Currículo
Contaminantes e Patogénios Alimentares CPAlim
Contextos
Groupo: MEAlim 2024-2025 > 2º Ciclo > Parte Escolar > Unidades Curriculares Obrigatórias
ECTS
3.0 (para cálculo da média)
Objectivos
Description Food Contaminants and Pathogens explores the nature, origin, and behavior of microbiological pathogens and their toxins in the food chain, merging food engineering control systems with principles of public health epidemiology. Students learn the nature and behavior of microbiological pathogens in the food supply chain. The course emphasizes modern approaches to epidemiological tracking to assure food quality and safety, at global and industry levels. Objetives 1. To understand the health hazards caused by microorganisms in foods under the concept of One Health 2. Assess the significance and prevalence of various factors that explain the spread of foodborne illness 3. To understand the strategies of surveillance to prevent foodborne diseases 4. To select conventional and rapid methods of microbiological control 5. To understand molecular methods of microbial typing and identification 6. To calculate microbial inhibition and inactivation parameters 7. To apply meta-analytic techniques to study microbial, antimicrobial resistance and biofilm formation
Programa
1. Public health and food poisoning 1.1. The concept of “One Health” 1.2. The Global Burden of Diseases: epidemiology and metrics 1.2.1 The relevance of foodborne diseases (WHO data) 1.2.2 The limitations of statistical data 1.2.3 The improvement of surveillance methods 1.3 The utilisation of meta-analysis in food pathogen prevalence 2. The global spread of foodborne toxinfections 2.1 Risk factors: microbial severity, host susceptibility, food origin and preparation 2.2 Emergent and zoonotic pathogens 2.3 The issue of trade globalization and food habits 2.4 The emergent antimicrobial resistance transmission 2.5 The changing nature of food hazards 2.6 Case studies of major industrial food recalls 3. Institutional prevention of foodborne diseases 3.1 Historical background of safety regulations 3.2 Food scares 3.3 The concept of Food Integrity 3.4 Food Assurance systems (HACCP, TACCP, VACCP) 3.5. Modern Assurance prevention strategies 3.5.1 Intelligent Food Assurance systems 3.5.2 Modern fields of technology and regulation 4. Monitoring of microbial populations in foods and beverages 4.1 Conventional methods of quality and safety evaluation 4.1.1 Statistical sampling plans (ICMSF principles) 4.1.2 Microbiological criteria 4.1.3. Injury recovery and viable but non-culturable (VBNC) states 4.2 Rapid and molecular monitoring methods 4.2.1 Immunological, nucleic acid and next generation approaches 4.2.2 Biosensor based methods 4.2.3 Automated methods (flow cytometry, electronic noses, impedance microbiology) 4.2 Sources of contamination 4.2.1 Oral-fecal routes 4.2.2 Biofilm formation 4.2.3 Source tracking 5. Industrial control of microbial contaminations 5.1 Contamination prevention 5.1.1 Prerequisite programs (PRPs) 5.1.2 Good Manufacturing Practices (GMP) 5.1.3 Hygienic design guidelines (EHEDG) 5.2 Spoilage prevention of foods and beverages 5.2.1 Factors affecting microbial growth and death 5.2.2 Novel antimicrobial agents 5.3 Mathematical modeling of microbial growth and inactivation 5.3.1 Predictive microbiology and primary/secondary kinetic models. 5.3.2 Inactivation kinetics (Log-reduction and microbial inactivation concepts) 5.3.3 Thermal and non-thermal processes 5.3.4 Tertiary models, software tools (ComBase), and microbial risk assessment (QMRA) 5.4. Digitalization 5.4.1 Digital twins and AI integration for shelf-life prediction and safety monitoring.
Método de Avaliação
Frequency: presence in 75% of the classes. The final grade is obtained by a written article based on the meta-analysis of a specific topic (50% of the score) plus its discussion in an oral exam (50% of the score).
Carga Horária
Carga Horária de Contacto -
Trabalho Autónomo - 0.0
Carga Total -
Bibliografia
Principal
- Impact of next generation sequencing techniques in Food Microbiology. Current Genomics, 15: 293-309.: Mayo, B., Rachid, C., Alegría, A., Leite, A., Peixoto, R., Delgado, S. 2014
- Microbial Source Tracking, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, D. C.: Domingo, J.W.S, Sadowsky, M. J. (eds) 2007
- Food Consumption and Disease Risk, CRC Press, Woodhead Publishing Limited (disponível no Laboratório de Microbiologia).: Potter, M. (ed) 2006
- Understanding Pathogen Behaviour: Virulence, Stress Response and Resistance, CRC Press, Woodhead Publishing Limited (BISA Q03-489).: Griffiths, M. (ed) 2005
- Biofilms in the Food Environment, IFT Press, Blackwell Publishing (BISA Q03-507).: Blaschek, H.P., Wang, H.H., Agle, M.E. (eds) 2007