COLLEGE STATION — Texas A&M University has announced the formation of the new Food Industry Training Division within the Institute of Food Science and Engineering.
“This division will serve as a centralized focal point for fee- based training programs for the food industry from farm to table on a national and international basis,” said Dr. Edward A. Hiler, vice chancellor and dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences.
The division is a joint effort among the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, the Texas Agricultural Extension Service, and the Institute of Food Science and Engineering.
“The initial thrust will be in food safety and food quality,” said Dr. H. Russell Cross, director of the Institute of Food Science and Engineering, “with Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point System (HACCP) food safety training programs for various aspects of the food industry under way by early summer of 1995. Future training program topics will focus on immediate challenges facing the food industry in providing high quality, value-added, safe, nutritious, and convenient foods.”
Fee-based short courses, seminars, clinics, workshops, packaged training programs plus other educational programs, and services utilizing computer and telecommunication technologies will be offered as well as customized training programs for individual companies or organizations.
“Special emphasis will be placed on recruiting the top experts in the field to develop and teach each course,” said Dr. Zerle L. Carpenter, director of the Extension Service. “In some cases, the recognized ‘expert’ may be a Texas A&M University System faculty or staff member. In other cases, the best individuals may come from within the food industry or from another university, institution, or organization.”
“The key to the success of this training effort,” Carpenter continued, “is to work in cooperation with agencies and universities within the A&M System, other universities in Texas and in other states, organizations and groups, business, industry and government, as well as other countries to meet the training needs of the food industry.”
“Our long-term objective,” Hiler said, “is to establish the division as the premier training center in the United States and worldwide in the areas of food safety, food processing, food marketing, and nutrition and food science.”
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