Journal of Food Processing & Technology

Internationalization within the food industry: A luxury or a necessity?

International Conference on Food Safety and Regulatory Measures

August 17-19, 2015 Birmingham, UK

Deborah Wortelhock

Cardiff Metropolitan University, United Kingdom

Scientific Tracks Abstracts: J Food Process Technol

Abstract:

Research has shown that there are still huge gaps in job specific and industry based training within the food industry. There are many operatives in the workplace who are not able to achieve the industry qualifications they require, due to the complexities of language barriers and writing skills. Unchallenged, this could either obstruct the employment of some foreign workers, or conversely, create a sector of untrained employees who are not legally compliant. This inevitably invites the all-important question of â??what risk does this pose to food safetyâ??? We see a stark contrast in the lack of help and facilities in the workplace to the structured approach developed within the academic sphere where Internationalism has been expedited and driven over recent years. While training of immigrant workers presents many challenges, it is a very real issue that needs to be addressed. The number of working-age foreignborn people in the UK increased from 2.9 million in 1993 to more than 6 million in 2013. A program of research was carried out to develop food industry training programs for unskilled or semi-skilled workers with English as a foreign language. The research focused on teaching methods, collaborative learning and assessment method and evaluated the influence of training on working practice. This area of discussion is taken from research on Food Safety and HACCP training in the Food Industry. The focus being to reduce the impediments to training, increase its effectiveness and cross international barriers to make food industry training effective and available to all.

Biography :

Deborah Wortelhock is in the final stages of completing her PhD at Cardiff Metropolitan University, where she started as a part-time undergraduate in 2001, while working as Technical director in a manufacturing high-risk, chilled food company. She achieved an MSc in 2008 and a PGCthE in 2013, while carrying out research for the PhD. She is a fellow of the Royal Society of Public Health and the Higher Education Academy and works as an international third party auditor and trainer. She originally worked in the meat trade and has professional experience in food manufacturing, retailing and training, spanning some 30 years.

Email: deb.wortelhock@ntlworld.com