UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. -- With more than a thousand food manufacturers and processors, Pennsylvania is the largest food processing state in the Northeast, so food safety is a major concern. A new Penn State Cooperative Extension program offers food safety solutions for the state's food industry by taking customized training directly to the factory floor, anywhere in the state.

"Front Line Food Safety Training for Food Processors" is a four-part training program that presents hands-on instruction in the fundamentals of food safety for line employees who handle food during its production or processing, according to Catherine Cutter, assistant professor in Penn State's department of food science.

"This program was developed because processors have requested in-house training to avoid the travel and lost-time costs associated with sending employees to a central location," Cutter says. "The intent of this program is to bring the educators into the food processing environment and allows them to train line employees right in or near their plant.

"Extension educators have undergone extensive training in food processing to understand the fundamentals of dairy, meat and poultry, fruit and vegetables, cereals and confectionary processing. Many of the principles that have been learned are tied into what happens in food processing environments, so the program teaches in terms the average employee understands.

"Each module has activities that help employees to see their role in preventing illness at the processing level -- things like personal hygiene, cross contamination, factors affecting microbial growth or things that relate to sources of foodborne microorganisms and the role the employee plays in controlling it," she says.

In Pennsylvania, food manufacturing means everything from making marshmallow baby chicks to packaging portabella mushrooms. Cutter says with such variety, it's important for food handlers to know the basis of food processing safety.

"Some of the most common issues presented in the program are related to personal hygiene -- whether to wear street clothing, the importance of changing frocks, washing boots or hands when you go from one area of the plant to another," she says. "The program also emphasizes the role of cross-contamination. Sometimes employees aren't even aware that they're transmitting microorganisms from one place in the plant to another just by walking across an area. So it is important to enhance employees' knowledge about ways to decrease contamination in the final product and working environment."

Educators have great flexibility in how the modules are presented -- one module per week, on consecutive days or several weeks apart. They also can incorporate scenarios or activities pertinent to the plant, an effective tactic that drives the food processing security message home and increases employees' comprehension.

Participants receive certificates of participation, and educators provide posters for in-house advertising of the training, as well as sets of food processing safety training posters and other leave-behind training aids to reinforce the messages of food safety.

Costs for the instruction are approximately $25 per person per module. For more information or scheduling, Pennsylvania food processors can contact Cutter at 814-865-8862 or by e-mail at cnc3@psu.edu. Processors also can contact their local county Penn State Cooperative Extension office for more information.

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EDITORS: Contact Catherine Cutter at 814-865-8862 or by e-mail at cnc3@psu.edu.

Gary Abdullah Email gxa2@psu.edu Office 814-863-2708 FAX 814-863-9877