| Responsible Department | Department of Veterinary Disease Biology | ||||||||||
| Earliest Possible Year | MSc. 1 year to MSc. 2 year | ||||||||||
| Duration | One block | ||||||||||
| Credits | 7.5 (ECTS) | ||||||||||
| Level of Course | MSc | ||||||||||
| Examination | Final Examination written examination and oral examination All aids allowed Description of Examination: . The examination is comprised of the following elements: o Two marked assignments during the course in the form of a short individual credit papers o Ten minutes interview on-line performed by using a web camera facilitated connection. The web-cam examination is to ensure that it is the same person who has taken the course, through identification of the student at the examination (in the form of showing a passport or another valid ID). The web-cam examination can be compared to a normal face to face oral examination and will include questions to the assignments the student has handed in during the course along with questions of general understanding of the curriculum. For the web-cam examination the student is responsible for having access to the internet, a functional web-cam and headset, either through the local university or elsewhere. o Copenhagen University reserves the right to control the credit papers concerning plagiarism 7-point scale, internal examiner | ||||||||||
| Requirement for Attending Exam | . In order to qualify for participation in the examination, the student must have completed at least 75% of the E-learning modules. | ||||||||||
| Organisation of Teaching | Internet based E-learning modules with at weekly deadlines. The course can be followed from anywhere in the world since it is 100% internet based with no physical meetings between the participants or the participants and the teachers. | ||||||||||
| Block Placement | Block 4 Week Structure: Outside schedule | ||||||||||
| Language of Instruction | English | ||||||||||
| Optional Prerequisites | International Food Legislation and Quality Management (e.g. as in LIFE.KU course no. 270064), basic knowledge in food microbiology, basic chemistry, food technology and skills in quality assurance incl. HACCP assumed | ||||||||||
| Mandatory Prerequisites | A B.Sc. degree of relevance | ||||||||||
| Restrictions | The course is limited to 27 students. | ||||||||||
| Course Content | |||||||||||
| Chemical Content - Chemical compounds way to and occurrence in foodstuffs - farm to fork, general toxicology, compound groups of special relevance (natural plant toxins, pesticides, heavy metals, algal- and mycotoxins, persistent organic compounds from industrial activities and the handling of wastes, food additives etc.), methods in risk assessment, risk management and risk communication, international organisations and their roles - FN (WHO, FAO), EU (EFSA and EMEA) and important legislation. Microbiological Content - Zoonotic diseases of importance to food safety will be investigated with emphasis on how to investigate food products and interpret the results. Particularly attention will be given to molecular typing methods used for outbreak investigations and for tracking of pathogens in the food chain with focus on use, limitations and interpretation of data. | |||||||||||
| Teaching and learning Methods | |||||||||||
| The course is structured in a number of E-modules each of which contains a number of E-lessons. A key activity is on-line discussions between the students and between students and teachers. Emphasis is also placed on training the students to retrieve and evaluate professionally literature from scientific databases as well as from a number of other sources. A number of materials will, however, also be provided on-line as pre-selected by the teachers, however. In order to facilitate the learning process a number of on-line students self-test will be provided. | |||||||||||
| Learning Outcome | |||||||||||
| The objective of the course is to provide a theoretical introduction into the main subject areas within Food Safety. The emphasis will be on contaminants, natural inherent plant constituents and additives as well as on microbiological entities. After completing the course the student should be able to: Knowledge: Describe the most important chemical contaminants with regard to origin, route into the food chain and main adverse effects. Describe the most important food additives by classes. Display an overview of ADME, toxicity testing and risk assessment Describe the most important microbial contaminants with regard to origin, route into the food chain and main adverse effects Describe and compare detection and typing methods, their applications and limitations including both traditional and advanced molecular methods Describe regulations and microbiological criteria in his/her country Point to improvements of national control systems concerning microbiological safety Describe global food control and warning systems Skills: Apply theory to calculate simple kinetic parameters and ADI, MRL's etc. for a compound Apply existing knowledge of prevalence, symptoms, biological properties of pathogens and combine with knowledge of food production processes to analyze incidences of food borne outbreaks Communicate knowledge of risks and risk management Competences: Cooperate with other expert groups about toxicity testing, result analysis and risk communication | |||||||||||
| Course Literature | |||||||||||
| (1) Scientific and technical articles (to be provides electronically) (2) Internet based web pages of relevant International Organisations (3) Course compendia (provided electronically) (4) Chapters from relevant e-books (to be provided electronically) | |||||||||||
| Course Coordinator | |||||||||||
| Leon Brimer, lbr@life.ku.dk, Department of Veterinary Disease Biology/Section for Biomedicine, Phone: 353-33181 | |||||||||||
| Study Board | |||||||||||
| Study Committee LSN | |||||||||||
| Work Load | |||||||||||
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