VTPEH 6123 - Food Systems Approaches to Food Safety

Fall. 3 credits. Letter grades only (no audit).

Prerequisite: VTPEH 6121, VTPEH 6122 or equivalent. Enrollment limited to: MPH students; others with permission of instructor.

L. Goodman, L. Smith.

Every year, over 48 million people experience a foodborne illness. In this course you will learn how foodborne illnesses are investigated, and how outbreaks are traced through complex food systems back to the contaminated food. By conducting patient interviews, you will gain practical experience in solving foodborne disease outbreaks. You will also contribute to preventing foodborne outbreaks in our community by working with local food processors to reduce food safety risks.

Outcome 1: Identify food safety risks throughout specific farm-to-fork food systems

Outcome 2: Describe relevant disease surveillance systems and their roles in outbreak surveillance and detection

Outcome 3: Acquire practical investigation skills by collecting data for use in real-life foodborne disease investigations

Outcome 4: Implement root cause analyses to facilitate foodborne disease outbreak investigations

Outcome 5: Synthesize data of recent national foodborne disease outbreaks help support prevention (via policy change, systems change, education, etc.)