APA News
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Another successful week long "Analysis & Examination of Food"course held at Reading
Course delegates enjoying a practical laboratory session during the "Analysis & Examination of Foods 2015" course
Another successful week-long fully residential postgraduate course was held at the University of Reading in April 2015 and attracted 13 registered delegates. The delegates were from UK Public Analyst Laboratories, both private and public sector, and one was from the Food Standards Agency, the main sponsor of the event. The teaching consisted of a mix of lectures; laboratory practical sessions and interactive exercises.
The course was intensive for the delegates with 32.5 hours of contact time and sessions running from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on three of the days. This makes good use of delegates’ valuable time and reflects the pressures in a modern official food and feed control (Public Analyst) laboratory. Some of the delegates are studying for the Mastership in Chemical Analysis (MChemA), the statutory qualification required to practice as a Public Analyst and several sessions were devoted to demystifying the exam process encouraging other delegates to consider taking the qualification. Some of the lectures were given by Public Analysts currently in practice while others were from experts outside the profession. This enabled mutually beneficial contact to be made and once again networking was a much valued informal aspect of the event, as evidenced by a LinkedIn Group to foster communication. The course received excellent feedback and all delegates recorded that they enjoyed the course and considered that it met their expectations to a high degree.Downloads
