
| All | 4 | Portfolio | Individual | 0% | You will upload evidence towards competency development towards your portfolio. |
Throughout teaching period (refer to Format) | Online ePortfolio Submission |
| All - Assessment Task 1a:Menu Assessment - Quantitative gap analysis | |||||||
| Goal: | To nutritionally assess a menu for a healthcare food service operation against current nutrition and menu standards. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Professional | ||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||
| Format: | You will analyse the menu in comparison to nutrition standards for all meals and midmeals. You will submit your quantitative gap analysis in Week 4 for formative (ungraded) feedback. You will use the template provided. This feedback will assist you to complete your final report. You will also submit your final version of the quantitative gap analysis with task 1b, which will be graded. Learning activities will help you to develop skills in menu assessment which will help you to complete task 1a and 1b. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
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| All - Assessment Task 1b:Menu Project | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | To nutritionally assess a menu for a healthcare food service operation against current nutrition and menu standards and formulate a revised menu that is compliant with nutrition standards, menu planning principles, and is appropriate for the consumer group and the food service facility’s resources and constraints. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Professional | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | You will analyse the menu in comparison to nutrition standards for all meals and midmeals. Class activities will help you to develop skills in menu assessment which will help you to complete your menu review. You will submit the following menu project documents in Week 12. 1. Quantitative gap analysis of original menu in comparison to nutrition standards (using the template provided) 2. Qualitative assessment of the menu (using the template provided) 3. The revised two (2) week menu cycle (for all meals and mid-meals), showing all revisions to the original menu, the energy and protein groupings of all relevant dishes and food items and any relevant instructions for the organisation to ensure nutrition standards are met. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving, Organisation |
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| All - Assessment Task 2:Narrated PowerPoint | ||||||||||||||||
| Goal: | Dietitians can play a significant role in quality improvement processes of food service systems. Therefore, knowledge of the food service system and the evidence that links food service quality to nutrition, in nutritionally vulnerable groups in heathcare settings is essential. The goal of this task is for you to consider the process of modifying, standardising and formulating recipes for therapeutic diets as it relates to healthcare food service provision and assess the impact of recipe modification on the food service system and to explain the evidence on the nutritional impact of food provision in healthcare settings. |
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| Product: | Artefact - Creative | |||||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||||||||||||||
| Format: | You will apply learnings from course learning content, course readings and the kitchen practical's to critically reflect on the impact of modifying recipes, on a food service system. You will assess and describe how modification of the recipes presented in the kitchen practical, will impact on the components of the Food Service System Model, from inputs to outputs, of the organisation described in task 1(a,b) scenario. You will examine the implications and feasibility of modifying recipes on the food service system. You will summarise the evidence of how the food service system outputs of patient satisfaction and plate wastage interrelate with food intake of individuals in healthcare settings and the significant factors and food service models that influence this association. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Organisation, Applying technologies |
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| All - Assessment Task 3:Oral Interview | |||||||||||||
| Goal: | Dietitians play an important role in improving the quality of food provision in healthcare food service settings. A key skill of a dietitian is to be able to communicate with stakeholders the rationale and justification for changing the system. The goal of this task is for you to develop your skills in verbally demonstrating your knowledge in menu planning principles to justify your menu changes in task 1b. |
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| Product: | Oral | ||||||||||||
| Authorship Statement: | |||||||||||||
| Format: | The oral interview will be conducted during the exam period. The time of the interview will be provided by the course coordinator by the end of week 12. You will participate in an oral interview to evaluate and justify the revised menu completed in task 1b according to nutrition standards and menu planning principles. Learning activities will help you to prepare for assessment task 3. Feedback on Task 1(a, b) will be given prior to Task 3. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | Communication, Problem solving |
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| All - Assessment Task 4:Competency Development | ||||
| Goal: | To upload evidence towards the development of your professional competencies. You will receive feedback on your progression of your competencies during the course. This will contribute to your global competency assessment for the Bachelor of Dietetics (Honours). |
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| Product: | Portfolio | |||
| Authorship Statement: | ||||
| Format: | You will upload evidence to your portfolio in the form of (but not limited to) personal reflections on your learning from this course and/or feedback from the teaching team on assessment tasks. NOTE: This assessment task forms part of your Global Competency Portfolio where you will collate various purposefully selected tasks and reflections over the course of the program to provide comprehensive information about your progress in developing and attaining Dietitians Australia (DA) competencies for dietetic practice. |
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| Criteria: |
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| Generic Skills: | ||||
Directed study hours
A 12-unit course will have total of 150 learning hours which will include directed study hours (including online if required), self-directed learning and completion of assessable tasks. Student workload is calculated at 12.5 learning hours per one unit.
