CH5200 FOOD MICROBIOLOGY

This course is an introduction into food microbiology for students with some background in cell biology. The theoretical part of the course deals with growth and inactivation of micro-organisms as influenced by food properties and food processing. You will explore how micro-organisms positively and negatively affect the quality of foods (fermentation, spoilage). Moreover, an overview is given of the variety of foodborne illness caused by micro-organisms such as Campylobacter, Salmonella, E. coli O157, Listeria monocytogenes, viruses, parasites and fungi. Students will learn about ways to control the quality and safety of foods such as good manufacturing practices (including personal hygiene) and cleaning and disinfection. Assignments on Blackboard are available to facilitate the learning process. Food microbiologists should be able to evaluate the quality and safety of food products. In order to practice these skills both spoilage organisms and pathogens will be isolated from various food products and environments during the laboratory classes. Also several bactericidal treatments will be investigated.