Training Programs                              


Overview                                        

 

IFSI offers a number of on-site, your site or individual training programs.  IFSI training programs are developed by industry experts who have had significant experience at the university level teaching and training in their given field of expertise.  Each class carries with it Continuing Education Credits and is recognized in its field for being the leader in training and education.

 

IFSI also offers individual instruction in a variety of subjects customized to your individual needs or those of your organization. 

 

IFSI offers most of its programs in languages of Spanish, Chinese and others at request.  Please ask one of our associates for assistance.

 

       Individual Certification Programs

 

IFSI offers individually tailored certification training programs for the working person that can be taken in a class, on-the-job or individually.  These training programs are conducted by experienced university level instructors and carry Continuing Education Credits.  Each class varies in its content, coursework, testing and credits.  Please call for more information on the subject of your choice or subject of interest if not listed below:

 

Ø      Sanitation and Cleaning Procedures for Equipment (SSOP’s) Certifications

Ø      Maintenance Certifications

Ø      Metal and Foreign Object Detection Certification

Ø      Microbiological Testing Certification

Ø      Training the Trainer Certification

Ø      HACCP Program Certification

Ø      Quality Manual and Finished and Raw Product Specification Program Certification (Documentation of Incoming Materials)

Ø      Integrated Pest Management (Pest Control Programs) Program Certification

Ø      Supplier Guarantee Program Certification

Ø      Good Manufacturing Programs (GMP’s) Certification

Ø      Employee Hygiene Programs (Personnel Practices) Certification

Ø      Flow Processing, Work-in-Progress, HOLD, Non-Conformance Programs and Process Deviation Programs Certification

Ø      Quality Certification

Ø      Risk Management and Crisis Coordinator Certification

Ø      HACCP Team Leader and Coordinator Certification

Ø      Federal Defense Security Program (Bio-Terrorism Program) Certification

Ø      Shelf Life and other Statistical Sampling Program Certification

Ø      Allergen Program Certification

 

 

Course Descriptions

 

The Food Safety training program is for food processors, handlers, coolers, transportation activities and virtually any organization that is in the business of handling food of any type.  The training covers all pre-requisite programs of Food Safety and incorporates the tenants of a HACCP program.  The training programs are:

 

 

Food Safety Program Development Training

 

(This course provides an overview of the requirements in each of these programs.)

 

Ø      Sanitation and Cleaning Procedures for Equipment (SSOP’s)

Ø      Preventative Maintenance Programs

Ø      Metal and Foreign Object Detection Programs

Ø      Microbiological Testing Programs

Ø      Individual and HACCP Training Programs

Ø      HACCP Program

Ø      Quality Manual and Finished and Raw Product Specification Programs (Documentation of Incoming Materials)

Ø      Integrated Pest Management (Pest Control Programs)

Ø      Food Safety Committee and Self Inspection Programs

Ø      Organization Food Safety Responsibilities and Job Descriptions

Ø      Supplier Guarantee Programs

Ø      Good Manufacturing Programs (GMP’s)

Ø      Employee Hygiene Programs (Personnel Practices)

Ø      Trace-Back Recall Programs

Ø      Work-in-Progress, HOLD, Non-Conformance Programs and Process Deviation Programs

Ø      Allergen Programs

Ø      Bio-Terrorism Programs

Ø      Labeling and Packaging Requirements

Ø      Visitor and Official Visitor Programs

Ø      Customer Complaint Analysis Program

Ø      Federal Defense Security Program (Bio-Terrorism Program)

Ø      Glass and Brittle Plastic Programs

Ø      Shelf Life and other Sampling Programs

Ø      Operational Methods (Containerization, holding methods, storage, FIFO, chemical control, R & D, cull lines, trash and waste management, material transfer, operational appearance, trafficability, equipment serviceability, housekeeping, facilities such as hand washing, rest room and break room design, trash collection, delivery practices, temperature maintenance, to name a few.

Ø      Facility design and serviceability

Ø      Others as deemed necessary

 
 

Specific Program Development Short Courses

 

(Normally offered in packages on site at the request of organizations)

 

Ø      Sanitation and Cleaning Procedures for Equipment (SSOP’s)

Ø      Preventative Maintenance Programs

Ø      Metal and Foreign Object Detection Programs

Ø      Microbiological Testing Programs

Ø      Individual and HACCP Training Programs

Ø      HACCP Program

Ø      Quality Manual and Finished and Raw Product Specification Programs (Documentation of Incoming Materials)

Ø      Integrated Pest Management (Pest Control Programs)

Ø      Food Safety Committee and Self Inspection Programs

Ø      Organization Food Safety Responsibilities and Job Descriptions

Ø      Supplier Acceptance Programs

Ø      Good Manufacturing Programs (GMP’s)

Ø      Employee Hygiene Programs (Personnel Practices)

Ø      Trace-Back Recall Programs

Ø      Work-in-Progress, HOLD, Non-Conformance Programs and Process Deviation Programs

Ø      Labeling and Packaging Requirements

Ø      Visitor and Official Visitor Programs

Ø      Customer Complaint Analysis Program

Ø      Federal Defense Security Program (Bio-Terrorism Program)

Ø      Glass and Brittle Plastic Programs

Ø      Shelf Life and other Sampling Programs

Ø      Operational Methods (Containerization, holding methods, storage, FIFO, chemical control, R & D, cull lines, trash and waste management, material transfer, operational appearance, trafficability, equipment serviceability, housekeeping, facilities such as hand washing, rest room and break room design, trash collection, delivery practices, temperature maintenance, to name a few.

