Newswise — The food safety field is requiring more education of those in the industry who hope to hold key jobs as well as those who already do. Utilizing information generated by the Food Safety Consortium and others, Kansas State University is offering food science degrees and certificates by distance education.
It started in 1975 when tapes were the most advanced technology for distance education. "The U.S. Department of Agriculture came to K-State and said that they needed some continuing education courses for their inspectors," said Kelly Getty, a program coordinator for distance education and Food Safety Consortium faculty researcher.
Kansas State is the only university offering distance education as a way to complete a bachelor's degree in food science (for those students who already have completed at least 60 hours of undergraduate courses) or to complete the master's degree curriculum. It also offers an undergraduate certificate or a graduate certificate for students who complete 20 hours of course work in food science but are not seeking a degree.
"Most of the students that we have are in industry," said Deanna Retzlaff, also a program coordinator for the curriculum. "We have a few who are on campus. We also have quite a few military people " food inspectors and those with the veterinary corps."
The distance education students are scattered far from Kansas and not many of them have previously attended the university. "Of the master's students, two are at Papa John's International " one in Florida and another in Kentucky," Getty said. "They're already working in a corporate environment. We have three students in Gaffney, S.C., working at a Stouffer's plant. They're basically in places where there isn't a food science program nearby. I have a masters student at a Cargill plant in Iowa that also comes to K-State to recruit B.S. graduates and undergraduates for internships."
There are more than 50 students completing bachelor's degrees via distance education during a typical semester. About 12 master's students are usually enrolled. A few students are seeking graduate certificates and more than 30 students are accepted in the undergraduate certificate program.
Distance education students who pursue the master's degree have access to most of the courses that on-campus students can take. Like the on-campus students, they must also choose between taking 28 hours of course work plus submitting a written report or taking 24 hours of course work and completing a full master's thesis.
A related grant has also facilitated Kansas State to add interactivity to some courses, such as the Principles of HACCP and Applied Microbiology for Meat and Poultry Processors courses. Retzlaff explained that the interactive component equips the video that students watch with segments that require students to answer a question correctly before being permitted to continue.
Additionally, a series of videos on CD, each about 10 minutes long, were funded though a USDA grant that paid for production costs. Those 10 video modules have been incorporated in the Applied Microbiology in Meat and Poultry Processors course.
Getty works with the KSU Division of Continuing Education to market the distance education food science program nationwide. Flyers and e-mail promotions are sent to prospective students on the mailing lists for industries, professional associations and the military among others along with advertisements in Food Technology magazine.
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