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Course Details - Governance from Farm to Fork for Food Safety
Foodborne diseases are caused by contamination of food and occur at any stage of the food production, delivery and consumption chain. Over 200 diseases are caused by eating food contaminated with bacteria, viruses, parasites or chemical substances such as heavy metals. Foodborne diseases encompass a wide range of illnesses from diarrhea to cancers. Food safety issues can have impact on nutrition as foodborne disease can increase the risk of undernutrition. Many foodborne diseases involve acute gastrointestinal distress, including reduced appetite, vomiting, and/or diarrhoea, which can lead to decreased nutrient intake and/or absorption, either acute or chronic.
The growing public health problem causes considerable socioeconomic impact though strains on health-care systems lost productivity, and harming tourism and trade. These diseases contribute significantly to the global burden of disease and mortality. Effective food control systems can protect consumers and ensure that manufacturers and suppliers involved in the food chain meet their obligations. However, increasing regulation and inspection of informal markets is not enough. It is far better to protect food security and the livelihoods these markets offer, to legitimise and support these markets, improve their capacity through facilitated access to credit, and find ways to incentivise their investments in food safety.
During the course, we are going to cover a wide range of topics.
Track A: Integrated crop management for safe food
Integrated crop management, its principles and policies
Increased environmental awareness has led to a need for sustainable agricultural production systems. Integrated crop management, which incorporates Good Agricultural Practices (GAP) and Integrated Pest Management (IPM) have become essential components of sustainable agriculture. In recent decades, consumers have become increasingly concerned about the safety and quality of their food. The public and private sectors in the North have quickly responded with measures resulting in public and private standards to meet requirements for food safety and quality. Applying integrated crop management principles ensures that food is produced free of food safety hazards and in an environmentally friendly way.
How to make integrated crop management work in practice
While technical solutions towards producing safe food are plentiful, in practice, the complexity of the combination of measures is still a struggle for many farmers. Appropriate implementation of Good Agricultural Practices and IPM for food safety and international market access requires supportive and enabling policies and institutions. This can be achieved through multi-stakeholder processes with the aim to develop enabling IPM and/or pesticide-related policies and supportive institutional innovations.
Track B: Governance of food safety
Protection of public health versus international trade
In the interest people's livelihoods and the national economy, it is important to protect the viability of domestic production and markets from cheap and unsafe food. Additionally, countries can benefit from international trade of agricultural produce and food, but there are also challenges. When countries try to protect domestic markets, those actions can negatively affect international relations and economic stability. That rules regulate how to balance protection and free trade?
National food control system and risk assessment
You will be introduced the framework of the national food control system with its 5 components, as described by FAO/WHO, and how it is applied in the EU and in the member states. Then you will be challenges to apply the framework for your own country and develop strategies to solve issues you identify and relevant.
Risk analysis is a structured internationally accepted framework that provides national food safety authorities with a systematic and disciplined approach for making evidence-based food safety decisions. It consists of three interactive components, risk assessment, risk management and risk communication, which serve to develop an estimate of the risks to human health and safety, identify and implement appropriate measures to control the risks, and communicate with stakeholders about the risks and the measures applied.
A mix of interactive lectures, group work and field visits
The course includes lectures, real life examples, simulations, individual and group assignments, case studies and field trips. Participants can engage with experts, and have access to scientific information and methodologies. Prior to the training, participants are guided to follow a number of (internet based) learning modules to acquire an equal level of understanding and to conduct a self-assessment (business case identification). The course coordinators and contributing experts have a long term experience in food safety capacity building in developing countries and emerging economies
This course is taught in a blended format: partially online and partially in person in Ethiopia
Our courses are currently taught blended and follow this format:
- Online pre-course assignments to ensure that you have acquired pre-required knowledge, understand the technical requirements of the online / hybrid learning.
- Interactive plenary sessions where we share content, facilitate exchanging experiences, challenge each otherthrough debates and discussion. During those interactive sessions we work witha number of online tools like Mentimeter, Jam Board and Mural.
- Group work either online, offline and face-2-face where you with other participants work jointlyto answer specific questions and / or complete an assignment. During theface-2-face part of the course, the content and skills acquired during the online/hybrid part will be applied to a concrete case. Using backcasting eachgroup will be guided and challenged to find innovate solutions for the identifiedproblems, which will be presented at the end of the course.
- Individual assignments where you will read literature, watch videos, do exercises and take quizzes. These assignments are an essential part of the learning and most of them count for getting the certificate. They are meant to introduce or deepen knowledge and make the linkbetween theory and your own situation.
- We offer coaching trajectories where we support you one-on-one or in small groups to review your individual learning paths in the course and help with any basic questions you may have.
The course is taught in partially online and the face-to-face part will take place in Ethiopia.
Online platforms: Zoom and TalentLMS
Internet connection is important for the completion of the course. Not sure about the connection in your area? Send training.cdi@wur.nl an e-mail about your situation.
We use Zoom as a the virtual classroom for the online part.
Our learning system is TalentLMS. Everything you need — our course programme, assignments, background information are in this system. TalentLMS is easy to operate, can also be accessed by your phone and has an on-and offline functionality. To access TalentLMS you will receive a temporary WUR account.
We organise a technical check-in before the course starts, to test your facilities and get familiar with the tools.
Course planning and certificates
The course workload is approximately 16-20 hours a week (2-2.5 workdays).
The exact programme of your course will be available 2-3 weeks before the start of the course. If you’ve successfully completed your course we send you a digital certificate.