IFPTI to Reimburse Training Costs

Cash-strapped health departments will be pleased to begin the year with a little good news. The International Food Protection Training Institute (IFPTI) in Battle Creek, Mich., is offering to reimburse all training costs for state and local officials who attend its training courses.

The institute has just released a preliminary 2010 training schedule. The curriculum is being developed in collaboration with the FDA and the Association of Food and Drug Officials, with FDA
and AFDO presenting many of the courses. Courses range from the basics of inspection and investigation, low acid canned foods, evidence development, retail food safety and managing food recalls, among others.

The National Center for Biomedical Research and Training at Louisiana State University will offer a class on food emergencies in February and one on instructor development in July. In April, NSF
International will present courses on food equipment standards and retail plan reviews and—in September—one on the Global Food Safety Initiative and third-party standards awareness for regulatory officials.

In May, the Seafood HACCP Alliance will offer a “train the trainer” seafood HACCP class for domestic use, as well as two others in June targeted for international seafood HACCP, one for Asia (to be held in San Francisco) and another for Central and South America (to be held in Miami).

Also in May, the National Environmental Health Association will present a class on biology and control of insects and rodents.

In June, AFDO will hold a produce traceability course in Norfolk, Va.

Since July 2009, some 300 state, local, tribal and territorial food regulators have enrolled in IFPTI’s courses.

For course details, see www.ifpti.org.

Courtesy of the Food Protection Report