What resources do I need to undertake this course?
Please note: Course information, including specific information of recommended readings, learning activities, resources, weekly readings, etc. are available on the course Canvas site– Please log in as soon as possible.
Prescribed text(s) or course reader
Specific requirements
You will need to complete an “Induction to Lab” prior to commencing kitchen practicals. Fully covered shoes, apron, and hair tie for long hair are required for participation in the kitchen practical. Students will be required to attend an information session at the start of the trimester on gathering evidence towards the development of identified national competency standards.
How are risks managed in this course?
What administrative information is relevant to this course?
Assessment: Academic Integrity
Academic integrity is the ethical standard of university participation. It ensures that students graduate as a result of proving they are competent in their discipline. This is integral in maintaining the value of academic qualifications. Each industry has expectations and standards of the skills and knowledge within that discipline and these are reflected in assessment.
Academic integrity means that you do not engage in any activity that is considered to be academic fraud; including plagiarism, collusion or outsourcing any part of any assessment item to any other person. You are expected to be honest and ethical by completing all work yourself and indicating in your work which ideas and information were developed by you and which were taken from others. You cannot provide your assessment work to others. You are also expected to provide evidence of wide and critical reading, usually by using appropriate academic references.
In order to minimise incidents of academic fraud, this course may require that some of its assessment tasks, when submitted to Canvas, are electronically checked through Turnitin. This software allows for text comparisons to be made between your submitted assessment item and all other work to which Turnitin has access.
Assessment: Additional Requirements
Eligibility for Supplementary Assessment
Your eligibility for supplementary assessment in a course is dependent of the following conditions applying:
(a) The final mark is in the percentage range 47% to 49.4%; and
(b) The course is graded using the Standard Grading scale
Assessment: Submission penalties
Late submissions may be penalised up to and including the following maximum percentage of the assessment task’s identified value, with weekdays and weekends included in the calculation of days late:
(a) One day: deduct 5%;
(b) Two days: deduct 10%;
(c) Three days: deduct 20%;
(d) Four days: deduct 40%;
(e) Five days: deduct 60%;
(f) Six days: deduct 80%;
(g) Seven days: A result of zero is awarded for the assessment task.
The following penalties will apply for a late submission for an online examination:
Less than 15 minutes: No penalty
From 15 minutes to 30 minutes: 20% penalty
More than 30 minutes: 100% penalty
Links to relevant University policy and procedures
For more information on Academic Learning & Teaching categories including:
- Assessment: Courses and Coursework Programs
- Review of Assessment and Final Grades
- Supplementary Assessment
- Central Examinations
- Deferred Examinations
- Student Conduct
- Students with a Disability
For more information, visit https://www.usc.edu.au/explore/policies-and-procedures#academic-learning-and-teaching
Student Charter
UniSC is committed to excellence in teaching, research and engagement in an environment that is inclusive, inspiring, safe and respectful. The Student Charter sets out what students can expect from the University, and what in turn is expected of students, to achieve these outcomes.
General Enquiries
For course-specific questions, contact your teaching staff or Course Coordinator.
For other enquiries or to access support, please contact Student Central: