There are three main types of food safety concerns: food protection, food safety and food access. Each type of concern has different implications for public health. Food protection refers to the safe handling, preparation and storage of food. It is important to protect food from contamination by bacteria, viruses or other contaminants that can cause illness. Food safety refers to the prevention of foodborne illness. This includes ensuring that food is cooked properly and preventing cross-contamination between raw and cooked foods. Food access refers to the ability of people to obtain safe and nutritious food. This includes ensuring that food is affordable and accessible to all members of the community.
Food protection, food safety and food access are all important aspects of humanitarian work. Ensuring that people have access to safe and nutritious food is essential to providing relief in emergency situations and supporting communities in rebuilding after a disaster. It is also critical to preventing and responding to malnutrition and other health problems that can result from inadequate or unsafe food.
Learning about food protection, food safety and food access is therefore an important part of preparing for a career in humanitarian work. It can help you understand the challenges involved in providing relief in emergencies and the importance of promoting good nutrition and food security in communities affected by disasters. It can also equip you with the skills and knowledge needed to effectively manage and monitor food assistance programs. If you want to learn more about food protection, food safety and food access, the courses below might be an excellent fit.
Feeding a Hungry Planet: Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainability
Feeding a Hungry Planet: Agriculture, Nutrition and Sustainability is a free online social sciences course offered by the UN’s SDG Academy. The seven-week course is ideal for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in humanitarian action, agriculture, economics, international development and related fields. In addition, nutritionists, agricultural professionals, humanitarian aid workers and sustainable development practitioners may find the course beneficial. Students will need to devote roughly three to five hours of time to the class each week.
Tackling Global Food Safety
Tackling Global Food Safety is a free online environmental science course offered by Queen’s University Belfast in Northern Ireland, United Kingdom. During this five-week class, students will learn about the threats to the integrity and safety of global food chains and find out more about what is being done and can be implemented to address these issues. Most students will need to spend about three hours on the class each week.
Feeding the World
Feeding the World is a free online nutrition and wellness course offered by the University of Pennsylvania in the United States. The eight-week class introduces students to potential health concerns of animal product consumption, the environmental impact of these products and what steps can be taken to balance the need for animal products with those of health and safety of both animals and consumers.
Introduction to Nutrition and Food Safety
Introduction to Nutrition and Food Safety is a free online nutrition and wellness course offered by Tapei Medial University. An introductory course, the class is ideal for anyone who wants to learn more about good nutrition and how to safely store, prepare and serve foods. The class lasts for four weeks and involves a weekly time commitment of roughly two hours. A certificate of completion is available for a $59 fee.
Sustainable Food Security: Crop Production
Sustainable Food Security: Crop Production is a free online environmental sciences course offered by Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The course provides an in-depth look at the current state of crop production and what challenges growing populations hold to ensure an ample supply of food for the world. During each week of the six-week class, students should expect to devote six to eight hours of study time to the course.
Global Food Security: Addressing the Challenge
Global Food Security: Addressing the Challenge is a free online agriculture course offered by Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. This eight-week class seeks to provide answers to how world food production can be modified to feed the extra two billion people expected to be living on Earth by the middle of the 21st century.
Sustainable Food Security: Food Access
Sustainable Food Security: Food Access is a free online nutrition and wellness course offered by Wageningen University in the Netherlands. The class examines how household, local, national and international factors affect people’s access to food. Lasting for six weeks, the class is presented through a series of six video modules. Each module takes roughly six to eight hours to complete.