IDFA and Chestnut Labs will continue their partnership to provide an updated course designed to support and advance the dairy industry’s longstanding commitment to food safety with cutting-edge lab technology and practices. The “Hands-On Microbiological Testing, Food Safety and Laboratory Best Practices” course, July 13-14, will offer IDFA’s educational services specific to industry needs with Chestnut Labs’ expertise in microbiology testing to give attendees a real-world lab experience.

With the emphasis on hands-on learning in a laboratory environment, the course will enable dairy quality assurance managers, technicians, lab personnel, microbiology technicians and others responsible for ensuring food safety to remain on the cutting edge of testing best practices and requirements. Experienced instructors will demonstrate the latest industry practices, offer solutions for new industry regulations and incorporate new thinking and proven techniques, while using the using the laboratory equipment most commonly available in dairy plants.

The course, held at the Jordan Valley Innovation Center in Springfield, Mo., will kick off with timely 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.

“IDFA is working with Chestnut Labs to address the specific food safety knowledge that dairy professionals need today,” said John Allan, vice president of regulatory affairs and international standards at IDFA. “Participants will learn how to choose and conduct the right test methods for the right purpose, how to properly interpret results and how to prevent common mistakes in microbiological testing. In addition, instruction will be provided on developing product and environmental sampling plans and how to perform internal laboratory audits.”

The Chestnut Labs instructors from are Kristin Acker, general manager and vice president; Mary L. Bandu, Ph.D., director of technical services; and Haiping Li, Ph.D., director of technical services. Allan from IDFA will present a regulatory update on the Food and Drug Administration.

Class size is limited to 50 participants. To register and read the full agenda, visit the Hands-on Microbiological Testing and Laboratory Practices course microsite. Members with questions may contact Allan at jallan@idfa.org.