Food Safety Basics For Artisan Cheesemakers

This online course was created to assist artisan and farmstead cheesemakers in developing their food safety programs and complying with food safety regulations and standards. 

Funded by the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, it was designed and written by a collaborative group of food safety and cheese experts from the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Connecticut, Cornell University, and NC State University.

This course is intended to equip artisan and farmstead cheesemakers with basic knowledge about food safety concepts. It serves as a primer for further training programs such as developing and implementing a preventive controls food safety management plan. 

The course begins with a welcome letter and orientation to online learning. There is a series of five lessons, each of which consists of an interactive learning module with professional voiceover, video, and an accompanying quiz:

Lesson 1: Importance of Food Safety

Lesson 2: Regulations and Standards

Lesson 3: Food Safety Hazards

Lesson 4: Good Manufacturing Practices and Process Controls

Lesson 5: Environmental Pathogen Monitoring and Testing

Registration Process

1. Click the “Enroll in Course” button above (it will take you to a new webpage).
2. Click “Add to Cart.”
3. Select “Proceed to Cart.”
4. Click “Log in to Continue Order.”
5. Log in using a guest account, not a UNITY ID account unless you are an NC State University employee. If you already have a Reporter account, click “Brickyard Guest Login.” If not, click “No Account? Sign up here.”
6. Follow the prompts to purchase the course. After completing these steps, you’ll receive instructions on how to access the online course in the Moodle Learning Management system.
7. To access the course, log in to reporter.ncsu.edu and click “Access Online Course.”