FSQA*6600 - Principles of Food Safety and Quality Assurance

Course Description

An integrated approach to factors affecting food safety and quality including microbial and chemical contamination is provided. Major food-borne disease outbreaks are studied as examples. Modern methods of quality management to minimize contamination of processed foods is discussed.

This course is part of the online Master of Dairy Technology Management (MDTM) program from the Departments of Food Science and Food, Agricultural, and Resource Economics (FARE). It is offered as a stand-alone course with admission to the full program not required.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of the course, the learner should be able to:

1. Appreciate the roles and perspectives of industry, government and consumers as stakeholders in food safety issues;
2. Identify and describe biological and chemical hazards in foods;
3. Describe conventional and non-conventional means of controlling hazards in foods;
4. Understand Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) as an important quality management system;
5. Describe the general principles of the epidemiology, pathogenesis, detection, and risk assessment of food-borne organisms;
6. Gain an awareness of the challenges and complexities of food safety policy issues, with an appreciation of the conflicting agendas that need to be balanced; and
7. Gain a general overview of the major Canadian and international bodies involved in global standards for food safety and trade.

Course Topics

• Food safety basics
• Introduction to food safety and quality assurance
• Food safety epidemiology and surveillance
• Foodborne illness outbreak investigations and emergency response 
• Bacterial pathogenesis
• Microbial detection
• Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP)
• Food safety risk analysis
• Food processing and packaging
• Natural toxicants

Assessment

Note:

Additional Technical Requirements

This course will use the following:

• Respondus tool to invigilate one or more exams. 

Please view the Technical Considerations.