Caribbean Food Safety Seminar

Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences

Cave Hill Campus

The University of the West Indies

Barbados
Held June 11-17, 2001

BACKGROUND

Fresh food, raw materials for further processing and processed foods are increasingly shipped all around the world, creating some new problems. Consumers ever demand an increasing variety in their food supply such that a typical Caribbean supermarket will carry alongside the traditional imports from New Zealand - beef, lamb, butter and cheddar cheese, such exotic foods as the green-lipped mussel and Maori sheeps’ milk cheese. Similarly consumers demand foods that are variously more "natural" more "healthy" , more "convenient" etc. The food industries, retailers, restaurants, air-line caterers, hoteliers & government authorities each have the task of assuring the safety of food, regardless of these new trends in eating habits and international commerce.

How this can be achieved, which problems have to be prevented and particularly which knowledge is essential in managing the production of safe foods is the subject of this Seminar. It is a joint cooperative venture between the Department of Biological & Chemical Sciences of the University of the West Indies and the VLAG Graduate School of Food Technology & Nutrition of Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The catalyst for this interaction is Medina Foods Inc. (Canada & Barbados).

TOPICS TO BE COVERED

• Micro-organisms as the major cause of food spoilage and food-borne illness
• Microbial ecology of raw materials
• Growth and survival of micro-organisms in foods
• Food preservation by heat, low temperature storage and chemical additives
• The human alimentary canal and its microflora
• The Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) concept
• Food legislation and quality systems
• Safety aspects of genetically modified foods

CONTRIBUTORS

Wageningen University Graduate School VLAG (Voeding, Levensmiddelentechnologie, Agrobiotechnologie en Gezondneid)

Professor Michiel van Schothorst
European Chair in Food Safety Microbiology, and
Director of Food Safety, Nestlé, Vevey, Switzerland.
(Food Safety Microbiology)

Wageningen Centre for Food Sciences

Professor Joseph Hautvast
M.D., Ph.D. (Nigmegen)
Director of the Centre and formerly Professor of Human Nutrition and
Health at Wageningen University Graduate School VLAG
(Human Nutrition - Novel Foods)

University of the West Indies (UWI)

Professor George Mathison,
B.Sc. (Bristol), Ph.D. (Nottingham)
Dean, Faculty of Science & Technology
(Environmental & Medical Microbiology)

Professor Paul Levett
B.Sc. (Surrey), Ph.D. (CNAA)
School of Clinical Medicine & Research
(Medical Microbiology)

Dr. Gail Baccus-Taylor
B.Sc., Diploma in Food Technology, M.Sc. (Reading), Ph.D. (Wisconsin)
Department of Chemical & Process Engineering, Faculty of Engineering
(Food Microbiology)

Ms. Suzanne Workman
B.Sc.(Manchester), M.Phil. (UWI)
Teaching Assistant, Department of Biological & Chemical Sciences
(Virology, Food Microbiology) 

Mr. Linroy Christian
B.Sc. (UWI)
Teaching Assistant, Department of Biological & Chemical Sciences
(Environmental Microbiology)

Barbados National Standards Institute (BNSI)

Mr. Ken Mullin
B.Tech. (Massey)
(Food Technology - Food Safety Legislation)

To enquire about notes from the seminar, or when the next seminar is.

 

Ms. J’anne Rudder, 

Department of Biological & Chemical Sciences, The University of the West Indies, 

Cave Hill Campus, 

P.O. Box 64, 

Bridgetown, 

Barbados.
Email: cfss2001@uwichill.edu.bb Fax: (246)417-4325 / 417-4597, Telephone: (246)-417-4324/23/22.

Final Registration date is April 30, 2001. Numbers may have to be restricted.

The course fee US$495.00 includes printed matter, refreshments during breaks and lunches.

Accommodation is avilable at Sir Frank Worrell Halls of Residence (single room, shared bathroom facilities), UWI - Cave Hill Campus at US $60.00 per night OR at Tamarind Cove Hotel, Paynes Bay, St. James at US $179.00 (single or double occupancy, taxes included).

Applicants will be notified of acceptance of their registration and will receive instructions for payment and further information.