Ø      Facility design and serviceability

Ø      Others as deemed necessary

 

 

HACCP Development Training Program

 

The HACCP Training Program is the finest in the nation.  It specifically follows the FDA-USDA-NACMCF HACCP program guidance that allows for qualification under any 3^rd party certification program offered by FPA, ABI, ASI, PRIMUS or Silliker, to name a few.

 

The HACCP training program is for food processors, handlers, coolers, transportation activities and virtually any organization that is in the business of handling food of any type.

 

This course is taught using classroom and real time examples of HACCP Programs.

 

Ø      HACCP Policy

Ø      HACCP Training

Ø      HACCP Team Functions

Ø      Raw Product Analysis

Ø      Finished Product Analysis

Ø      Ingredient Analysis

Ø      Pre-Risk Analysis

Ø      Consolidated Risk Analysis

Ø      CCP Actions (and) Levels

Ø      HACCP Product

Ø      Deviation Reporting and Analysis

Ø      Specific HACCP analysis functions of:

o       Conduct a hazard analysis (Principle 1)

o       Determine critical control points (CCP’s) (Principle 2)

o       Establish critical limits (Principle 3)

o       Establish monitoring procedures (Principle 4)

o       Establish corrective actions (Principle 5)

o       Establish verification procedures (Principle 6)

o       Establish record-keeping and documentation procedures (Principle 7)

 

  

Good Agricultural Programs

(GAP’s)

 

IFSI’s agricultural training program is designed to understand and evaluate the food safety risks associated with all types of farming from herbs, sprouts, aquaculture, hydroponics, conventional, organic, sustainable to natural farming.

 

IFSI is a world-class agricultural program trainer.  Using only the most complete of standards, IFSI will train you to ascertain the ability of the agricultural concern to produce safe and nutritionally good food. 

 

This training program conforms to the U.S. Federal Food and Drug Cosmetic Act of 1938, USDA-FDA-EPA Good Manufacturing Practices, OSHA; CFR Title 21, Part 110 as updated; U.S. Military Sanitary Standards; the U.S. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act; the National Organic Program, 7 CFR 205 and all state and local programs.

The GAP Training Program specifically reviews the functioning of:

 

Ø      Regulatory Responsibility

Ø      Food Safety Committee and Self Inspection Programs

Ø      Sanitation and Master Cleaning Programs with SSOP’s

Ø      Incoming Materials Standards Program

Ø      Training Programs

Ø      Customer Complaint Program

Ø      Land History Documentation and Analysis

Ø      Environmental Considerations

Ø      Trace-back and Recall Programs

Ø      Maintenance Program

Ø      Glass and Brittle Plastic Program

Ø      Foreign Objects Program

Ø      Water Quality Program

Ø      Soil Quality Program

Ø      Irrigation Program

Ø      Seed Program

Ø      Agrochemical Control Program

Ø      Composting Program

Ø      Inputs Program

Ø      Adjacent Land Analysis

Ø      Pest Control

Ø      Facilities Maintenance

Ø      Erosion Management

Ø      Worker Welfare Programs

Ø      Worker Hygiene Programs

Ø      Field Sanitation Unit (Porta-potty) Programs

Ø      Trafficability

Ø      Handling and Storage

Ø      Transportation Program

Ø      Others as deemed necessary

 

 

 

Agricultural HACCP Training Program

 

“HACCP – A”

(HACCP – Agriculture)

 

The HACCP Training Program as defined by FDA-USDA-NACMCF is not designed for farming applications.  A number of third party certification companies have tried to certify farming operations for HACCP and the traditional scheme does not allow for proper risk analysis and identification of food safety hazards.

 

Extensive research by IFSI has developed a HACCP program called “HACCP – A” Certification Program for farming which properly analyzes the risks associated with farming.  It is the only program in the nation that accurately identified risk and the development of Critical Control Points for minimizing this risk.

 

This training program provides the student with classroom examples and real time training in HACCP – A development.

 

Using the principles of HACCP, the “HACCP – A” Program trains the student to assess risk in the following areas:

 

Ø      Land and Adjacent Land

Ø      Composing

Ø      Seed

Ø      Water and Irrigation

Ø      Pre-Planting and Soil Preparation

Ø      Agrochemicals

Ø      Growing

Ø      Harvesting

Ø      Maintenance and Sanitation

Ø      Required Documentation and Training Requirements

 

 

Sustainable Farming Program

 

IFSI’s Sustainable Farming Program (SFP) Training Program is the only one of its kind in the United States.  It is compatible to the EUROGAP Program and also makes a fine pre-inspection program to those who are contemplating the EUROGAP certification.

