A couple of years ago, we posted an article about a new online course, produced by the North Carolina State University FBNS (Food, Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences) Department – Free Food Safety Course for Cheese Makers. Now, the same folks have created another important online course – Environmental Monitoring for Food Safety.
This one takes 8 hours to complete altogether (of course, it’s ‘on-demand,’ so you can start and stop at any time. Cost: $225 (For a 75% discount, enter the code EMP75 before March 31, 2020. If you are a NC Dairy Processor, you can contact Stephanie Maggio (samaggio@ncsu.edu) for a discount code to get the course for free.)
As you can see, the course is interactive.
Why do I need it?
One of the reasons it’s important to have an EMP (Environmental Monitoring Program) is that it’s required by law for anyone who is selling cheese.
Stephanie Maggio
We asked Stephanie Maggio, one of the creators of this course to explain why cheese makers need to take it:
It is important for cheese processors to learn how to develop an effective environmental monitoring plan and understand how to implement and maintain that plan over time because it can reduce the risk of an outbreak by verifying that the cleaning and sanitation procedures are effective. Also, the Food Safety Modernization Act (FSMA) of 2011 requires food processors with ready-eat-foods exposed to the environment post-kill step (i.e. pasteurization) to have an environmental monitoring program in place.
We took the course and were amazed at how interesting it is. There are actual (virtual) people talking and an actual dairy processing plant where the lessons occur.
You feel as if you are right there in the room.
The Story
The premise is that a cheese maker in the area has been shut down because several customers have become ill. Friends of hers (a young couple who also make cheese) can’t understand why her food safety plan wasn’t enough. They (and she) thought she was doing everything right.
Unfortunately, although she had put many safeguards in place to prevent listeria monocytogenes from infecting her products, she wasn’t actually testing for the presence of listeria monocytogenes. The point of this monitoring system is to catch the presence of listeria before it spreads.
There are 7 sections:
Lesson 1: Introduction
Lesson 2: Zones
Lesson 3: Scheduling
Lesson 4: Organisms
Lesson 5: Sampling Tools
Lesson 6: Corrective Actions
Lesson 7: Trends
Final Exam
Recommendation:
Many of us consider cheese making an art and we don’t have the side of the brain that computes the science of it. The folks who made this course know that and they have done everything possible to make it as fun and easy as it can possibly be. A 6th grader would be able to understand this material and that’s about the level some of us need.
As fun as it is, it is a course after all, so there are short little quizzes all along the whey. But, if you miss an answer in a quiz, you are given additional information about the subject. So, by the time you get to the final exam, you have already answered the questions and there are no surprises.
We congratulate the team of educators at North Carolina State who created this important resource!
