Awareness on food hygiene
Amid greater innovations in science and technology, the possibility of keeping food safe, hygienic and more nutritious is highly achievable.
Added with easy access to the internet, the growing demands of a well-informed society for their food to be kept safe, hygienic and nutritious at all times are inevitable.
Hence, food scientists and innovators are called on to play bigger roles to meet that demand.
“With the advancing and progressive food science knowledge, there has been a huge commitment from food science and technology professionals to advance the science of food and ensure a safe and abundant food supply. This will contribute to healthier people globally by having better food safety and quality,” said department of Agricultural and Food Science head dr Ong mei Kying.
it is, hence, important for educational institutions to produce skilled and knowledgeable food scientists and innovators to ensure better quality of food.
Universiti Tunku Abdul Rahman (UTAR)’s Bachelor of Science (Hons) Food Science programme offers practical understanding of food safety and hygiene practices.
Students are required to use creative ideas and techniques to ensure food is safely prepared, cooked and stored to prevent contamination of food-borne pathogens and subsequently, illnesses.
Alongside the fundamental understanding of food science, the programme also enables students to acquire skills that would allow them to analyse, synthesise and integrate knowledge and information; utilise state-ofthe-art laboratory techniques and industrial practice for food science researches; address food science problems and challenges with the skills and knowledge acquired.
Through that, students are instilled with a consciousness of their professional and social roles in the changing and technological oriented world while encouraging their personal and intellectual development.
“Food science not only teaches our students that food safety and hygiene matters, it also educates them on how to help food handlers or food operators practise food safety and hygiene. This will then improve the food industry and food control systems,” commented dr Ong.
With the programme, students are better at generating strategies and methods through innovation and formulation of food products to effectively manage food waste and to have food produced with added vitamins and minerals, and their nutrients preserved, which are designed to optimise society’s health and reduce the risks of diseases.
The programme also equips students with the science framework that teaches them the measures to be taken along the entire food chain to make important decisions for policy development and risk management.
Upon graduating, students can be part of the team that can help establish international standards to promote implementation and importance of public health.
The programme also provides students with practical approaches through community projects to help the food industry prioritise practising good food preparation and handling.
A Food Safety Awareness Training was organised from march 29 to 30 at the Kampar campus.
Present were FSc dean Assoc Prof dr Lim Tuck meng, dr Ong and staff dr Ali Yassoralipour, Chung Kok Heung, dr Lye Huey Shi, dr Tan Yen Nee and dr Chang Ying Ping.
External speakers included AC Lam Enterprise food consultants Lam Ah Chye and Lai mun Lee, Food Safety and Quality division of Perak State Health department food technologist Poornima Karpayah and Ng Siew Leng from Flowcrete Asia Sdn Bhd.
With the aim of helping food industries upgrade their hygiene and food safety operations, as well as to provide useful links between the academics and the industry, the training was participated by UTAR students from the Bachelor of Science (Hons) Food Science and Bachelor of Science (Hons) Biotechnology programmes, as well as industry players from Liang Kee Farming Sdn Bhd, FY Food Processing Sdn Bhd, Bidor Kwong Heng Sdn Bhd and Se Woh Sauce Factory.
UTAR is reputed as one of the fastest growing private higher education institutions in malaysia since its inception in 2002.
From only 411 students, the university now has about 25,000 students with campuses in Kampar, Perak and Bandar Sungai Long, Selangor.
UTAR has graduated over 52,000 students since its inaugural convocation in 2005.
it currently offers more than 110 programmes from foundation studies to bachelor’s, master’s, and Phd degrees in various fields.
UTAR was awarded self-accreditation status by the malaysian Qualifications Agency of the Higher Education ministry in 2017 and ranked 501-600 in the Times Higher Education World University Rankings 2018.
it was also ranked No.99 in the 2018 Times Higher Education Asia University Rankings.
■ For details, visit www.utar.edu.my or call 05-468 8888 (Kampar campus) / 03-9086 0288 (Sungai Long campus).