Call for plough-to-plate safety


12 May 2000



Call for plough-to-plate safety

By FWi staff

EXPERTS gather in Aberdeen on Friday to discuss how to improve interdisciplinary training in food safety.

A more integrated approach for food scientists would cover everything from animal feed to on the farm to food on the table.

Until now, the curriculum in higher education has failed to bring together expertise in animal and plant scientists, food technicians, and management, reports the BBC Radio 4 Farming Today programme.

New courses designed to do that are now being set up in Holland to unify these disciplines.

Profesor Hugh Pennington of Aberdeen University, who is speaking at the conference, welcomed this initiative.

He added that better training for staff, managers, and inspectors would make a big difference in preventing food poisoning.

“Better training is one of the major keys to eliminating food poisoning because at the end of the day it is a preventable problem.”

Meanwhile, a new piece of equipment to detect pathogens in food before it reaches the shops has just been launched.

At present it can take five days to test food products, but the new system can cut this down to just 36 hours.

The system by Microgen Bioproducts has won an award from the department of trade and industry.

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