FSTC/DASC 606 Microbiology of Foods Spring, 2016 Instructor: Dr. Alejandro Castillo, Associate Professor, Dept. of Animal Science, 314A Kleberg Center, 845-3565, a-castillo@tamu.edu. No specific office hours. Please call or e-mail to schedule appointments. Class schedule: MWF 11:30-12:20, Kleberg Center Room 121 Course description: This is a course composed of lectures, discussion of relevant topics, written assignments and oral presentations. These activities will assist the student in understanding the different microorganisms of interest for the food industry. This information will be useful for food production and processing, safety and preservation. Although there are no prerequisites, the student is expected to be knowledgeable in basics of microbiology. Students with no knowledge of microbiology are discouraged from enrolling unless they acquire basic knowledge of general microbiology. Learning outcomes: At the end of the course, the student will understand: 1. What Food Microbiology is and its importance for the food industry 2. The sources of microorganisms in foods and the mechanisms by which undesirable microorganisms contaminate foods 3. The intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting microbial growth and survival in foods 4. How microbiology spoilage occurs in foods 5. How to manipulate the intrinsic and extrinsic factors for effectively preserving foods 6. Indicator organisms and their importance for the food industry 7. The microbiology of primary food commodities 8. The impact of food safety on public health 9. The characteristics of specific pathogenic microorganisms commonly transmitted by foods 10. Characteristics of non-bacterial toxins associated with foodborne disease 11. Conventional and rapid methods for the microbiological examination of foods 12. The basics of how food safety systems work in the food industry Course approach: This course will consist of discussion of information collected by the student on specific topics and will be separated in 4 modules (see attached document Course Content ). At the end of each module the students must prepare and submit a short literature review on the topics covered. In addition, a partial examination will be given at the end of each module. Complementary lectures will be given to reinforce or supplement the information of the various modules. The course will also include group presentations on specific topics relevant to food microbiology. Textbooks and reference materials: The following books will be used for reference. The exams will be based primarily, but not exclusively, on the information contained on these books: Modern Food Microbiology, 7 th Ed. 2005 James M. Jay, Martin J. Loessner and David A. Golden Springer Science+Business Media, Inc. ISBN 0-387-23180-3 ISBN 0-387-23413-6 (e-book) Food Microbiology: Fundamentals and Frontiers, 3 rd Ed. 2007 Michael P. Doyle and Larry R. Beuchat, Eds. ASM Press ISBN 978-1-55581-407-6 ISBN 978-1-55581-591-2 (e-book)
Other publications of interest: Journal of Food Protection International Journal of Food Microbiology Food Microbiology Journal of Food Safety Exams: There will be four written, one-hour partial exams and a comprehensive, final exam. These tests will primarily consist of short answer questions. However, the instructor may include a few questions using other methods such as true/false, fill in the blank, multiple-choice or an essay on a specific topic. Some tests may be take-home, if they are considered to be appropriate. The final exam will not be necessary for students with an exam average of A ( 90), will be optional for students with an exam average of B ( 80) and will be mandatory for students with any other exam average. The grade for the final test will substitute all partial test grades but not other course grades such as written assignments or oral presentation. Written assignments: After each module, each student is required to prepare a short review of literature adjusting to the following the guidelines: 1. The written assignments are personal. 2. Manuscripts will have a minimum of 3 pages and should not exceed 4 pages not including the references. It must be written using double spaced, 10-12 point font and the pages should be numbered. 3. The manuscript may be typed in Arial, Times New Roman, Cambria or Calibri type fonts. Other fonts will not be accepted. 4. The assignment should include a short review of a specific topic assigned, which is related to the modules of the course. 5. At least 6 references must be cited in the manuscript and only two of them will be books or reviews. The rest should be research papers. 6. Submission will be by e-mail only. No hard copies will be received. The manuscripts must include the following sections: 1. A title describing the contents of the manuscript. This should be as short as possible, but with a clearly indicating what the paper is about. 2. Name of the author and date. 3. Introduction indicating the problem or topic to be presented. 4. Objective of the literature review. 5. Body of the manuscript. Here information should be presented; but also an interpretation of the meaning of the information, as viewed by the student. a. It is not OK to just copy and paste, or repeat verbatim what was read in a book or journal. b. As said before, just showing information and adding the corresponding citation is not sufficient. The student should be capable of drawing a conclusion of what he or she read. 6. Conclusions. 7. References (a minimum of 6, with a maximum of 2 from a book or review. a. The references and citing will follow the guidelines of the International Journal of Food Microbiology (IJFM). It is the responsibility of the student to obtain IJFM guidelines. They are available from the journal s website. The deadlines for submission of these written assignments are: Module: Deadline for submission I February 10 II March 4 III March 30 IV May 2
