Food safety and quality: tailor-made training in a global context A brief review on activities of the MoniQA NoE

Abstract

The MoniQA (‘Towards harmonization of analytical methods for monitoring food quality and safety in the food supply chain’) Network of Excellence aims to overcome fragmentation in European and worldwide food quality and safety research by integrating key organizations from all over the world. Among other activities, education and training are an integral part of the MoniQA . Imbedded in the ‘Spreading of excellence programme’, work package 9 – ‘Joint education programmes and training tools’ is responsible for establishing a joint training programme for food safety and quality within and beyond the network. In addition to the ongoing work developing the MoniQA joint training programme, MoniQA offers concrete training opportunities, so-called ‘MoniQA Food Scientist Training’. MoniQA Food Scientist Training workshops deal with research management skills as well as imparting technical knowledge of relevance to food scientists around the globe. Training needs for different regions as well as needs for different target groups (scientists, industry personnel) are also considered, developing strong collaboration links between network partners and other related projects.