Postgraduate Course: Food Safety in Livestock Production (VESC11288)
Course Outline
| School | Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies |
College | College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine |
| Credit level (Normal year taken) | SCQF Level 11 (Postgraduate) |
| Course type | Online Distance Learning |
Availability | Not available to visiting students |
| SCQF Credits | 10 |
ECTS Credits | 5 |
| Summary | This course will provide students with high quality SCQF level 11 in-depth knowledge of pre-harvest and post- harvest stages of food production of animal origin and the best ways to control food safety hazards along the food chain. |
| Course description |
This course will demonstrate, on a practical level, the importance of food safety at pre- and post- harvest stages. With an emphasis on farmers¿ and breeders¿ practices and attitudes to animal health and animal welfare, it shows how food safety hazards can be introduced into the food chain that can have public health impacts further down the food chain, and discusses how to prevent them. It also introduces important food safety policy and economic fundamentals and food safety metasystems.
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Entry Requirements (not applicable to Visiting Students)
| Pre-requisites |
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Co-requisites | |
| Prohibited Combinations | |
Other requirements | None |
Course Delivery Information
| Not being delivered |
Learning Outcomes
On completion of this course, the student will be able to:
- Demonstrate knowledge that covers and integrates the principles of food safety for food production from livestock, at pre- harvest and post-harvest stages.
- Critically review, consolidate and extend knowledge of main food safety hazards at each step of food production including developing original and creative responses to problems and issues and relevant preventive measures.
- Apply knowledge of a wide, and often unpredictable, variety of professional level contexts when dealing with different stakeholders of the food chain (e.g. farmers, government authorities, food industry representatives, consumers etc.)
- Deal with complex and professional issues and make informed judgments on issues not addressed by current professional codes of practices or ethical codes.
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Reading List
The reading currently associated with the lectures to be included in the 10-credit version will be rolled into the new course. Lecturers will be asked annually for any changes, as is the current practice.
All resources are already available online either as public access or through the University of Edinburgh Library. Students are given a weekly reading list. Examples of what may be recommended as essential reading are shown below:
Week 1
Jaffee, S. (n.d.) The Safe Food Imperative. Washington, DC: World Bank. doi:10.1596/978-1-4648-1345-0.
L. Unnevehr, D.R. (2003) Food Safety and Quality: Regulations, Trade, and the WTO. 2003. undefined. https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/Food-Safety-and-Quality%3A-Regulations%2C-Trade%2C-and-Unnevehr-Roberts/52a2cd8b28f9157e35465e03813dc7bb1d18edd8 .
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations and the World Trade Organization.(2017). Trade and Food Standards.
https://www.wto.org/english/res_e/booksp_e/tradefoodfao17_e.pdf .
SGS. (2022). Comparing Global Food Safety Initiative (GFSI) Recognized Standards
https://www.sgs.com/en/-/media/sgscorp/documents/corporate/white-papers/sgs-hn-comparing-global-food-safety-initiative-gfsi-recognized-standards-en.cdn.en.pdf.
M Focker, HJ van der Fels-Klerx (2020)
Economics applied to food safety, Current Opinion in Food Science, Volume 36, Pages 18-23,
ISSN 2214-7993,
https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cofs.2020.10.018.
Week 2
Anon. (n.d.) Farm Standards | Red Tractor Assurance. https://redtractorassurance.org.uk/our-standards/ .
Myo Min Aung, Y.S.C. (2014) Traceability in a food supply chain: Safety and quality perspectives. Food Control. 39, 172-184. doi:10.1016/j.foodcont.2013.11.007.
Week 3
M.C. Appleby (ed.) (2011) Animal welfare. Second edition.. Wallingford, CABI.
T. Grandin (ed.) (2014) Livestock handling and transport. Fourth edition.. Wallingford, CABI.
Mellor, D.J., Beausoleil, N.J., Littlewood, K.E., McLean, A.N., McGreevy, P.D., Jones, B. & Wilkins, C. (2020) The 2020 five domains model: Including human-animal interactions in assessments of animal welfare. Animals (Basel). 10 (10), 1-24. doi:10.3390/ani10101870
Week 4
Peter Edmondson, (2003) Avoidance of medicines residues in milk. In Practice. 25 (5), 278-283. doi:10.1136/inpract.25.5.278.
J.J. Lievaart, J.P.T.M.N. (1201) The Hazard analysis critical control point's (HACCP) concept as applied to some chemical, physical and microbiological contaminants of milk on dairy farms. A prototype. Veterinary Quarterly. 27 (1). doi:10.1080/01652176.2005.9695183.
Week 5
Wenfang Tan, C.P. (2016) Gene targeting, genome editing: from Dolly to editors. Transgenic Research. 25 (3), 273-287. doi:10.1007/s11248-016-9932-x.
Xiangzhong Yang, X.C.T. (2007) Risk assessment of meat and milk from cloned animals. Nature Biotechnology. 25 (1), 77. doi:10.1038/nbt1276.
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Additional Information
| Graduate Attributes and Skills |
All of the Skills for Success are encouraged by this course in the context of the programmes in which it will be delivered, but in particular it emphasises:
Critical Thinking: developing independent thought through questioning norms, practices and opinions; seeking relevant and appropriate evidence, and understanding biases; determining the significance of what is being expressed; seeing wider themes and patterns in information.
Curiosity: a desire to learn or discover, and to inspire or create new ideas and concepts; to continuously explore and learn from challenging experiences; to ask searching questions and adopt different perspectives; harness opportunities and take initiative.
Problem Solving: imagining alternative ways of addressing problems; synthesising information and translating into knowledge within different contexts; facilitating and co-producing solutions; considering complex systems with contradictions and uncertainties.
Collaboration: understanding and respecting the needs, perspectives and actions of others; fostering cooperation and managing conflict in groups; able to connect with and learn from others and build positive relationships.
Inclusivity: open to different views and perspectives; harnessing the benefit of difference and diversity; seeking to create inclusive and welcoming environments; communicating across language and cultures.
Adaptivity: being flexible as circumstances change; managing own time and wellbeing; coping with uncertainty and ambiguity; applying personal drive, motivation and determination.
Data and digital literacy: considering the ethical aspects of using data and technology; understanding, interpreting and questioning evidence derived from data and its sources; using digital tools appropriate to contexts.
Individuality: recognising and valuing previous experiences; nurturing skills and talents arrived with; identify and strengthen those skills which have personal, discipline and professional significance; create and implement plans for future growth.
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| Keywords | Food Safety,Policy,Economics,Standards,Trade,HACCP,Animal,Welfare,Veterinary,Residues |
Contacts
| Course organiser | Ms Cristina Soare
Tel: (0131 6)51 7451
Email: Cristina.Soare@ed.ac.uk |
Course secretary | Ms Linda Pollock
Tel: (0131) 650 6149
Email: Linda.Pollock@ed.ac.uk |
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