Oral presentation: Work teams, 4 total for the entire class, will be formed and each team assigned one special topic, selected by the instructor. The instructor will assist with information on the topic at the request of the teams. Teams should be formed on a voluntary basis before March 2. On March 2, the instructor will form the remaining teams and the corresponding topic will be assigned. Each team then will be required to prepare an audio-visual presentation summarizing the topic that was assigned by the instructor. Presentations should be delivered in a maximum of 20 minutes and the team may use overheads, slides, PowerPoint presentation, or any other audio or visual aids. The students will not be credited based upon the beauty of the presented materials. However, this is a good opportunity to develop or enhance the ability to create attention-calling presentations as part of the communication skills that are desirable in a post-graduate professional. Grading policies: The final grade (100%) will be composed of the sum of the grade obtained on the following activities: Exam grade: 50% Exam 1 = 12.5 points. Test date: February 5 Exam 2 = 12.5 points. Test date: February 26 Exam 3 = 12.5 points. Test date: April 1 Exam 4 = 12.5 points. Test date: April 29 Alternatively, final exam (comprehensive) = 50% Test date: May 10, 10:30 12:30 Written assignment grade: 36% Module 1 = 9 points. Deadline February 10 at 8:00 pm Module 2 = 9 points. Deadline March 4 at 8:00 pm Module 3 = 9 points. Deadline March 30 at 8:00 pm Module 4 = 9 points. Deadline May 2 at 8:00 pm Oral presentation = 14% Team 1 and 2 present April 25 Team 3 and 4 present April 27 Grading system: A = 90 B = 80 89 C = 70 79 D = 60 69 F = 60 Attendance, Audit and Make-Up Policies: Regular attendance and participation in the course is expected of all students. Anticipated absences should be cleared with the instructor prior to the absence. Emergency absences (serious illness, injury, death, etc.) should be reported as soon as possible. Those students auditing the course are expected to participate all sessions. Make-up work and exams will be allowed under extenuating circumstances for which written excuses are provided. If an absence is excused, the instructor will either provide the student an opportunity to make up any quiz, exam or other work that contributes to the final grade or provide a satisfactory alternative by a date agreed upon by the student and instructor. The timeframe for completing all makeup work must not exceed 30 calendar days from the last day of the initial absence. For basic Texas A&M attendance rules, visit http://student-rules.tamu.edu/rule07. Course topics, calendar of activities, major assignments, test dates: Disclaimer: The dates shown in the calendar of activities are tentative and may change depending on class performance. It is more important for me to cover the subjects and have them understood than to adjust to a calendar. The only dates that will not move are those in bold italic text indicating deadlines, exams and holidays Tentative dates Topic January 20 Welcome and orientation. Introduction to food microbiology, microbial groups of interest in foods. History of food microbiology 22 Lecture: Sources of microorganisms in foods. Growth, survival and death of microorganisms in
foods 25 Lecture: Intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting microbial growth and survival in foods 27 Discussion: Intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting microbial growth and survival in foods 29 Discussion: Intrinsic and extrinsic factors affecting microbial growth and survival in foods. February 1 Lecture: Cell stress and sublethal damage. Microbial antagonism 3 Lecture: Indicator organisms 5 First partial examination: Will cover all topics in Module I 8 Lecture: Microbiology of food spoilage Discussion: Preservation by low temperatures: Freezing and refrigeration 10 Discussion: Heat processing of foods: Pasteurization, cooking, canning. Last day for submitting Module I lit. review 12 Discussion: Preservation by reducing water activity. 15 Discussion: Preservation by acidification and atmosphere modification (vacuum, other modified atmospheres, controlled atmosphere) 17 Discussion/Lecture: Preservation by chemical preservatives 19 Discussion/Lecture: Preservation by chemical preservatives 22 Lecture: Ionizing radiations in food: Pasteurization, processing and disinfestation 24 Discussion: Microbiology of milk and milk products 26 Second partial examination: Will cover all topics in Module II 29 Discussion: Microbiology of fresh meats and poultry March 2 Discussion: Microbiology of processed meats. Oral presentation teams formed 4 Discussion: Microbiology of seafood. Last day for submitting Module II lit. review specific topics 7 Discussion: Microbiology of fruits and vegetables 9 Discussion: Microbiology of mayonnaise, dressings, eggs, cereals, nuts and oilseeds 11 Discussion: General discussion on Module III. Questions and answers. 14 Spring Break. Holiday 16 18 21 Lecture: Foodborne diseases and their impact on the economy 23 Discussion: Salmonella 25 Reading day. No class 28 Discussion: Salmonella 30 Discussion: Pathogenic Escherichia coli (emphasis on STEC). Last day for submitting Module III lit. review specific topics April 1 Third partial examination: Will cover all topics in Module III 4 Discussion: Pathogenic Escherichia coli (emphasis on STEC) 6 Discussion: Family Vibrionaceae 8 Discussion: Campylobacter, Arcobacter, Helicobacter 11 Discussion: Continuation of previous topic. Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes. 13 Discussion: Continuation of previous topic. Sporeforming pathogens (Clostridium botulinum, C. perfringens, C. difficile, Bacillus cereus) 15 Discussion: Continuation of previous topic. General discussion on Module IV. Questions and answers. 18 Discussion: Viruses, parasites, toxins and miscellaneous bacteria 20 Lecture: Rapid and Conventional Methods for the Microbiological Examination of Foods. 22 Lecture: Microbiological criteria and HACCP 25 Oral Presentations. Teams 1 and 2 27 Oral Presentations. Teams 3 and 4 29 Fourth partial examination: Will cover all topics in Module IV May 2 Course review. Last class session. Last day for submitting Module IV lit. review specific topics. 10 Final Exam. Comprehensive, 10:30 12:30
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