IDFA and Chestnut Labs are hosting the “Microbiological Testing: A Hands-on Food Safety Course,” Nov. 1-3 in Springfield, Mo., to help dairy plant professionals develop effective ways to locate pathogens most likely to occur in dairy processes, as well as ways to curb and prevent their growth.
The course is a two-and-a-half day workshop designed to help dairy plant professionals develop skills to build a strong food safety program for their companies. It offers specific training on pathogens of concern to the dairy industry and teaches practical skills to help identify, test for and mitigate microorganisms in a dairy manufacturing environment.
“Like in so many other areas of quality control, an effective food safety plan requires us to consistently seek to find and correct problems and work toward lowering the risk that organisms find their way into finished product,” said John Allan, vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards for IDFA. “The mitigation strategies taught in this course make this a can’t-miss workshop if you’re serious about making sure your food safety program is effective at seeking and destroying these pathogens.”
Highly experienced scientists and food safety experts will lead course presentations on “Pathogens of Significance in the Dairy Industry and Control in the Manufacturing Environment” and “PEM (Pathogen Environmental Monitoring)-Concepts, Testing Alternatives, Designing a Program and Corrective Action Documentation.” These sessions will be followed by related hands-on training sessions, where attendees will learn testing processes and procedures including:
- Good laboratory practices;
- Swabbing techniques;
- Aseptic sample collection and sample compositing;
- Testing for quality and safety attributes;
- Equipment calibrations; and
- Reading and interpreting test results.
To see all course content, visit the online agenda.
Register here for “Microbiological Testing: A Hands-on Food Safety Course.”
For more information, contact Maria Velasco, IDFA meetings coordinator and registrar, at registrar@idfa.org.