 

Ø      The Sustainable Farming Program Certification is completely complimentary to the National Organic Program and a number of the NOP criteria directly substitute for SFP guidelines.  Sustainable Farming is the next evolution of Organics as it recognizes practical farming methods combined with state-of-the-art farming technology.

 

The following areas in addition to a number of those mentioned in the GAP Farm Program above make up the Sustainable Farming Training Program:

 

Ø      Traceability

Ø      Record Keeping and Internal Self-Inspection

Ø      Varieties and Rootstocks

Ø      Site History and Site Management

Ø      Soil and Substrate Management

Ø      Fertilizer Use

Ø      Irrigation and Fertigation

Ø      Crop Protection

Ø      Waste and Pollution Management, Recycling and Re-Use

Ø      Workers Health, Safety and Welfare

Ø      Environmental Issues

 

 

Harvesting Training Program

 

The Harvesting Training Program is a phenomenal overview of the harvesting activities of all types of farming.  The program is based on worker hygiene and the maintenance condition of equipment with other attributes assessed accordingly.

 

Below are the critical training elements of such a program:

 

Ø      Maintenance of Equipment and Contamination Potential

Ø      Worker Hygiene and Training

Ø      Designation of Break Areas, Trash Collection, Parking of Privately Owned Vehicles and Storage of Personal Effects

Ø      Location, Serviceability and Proper Use of Porta Potties

Ø      Potential Areas of Contamination

Ø      Transportation

Ø      Training of Supervisory Staff

Ø      Documentation

 

 

How to Become Organic - Training Class

(Two programs, One Processor Handler and One Grower)

 

This is an intense organic training program that is taught to those individuals and organizations that desire to become organically certified.  It will take you from the start of an organic program or how to convert an existing conventional program to organic.

 

The student will leave the class with an organic system plan for his organization plus the correct forms completed as required by his USDA accrediting agent.  (Students may not have an agent selected as yet and that is fine – generic paperwork will be completed.)

 

This program covers the following topics:

 

Ø      Overview of the NOP and 7 CFR 205

Ø      Choosing a certifier

Ø      Choosing a market or product

Ø      Assessing suppliers

Ø      Review of organic certification paperwork and forms

Ø      Conversion of your organization; resource and time requirements

Ø      Development of an organic system plan; 100%, 95% and other organic classifications

Ø      Development of labeling and packaging

Ø      Training your organization

Ø      Preparing for the inspection

Ø      What certification means

Ø      How to maintain the certification

 

 

Become a Certified QA Supervisor

 

This class is for the beginner QA or QA that desires to brush up their skills in quality assurance.  This class is taught by qualified QA personnel who have years of education and experience in this field.

 

At the end of this class the student will have successfully tested and become a certified QA Supervisor.

 

The following areas are covered:

 

Ø      U.S. Federal Food and Drug Cosmetic Act of 1938, USDA-FDA-EPA Good Manufacturing Practices

Ø      OSHA

Ø      CFR Title 21, Part 110 as updated

Ø      U.S. Military Sanitary Standards

Ø      U.S. Federal Insecticide, Fungicide, and Rodenticide Act

Ø      National Organic Program, 7 CFR 205  

Ø      2^nd and 3^rd Party Auditing and Inspection Standards

Ø      Tested knowledge of:

o       Sanitation and Cleaning Procedures for Equipment (SSOP’s)

o       Preventative Maintenance Programs

o       Facility design, serviceability and inspection

o       HACCP Program

o       Microbiological Testing Programs

o       Trace-Back Recall Programs

o       Integrated Pest Management (Pest Control Programs)

Ø      Tested familiarization of:

o       Metal and Foreign Object Detection Programs

o       Individual and HACCP Training Programs

o       Quality Manual and Finished and Raw Product Specification Programs (Documentation of Incoming Materials)

o       Food Safety Committee and Self Inspection Programs

o       Organization Food Safety Responsibilities and Job Descriptions

o       Supplier Acceptance Programs

o       Good Manufacturing Programs (GMP’s)

o       Employee Hygiene Programs (Personnel Practices)

o       Work-in-Progress, HOLD, Non-Conformance Programs and Process Deviation Programs

o       Labeling and Packaging Requirements

o       Visitor and Official Visitor Programs

o       Customer Complaint Analysis Concepts

o       Federal Defense Security Program (Bio-Terrorism Programs)

o       Glass and Brittle Plastic Programs

o       Shelf Life and other Sampling Program Concepts

o       Operational Methods (Containerization, holding methods, storage, FIFO, chemical control, R & D, cull lines, trash and waste management, material transfer, operational appearance, trafficability, equipment serviceability, housekeeping, facilities such as hand washing, rest room and break room design, trash collection, delivery practices, temperature maintenance, to name a few.