In the 11+ years since Chilled Education began, it has continually evolved to meet the changing needs of teachers, students and anyone involved in getting more young people interested in food science and careers in the chilled food industry. In the early years it was about the free lesson plans. Designed by science and food science teachers for fellow teachers, they cover everything from hygiene and taste to microorganisms, for Key Stages 1-4. Alongside this, CEd developed innovative resources including the MicroTrumps top trumps game which have also proved useful and informative to other colleagues, including Environmental Health Officers […]

  CFA members are required to use raw materials sourced from reputable approved suppliers, and therefore have procedures in place for their approval. For produce this includes compliance with CFA’s ‘Microbiological Guidance for Produce Suppliers to Chilled Food Manufacturers’. Fluctuations in food supplies can lead to use of spot buying. This requires working to pre-agreed protocols and careful monitoring to ensure compliance with agreed standards of food safety and quality.   CFA’s free downloadable Protocol for Spot Buying of Produce to be Used as Ready to Eat sets out key requirements on certification, microbiological safety, pesticide residues and contaminants, and […]

Escherichia coli (E. coli) is a bacterium commonly found in the gut of humans and warm-blooded animals. Most strains of E. coli are harmless and some provide many health benefits to the host; for example, they prevent colonisation of the gut by harmful pathogens. However, there are small groups of E. coli, referred to as pathogenic E. coli, that can cause severe disease in humans, which are well known to be transmitted by food and/or water and have been implicated in major foodborne outbreaks worldwide e.g. radish sprouts in Japan, sprouted seeds in Germany and France, raw / undercooked beef […]