As of August 2017, the Online Food Safety Program is offering continuing education courses under the name MSU Online Continuing Education in Food Safety (OCEFS). This initiative offers non-credit courses designed as asynchronous, self-paced units with zero travel requirements—an appealing concept for working professionals who need flexibility and superior education without pursuing a full degree.

Preventive Controls for Human Food was the first course to launch under this new initiative.   The course material was developed by the Food Safety Preventive Controls Alliance and is the standardized curriculum recognized by the Food and Drug Administration. Successful completion of this course meets the requirement to become a preventive controls qualified individual, which nearly all food companies must employ to meet the Food Safety and Modernization Act rules.   

The second course, now available as part of OCEFS, is Food Allergens. More self-paced continuing education courses will be launched by early 2018. Some additional topics will include produce safety, meat safety, dairy safety, ingredient safety, food waste recovery, beverage safety, pet food safety, and many more. No application or prerequisite degree is required to pursue these non-credit courses. They have been designed for learners outside of the MSFS degree and cannot be applied toward those requirements. Many of these same topics are already provided as one-credit elective options for degree and lifelong students at MSU.

The goal of this continuing education initiative is to engage professionals in all segments of food industry and regulation by offering a variety of short courses to keep food safety professionals on top of their games in the rapidly changing food safety industry here.    

For more information on the continuing education courses, please contact Academic Specialist Megan Patrick at OCEFS@msu.edu.