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Food Safety and Food Security virtual workshop : Arequipa Nexus 3rd Annual Workshop Series

November 10, 2020

Drs. Amanda Deering, Haley Oliver, Oscar Galagarza, and Alejandra Ramirez from the Nexus project: "Development of Good Agricultural and Manufacturing Practices Trainings for Growers and Food Processors in Arequipa, Peru", are hosting the “Food Safety and Food Security sessions as part of the virtual Arequipa Nexus 3rd Annual Workshop Series with their UNSA colleagues: Mariel Alvarez and Maria del Carme Ortiz.

The modules focus on training UNSA participants on safe food production, processing practices to minimize bacterial contamination and on the use of traditional and molecular detection techniques to evaluate bacterial contamination in foods. The participants watch the recorded lectures and complete an assignment on the following topics: agriculture and manufacture practices, lab techniques in food microbiology.

After completing all the materials in the module, participants discussed directly questions and comments with instructors in an online session. During this live session, attendees shared what they learned about safe food production and detection techniques to evaluate bacterial contamination in foods, and enhanced their learning experience in the discussion with other participants. The question topics were related to the strategies to control foodborne pathogens in food production, and innovative storage packaging and safety of cereals and grains.

The project:

Development of Good Agricultural and Manufacturing Practices Trainings for Growers and Food Processors in Arequipa, Peru project is a collaboration with faculty and staff from UNSA has the goal of developing training programs that will educate growers and food processors in Good Agricultural Practices and Good Manufacturing Practices in Arequipa, Peru. More specifically, the objectives of this project are to: 1) Develop training materials for UNSA personnel, and growers and cheese processors in Peru; 2) Analyze water quality, pesticide residues, and microbial quality of fruits and vegetables grown in the Arequipa, Peru.