Hello,
Thank you for your question. If you have been accepted on the MSc Food Safety, Hygiene and Management, then you can contact the course administrator Mrs Gillian Burrows. She can put you in touch with the tutors that are responsible for laboratory based dissertation and project work.

If you have been accepted on another degree course then you will have to contact their department’s course administrator who can either forward your query to the appropriate court leader and/or laboratory tutors. They will be able to state whether they have a LIBS equipment. The university does have a new state of the art laboratory so I think they are more than likely to have this.

Hope this helps and please get back in touch if you have any other questions. Good luck

Kind regards
Gazala

Hello, apologies for the late reply.
In response to your question your diploma and work experience is sufficient to apply for the MSc Food Safety, Hygiene and Management degree. There is not a too much chemistry involved, it’s more microbiology and biology, so your scientific background will be sufficient for the level of study in the modules. If you want to base your dissertation on a laboratory study, you may have to do extra lab work prior to this.
Hope that helps,
Gazala

Hello,

Thank you for your question.

After completing the diploma there are opportunities to work both in the private and public sector.

Companies, for example Pepico, always advertise for paid technical placements. These usually include training and a chance to gain work experience in all their departments, with a view for a permanent job at the end of it.

Local authorities offer food safety jobs if you have food work experience it is an advantage, but some will train you up and pay for your training.

A number of agencies offer short term contracts from 1 month to 12/18 months to do Food Safety work for local authorities.

This MSc is quite broad and opportunities to work in a variety of food related areas such as quality control, haccp related jobs, food auditing, food safety, food hygiene, infectious disease. There are four core modules but you can choose 5 modules to suit your future career aspirations and interests. If you have any further questions, then please do not hesitate to contact me.

Good luck and kind regards,
Gazala

Initially, returning to study after 22 years presented a considerable challenge but the lecturers were very helpful and I soon grew accustomed to university life and the expectations form the course. With postgraduate studies the expectation is that you must undertake a considerable amount of independent learning and effective time management skills are tested to the maximum! As this is a taught degree, contact time with lecturers and other students is balanced, providing opportunities to learn via group work, presentations and tutorials.

The University of Birmingham is globally recognised as one of the institutions with exceptionally high standards in the field of Engineering. For this reason, I felt that studying here would challenge me to reach my full potential and consequently provide me with the right tools to excel in my chosen field of work. Birmingham is one of the largest multi-cultural cities in the UK with great transport links and therefore gives many opportunities to experience the diverse culture the city has to offer.

My goal is to secure employment with a regulatory enforcement authority as an Environmental Health Officer in Food Safety. After a few years I would like to make a transition into the private sector and gain industry experience in food manufacturing, food processing and food retail environments. This course has inspired me to further my studies and gain a Lead Auditors qualification in order to conduct audit inspections to ensure compliance to Industry and Global food Standards.

My critical thinking and analytical skills have definitely improved through the different learning methods. The two main things that stand out in this course is firstly, the additional supporting lectures (eg, writing laboratory reports) which are optional but really assist with coursework and secondly, a good proportion of the lectures are delivered by industry experts. The latter provides an insight into the work environment and latest emerging trends and issues from an industry perspective.

After a long career break, I wanted to move into Food Safety enforcement as my passion for food has remained ever since secondary school when an Environmental Health Officer inspected our school kitchens for hygiene standards. As an Environmental Health Officer, we not only enforce standards but we also provide information and training to ensure public health measures are met. Undertaking this course meant that I would acquire the necessary skills and in-depth knowledge required and this course opens my doors to other areas of Food Safety that I had not previously appreciated.

Hi, in response to your question the projects available are either questionnaire or laboratory type studies. A list of topics is usually circulated at the beginning of January, but if you have a particular research idea you are able to undertake this. Last year the topics included consumer attitudes to food scares, consumer attitudes to food labels, local authorities water sampling and testing programmes, survey of local authorities food hygiene rating, Food fraud of fish, which were based in questionnaire or survey type of studies. The laboratory type projects included sensory testing of apples, anti microbial properties of honey, salad washing and contamination of E. Coli, sous vide cooking of meats, there were many other projects available too. I hope that this helps you and good luck with your application process. Should you need further information then please contact me. Kind regards, Gazala.

Hello,

I was working for a local authority as a full time Environmental Health Officer and then took a few years off  to raise my family. During this time I decided to pursue my career in a different field of environmental health and decided to update my knowledge of Food Safety. This course was ideal to not only update my knowledge but increase my opportunity to work in the private sector.

Kind regards

Gazala

Hello,

A module guide will be provided for each module with a reccomemded reading list. The lecturers expect students to use other material such as peer reviewed articles that are not on the reading list. If there is a specific module that you are taking please let me know and I can recommend some books or articles.

Kind regards

Gazala