Applied Food Mycology

Course structure

This course is a 2.5 day course and includes a mixture of lectures, demonstrations, some hands on measurements of products and shelf-life relationships and preservatives, group work to develop HACCP plans for different food chains.

What you will learn

This course aims to provide both advanced and detailed training in theoretical and practical ways to identify, understand the ecology and control strategies for food spoilage moulds in food products.

It will provide a thorough understanding of the ecology and physiology of yeasts and moulds in key food chains and the methods for detecting and controlling mould contamination, mycotoxin contamination, and use of hurdle technology for improving shelf life.

In addition, this course will:

• Provide a detailed knowledge and recognition of the key groups of fungi responsible for spoilage in key food chains.
• Improve the critical ability to integrate knowledge and thinking on mould spoilage problems in the context of the entire food supply chain.
• Provide an understanding of the conceptual awareness of fungal ecology and mycotoxin contamination and apply this to situations relating to food safety and quality.
• Apply the approaches presented in the course to industrial situations.
• Use group work to examine the use of HACCP approaches for food production chains.

Core content

• Introduction – food mycology do we know enough?
• Beverage/yeast spoilage/heat resistant fungal spores and problems in beverages.
• Mycotoxins: their importance in different food chains.
• Mycotoxins: regulations and sampling issues.
• HACCP: Principles and Critical Control Point determination.
• Prevention strategies for mycotoxigenic fungi.
• Modelling fungal growth.
• Climate change impacts on moulds/mycotoxins.
• Analysis and rapid diagnostics – traditional vs. modern approaches.
• Factory environment – mould problems.
• Hands-on practical work with spoilage moulds.
• Examination of food products to understand the relationship between ingredients and relative shelf life of different products (e.g. 1 week to 2-3 months).
• Demonstration sessions for food spoilage moulds: including mycotoxin analyses.

Who should attend

• Managers involved in food production, especially bakery products; intermediate moisture products.
• Raw material procurement managers.
• Technical staff who want to upskill with more knowledge on food spoilage by moulds and mycotoxins.
• HACCP designers for different processes
• Managers who want to have a more holistic view of the impact that mould spoilage and mycotoxins can have on their products.

Partnerships

This course is delivered in partnership with the Agrifood Training Partnership (AFTP)

Speakers

Professor Angel Medina Vaya

Accommodation options and prices

This is a non-residential course. If you would like to book accommodation on campus, please contact Mitchell Hall or Cranfield Management Development Centre directly. Further information regarding our accommodation on campus can be found here.

Alternatively you may wish to make your own arrangements at a nearby hotel.

Location and travel

Cranfield University is situated in Bedfordshire close to the border with Buckinghamshire. The University is located almost midway between the towns of Bedford and Milton Keynes and is conveniently situated between junctions 13 and 14 of the M1.

London Luton, Stansted and Heathrow airports are 30, 90 and 90 minutes respectively by car, offering superb connections to and from just about anywhere in the world. 

For further location and travel details

Location address

Cranfield University
College Road
Cranfield
Bedford 
MK43 0AL