Food Safety and Quality Assurance

This unit provides basic concepts and principles in food safety and quality assurance, Australian food legislation and standards applied to food production. The importance of quality assurance principles and International food standards codes will be emphasized. The impact of the various preservation techniques on product safety, quality and nutritional value of food will be discussed. Students will also be introduced to the basic concept and principles of Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) in food safety methodology that ensures the production of safe, clean and hygienic food. The unit will rigorously evaluate the cleaning and sanitation practices in the food, beverage, and hospitality industries, including retail. It will focus importantly on potential consequences of inadequate food quality control, poor food safety management and the ethical dilemmas resulting from food recalls, foodborne illness outbreaks and deaths. The unit will further provide an introduction to concepts and principles of food quality assurance and relevant testing methods. It will explore the concept of quality from scientific, regulatory and legal perspectives, including total quality control (TQC), total quality management (TQM), statistical sampling and control charts used in Food Processing.