Delivering safe food from field to plate

Food growers and suppliers from across the UK are attending a week-long master class on food safety from field to plate.

The course, run by Lancaster University in conjunction with the University of Salford, brings together leading national experts in food safety, pesticides and microbiological hazards such as salmonella and E. coli to address some of the challenges facing modern farming and food production.

'Food Safety in Crop Production' is funded by the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council and runs from January 16 to 20th at the Lakeside Hotel, Newby Bridge, Cumbria.

Industry and academic experts will look at each stage of the food production process from fertilizers and pesticides used in the field through to harvest, storage, preparation and transport of food to the point of delivery to the customer.

Banana, berry and fresh salad suppliers are among the businesses to have signed up for the residential course, which is the first of its kind.

Dr Mark Bacon, Director of Enterprise and Business Partnerships in the Lancaster Environment Centre, Lancaster University, has organised the programme.

He said: "Producing safe food and keeping food safe remains a world-wide public health problem and an increasingly high profile issue in the media. This is a unique opportunity for growers and suppliers to gain an up-to-date scientific understanding of the issues and to access expert information from leading experts.

"We will examine the real and perceived threats to human health posed by food crop contamination and look at the legal framework regulating pesticides and other residues."

Lancaster University Biologist Dr Keith Jones will take one of the modules, which focuses on the Microbiological hazards that can cause food poisoning.

He said: "Produce grown in the field and is always at risk of contamination from various pathogens but the vast majority of products are safe as long as good practice is followed. However, there have been some large outbreaks of Salmonella and E. coli 0157 associated with lettuce in several EU countries recently, so sometimes something goes wrong.

"We will look at potential sources of contamination - ranging from wild birds and rainwater to storage and cleaning procedures - and examine examples of good practice."