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Fundamentals of Developing Your Environmental Monitoring Program

Virtual Learning8 hours

Course Overview

Looking to train your team? You might benefit from private training.
Registering more than 5 people? You might benefit from private training.
Let us come to you! Onsite or virtual private training available. Contact us for more information!

Many foodborne illness outbreaks are tied to equipment or environmental controls and personnel hygiene practices. Do you have a robust risk-based environmental monitoring program (EMP) in place to monitor the ready-to-eat (RTE) environment and reduce contamination risks?

This course covers the fundamentals of designing and implementing an EMP, so that you can identify problem areas and respond to positive results from microbial testing swiftly and effectively.

This course includes a homework assignment between sessions one and two that will take approximately 20 minutes to complete. Please have your completed assignment with you for part two of the training course.

An email address is required for registration and to receive the login instructions.

Upon registration, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the training course through NSF’s eLearning portal. Any additional information pertaining to the course will be sent in your confirmation email.

You will find your course material and homework/exam on the NSF Learner portal. You will need to access the portal in order to successfully complete the course and print your certificate. Upon successful course completion, you will gain access to print your official NSF Certificate.

Who should Attend

Operational, Quality, Technical Staff and Food Safety personnel working in manufacturing or retail with food safety plans and programs. Also suitable for professionals new to the industry.

Prerequisite

A good understanding of microbial testing requirements in a food manufacturing environment.

View the Full Course Description

Course Objective

At the end of the program, learners will be able to: 

  • Discuss environmental monitoring as a tool for strengthening and maintaining a robust food safety system 

  • Identify key elements to include in an effective EMP  

  • Begin developing or strengthening an EMP 

  • Describe best practices and strategies for EMP implementation 

  • Compare environmental monitoring practices for a dry RTE environment and a wet  RTE environment 

  • Determine sampling frequency, design sampling procedures and choose indicator microorganisms 

  • Respond to positive pathogen results 

 

Accreditation  

As an Association for Continuing Education and Training (IACET) Accredited Provider, NSF Training offers CEUs for its programs that qualify under the ANSI/IACET Standard. NSF Training is authorized by IACET to offer the number of CEUs below for this program. 

0.65 CEUs

 

Computer and Internet Connection: 

You will need regular access to a computer with an internet connection. High speed broadband access (LAN, Cable or DSL) is recommended. 

Compatible Web Browsers: Firefox, Chrome, Safari, IE Edge and higher 

 

Accommodations 

NSF is committed to accommodating the learning requirements of all our stakeholders. If you require special assistance for any reason, please contact us at nsftraining.na@nsf.org

Additional Recommended Courses

Sanitary Design for Food Plants

Looking to train your team? You might benefit from private training.
Registering more than 5 people? You might benefit from private training.
Let us come to you! Onsite or virtual private training available.
Contact us for more information!

A major contributor to the survival of pathogens in equipment and the environment is lack of proper sanitary design, resulting in hard-to-clean microbial niches. This course helps you understand the principles and impact of sanitary design so you can assess new equipment and installation design, refine and modify processes, and resolve issues while minimizing the potential for contaminants to be introduced into the facility.

Training covers requirements and industry standards for new equipment design and installation to meet the highest standards of hygiene.

What this course covers

  • Evaluate food plant case studies and scenarios to assess sanitary design

  • Determine the sanitary design requirements for various facility projects and equipment purchases

  • Use the American Meat Institute (AMI) checklist to assess sanitary design

An email address is required for registration and to receive the login instructions.

Upon registration, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the training course through NSF’s eLearning portal. Any additional information pertaining to the course will be sent in your confirmation email.

You will find your course material and homework/exam on the NSF Learner portal. You will need to access the portal in order to successfully complete the course and print your certificate. Upon successful course completion, you will gain access to print your official NSF Certificate.

Who should Attend

Operational, Quality, Technical Staff and Food Safety personnel working in manufacturing or retail with food safety plans and programs. Also suitable for professionals new to the industry.

This course is not designed for installation and construction engineers.

Root Cause Analysis for Corrective and Preventive Action

Looking to train your team? You might benefit from private training.
Registering more than 5 people? You might benefit from private training.
Let us come to you! Onsite or virtual private training available.
Contact us for more information!

Root cause analysis (RCA) is a method for problem-solving that identifies permanent practical solutions. RCA is required as part of corrective action in GFSI-benchmarked schemes. If you struggle with repeat non-conformances or problems that seem hard to solve, this instructor-led course provides you with the tools for finding effective solutions to food safety and quality issues.

What this course covers

  • Select an appropriate RCA tool based on the nature of the problem

  • Identify which issues are truly significant and prioritize efforts

  • Explore ways to identify potential factors causing problems and select the most likely cause(s)

An email address is required for registration and to receive the login instructions.

Upon registration, you will receive an email with instructions on how to access the training course through NSF’s eLearning portal. Any additional information pertaining to the course will be sent in your confirmation email.

You will find your course material and homework/exam on the NSF Learner portal. You will need to access the portal in order to successfully complete the course and print your certificate. Upon successful course completion, you will gain access to print your official NSF Certificate.

Who should Attend

Operational, Quality, Technical Staff and Food Safety personnel working in manufacturing or retail with food safety plans and programs. Also suitable for professionals new to the industry.