Safe cooking: process validation

This is an industry sector that has expanded recently and currently has a high retail value. It is essential to ensure that cooked foods are safe to eat since many do not require further heating by the consumer.

The course will be of interest to companies that cook meat, fish, vegetables and poultry, as well as those that use cooked ingredients in chilled products, and to retailers offering ready-to-eat products. It is ideal for technical managers and QA/QC, process and product development teams.

The course will deal with all aspects of the cooking process, from the microbiological requirements to methods to validate the thermal process, calculation of pasteurisation values, oven systems and post-oven measurements. Most of the principles are equally applicable to cooking of meat and fish products as well as vegetables.

• Thermo-microbiology
• Biochemistry of cooked meat
• Heat transfer characteristics
• Oven and cooker technology
• Process validation and instrumentation
• Process evaluation methods
• P-value calculations
• Process monitoring
• Product cooling