Microbial shelf life assessment under new societal challenges

10 and 11 May 2023

Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal)

The Workshop “Microbial shelf life assessment under new societal challenges” will take place on the 10-11 May 2023 at the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (Portugal). The Workshop is organised as a proof-of-concept training event within the Erasmus+ Programme e-SafeFood project, whose main objective is to develop online training programmes on microbiological food risks with a strong practical component and certified at European level (https://www.esafefood.net/)


“Microbial shelf life assessment under new societal challenges” is a free-of-charge face-to-face workshop, but registration is required.

 

PARTNERS

AIM OF THE WORKSHOP

    At the end of the workshop, the participant should be able to:

  • identify the useful regulatory documents for determining the microbiological shelf life;
  • identify the physical and microbial characteristics of a food product and the consequence of pathogen or spoilage bacteria growth capacity;
  • use the different tools and approaches available to determine the microbiological shelf life of food, including determination, validation and verification;
  • apply predictive microbiology in the determination of shelf-life;
  • understand the procedure to design and assess the efficiency of a microbial sampling plan; and
  • understand the considerations to successfully execute a durability test study and a challenge test study.

AUDIENCE

    The intended audience for this workshop includes Master/PhD students, researchers and academic staff who have an interest in microbial shelf-life determination.


    Maximum participants: The face-to-face workshop accommodates a maximum of 40 trainees in order to maintain interactive work and discussion.

COURSE SCHEDULE

DAY 1 (10 May 2022): Microbiological shelf-life determination and validation


  1. An opening session – welcome

    9h10 – 09h15

  2. Knowledge assessment. Current societal trends and impact on microbial shelf life

    9h15 – 10h15

  3. General Legislation rule

    10h15 – 10h30

  4. Coffee break (10 min)

  5. Legislation on food microbial shelf life and recommendations guidelines

    10h40 – 11h15

  6. Food characterisation: intrinsic factors

    11h15 – 12h00

  7. LUNCH

  8. Microbiological analysis: design of a sampling plan, efficiency and interpretation, use of historical control data

    13h45 – 14h35

  9. Durability studies

    14h40 – 15h15

  10. Coffee break (15 min)

  11. Challenge test studies

    15h30 – 16h40

  12. Questions from the audience in the room

    16h45 – 17h00

  13. Conclusion and programme for the next day

    17h

DAY 2 (11 May 2022): Predictive Microbiology


  1. Principles of predictive microbiology modelling

    9h00 – 9h45

  2. Three case studies for RTE food products based on simulations

    9h45 – 12h00

  3. Coffee break (15 min)

  4. Feedback of the training

    12h15 – 12h35

  5. Conclusions and perspectives

    12h35

TUTORS

Valerie Stahl

Food Microbiological Safety
AERIAL
ACTIA Technical Institute, France

Catherine Denis

Food Microbiological Safety
ACTALIA
ACTIA Technical Institute, France

Vasco Cadavez

Computational approaches in food safety
IPB, Portugal

Ursula Gonzales-Barron

Computational approaches in food safety
IPB, Portugal

COURSE LOCATION

    The Workshop will take place in the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança


    Venue: School of Agriculture
    Polytechnic Institute of Bragança (IPB)
    Campus de Santa Apolónia, 5300-253 Bragança
    Portugal

     

      How to get there?

    • The Francisco Sá Carneiro in Porto (OPO) airport is the nearest International airport.
    • Directions from Porto airport
    • The following bus companies travel Porto – Bragança – Porto:
    • Rede eXpressos (on line ticketing available): https://rede-expressos.pt/pt
    • RodoNorte (online schedules and fares): https://www.rodonorte.pt/pt/
    • Santos (online schedules and fares): https://www.santosviagensturismo.pt/pt/

MEALS

    Meals will be served at the restaurant of the Polytechnic Institute of Bragança. Payment is made locally with prices varying from 6-8 euro per meal.

REGISTRATION

The workshop is free-of-charge, but it has a maximum number of participants of 40.

 

Registration is done by completing the registration form.

 

Registration form

 

For further information, e-mail Ursula Gonzales-Barron: ubarron@ipb.pt