Food Equipment and Processing ENVH 4350

Upon successful completion of this course, the student will be able to:

• Review the need for food safety in the commercial food processing industry.
• Describe the challenges specific to the small food processor.
• Describe differences in inspection focus depending on the type of food service establishment (restaurant vs. food processor vs. farmers' market)
• Discuss the history of food-borne illness with emphasis on contemporary public health significance.
• Discuss the origins of international and domestic food safety inspection with emphasis on contemporary public health significance.
• Explain the role of Federal and Provincial regulatory agencies as it relates to food safety inspection and monitoring.
• Outline food agriculture, industrial food manufacturing, and food handling practices with emphasis on cultural concepts
• Relate intrinsic and extrinsic factors of food chemistry and composition to the probabilities that pathogenic and spoilage organisms can survive and/or multiply in foods.
• Compare and contrast the effectiveness of common preservation methods for high-risk foods.
• Explain the impact of food environment factors on microbial survival and growth. Factors include oxygen content, food composition, temperature, pH and water activity.
• Explain the public health significance associated with common food additives.
• Assess potential contamination risks during food production and processing.
• Identify potential sources of physical, chemical, microbiological, and allergen contamination during food production.
• Determine how the slaughtering and processing of meat and poultry can lead to contamination.
• Assess the risks associated with processing ready-to-eat (RTE) meats (e.g., sausages).
• Explain the hazards associated with the processing of fish.
• Discuss the routes of post-process contamination, focusing on Listeria in meat and fish processing plants.
• Examine the risks associated with processing foods of plant origin.
• Explain the processing, pasteurization, and evaluation of milk from the farm to the consumer.
• Discuss the opportunities for contamination during the production and handling of dairy products such as butter, cheeses and yogurt.
• Explain how cultural concepts and practices impact domestic public health significance with respect to imported foods and world food cultures that are practiced in Canada
• Evaluate processing techniques and processing records for a variety of foods.
• Assess the food safety risk associated with thermal processes.
• Summarize established processing techniques used to ensure selected foods are safe and have an acceptable shelf life (for example: bottling, canning, modified atmosphere packaging (MAP), vacuum packing, drying, freezing, smoking, pickling, and irradiation).
• Explain the purpose of a food challenge study.
• Describe emerging technologies for food preservation
• Evaluate commonly available ethnic foods and local food trends to determine their risk (e.g.: sushi, donair, vegetarian burgers, artificial cream, meringues, salad dressing, mayonnaise, smoked fish, tofu, raw food diet).
• Explain the principles underlying the concept of critical control points.
• Explain how to design or create a HACCP plan for a food premises (food processor)
• Describe strategies for assisting operators who may face challenges related to the social determinants of health to implementing these strategies
• Evaluate processed foods proposed for temporary markets (e.g., farmers' market) using Provincial temporary market guidelines.
• Assess home canning proposals for potential health hazards.
• Interpret the results of laboratory testing for pH and Aw (need new material)
• Describe the function of the federal and provincial government agencies, and their legislation, which could impact on food production, commercial processing, and importation.
• Explain the role of the PHI/EHO with regards to jurisdiction and interaction with other regulatory agencies.
• Explain the purpose and reasons for a food recall
• Describe the process used in food recalls
• Appraise the operation, process for breakdown, maintenance, cleaning, and disinfection process of selected food-related equipment: dishwashers, glass washers, meat slicers, dairy equipment, ice cream machines, and other food equipment as indicated.​
• Explain the basis of hygiene indicator tests, such as protein residue, glucose residue, or ATP bioluminescence.

Effective as of Fall 2023