Food Safety and Quality

This subject has the following teaching availabilities in 2016:

170 hours

Eligibility for honours or postgraduate coursework programs.

It is recommended that students have studied one of the following level 9 statistics subjects, or equivalent:

Students are expected to participate in seminars and group activities.

For the purposes of considering request for Reasonable Adjustments under the Disability Standards for Education (Cwth 2005), and Students Experiencing Academic Disadvantage Policy, academic requirements for this subject are articulated in the Subject Description, Subject Objectives, Generic Skills and Assessment Requirements of this entry. The University is dedicated to provide support to those with special requirements. Further details on the disability support scheme can be found at the Disability Liaison Unit website: http://www.services.unimelb.edu.au/disability/

• What are customers’ expectations of food? - Consumers vs. Food manufacturers
• Regulatory requirements - FSANZ, AQIS, State Health and Dairy Authorities, importing countries, Codex Alimentarius
• Food quality systems from ‘paddock to plate’, within the framework of ISO 9001/2 for the food processing industry
• Management of suppliers of goods and services, outsourcing; role of laboratory quality assurance and in-process control in quality systems
• Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) technique and food safety risks - microbiological, chemical, physical, as well as food intolerance and allergenic responses - control or preventive measures
• Applications of HACCP to food quality systems
• Good manufacturing practices
• Performance measures and benchmarking
• Improvement tools
• Statistical Process Control
• Costs of quality failures - (i) quantifiable and (ii) intangible
• Crisis management, including product recall procedures
• Role of staff in food safety and quality systems
• Quantitative risk assessment
• Role of internal and external auditing

The objectives of this subject are to:

• Develop management skills needed for assuring safe high quality commercial food manufacturing
• Familiarise students with the Australia and International Regulatory environment relating to the food chain
• Survey important quality control concepts and skills needed in the food industry

• Quality and Safety Management Tools assignment (1200 words), due in approximately Week 5 (20%)
• Mid-semester test (50 minutes), taken Week 9 (20%)
• Case Study of course concepts (1000 words), due Week 11 (20%)
• Written exam (2 hours), taken in the end-of-semester exam period (40%)

This subject is not available as a breadth subject.

On completion of this subject, students should have developed the following generic skills:

• Academic excellence
• Greater in-depth understanding of scientific disciplines used in industry
• The study will develop critical thinking and analysis and problem solving
• Flexibility and level of transferable skills should be enhanced though improved ability to communicate ideas effectively in both written and verbal formats