| News | Scholarship | IAFP Student PDG |
Welcome to the home page of the BC Food Protection Association
Student Professional Development Group (SPDG).
The SPDG is the coordinating and organizational body for the BCFPA student member
program.
The SPDG will:
• plan and organize functions for student members with
assistance and support of the BCFPA Executive.
• promote membership in the SPDG to other students.
• each year select a member as Student Coordinator to serve as liaison
between the SPDG and the BCFPA Executive and also as the BCFPA representative
to the IAFP Student Professional Development Group.
Stephanie Chiu, is our current Student Coordinator and is a
student at the University of British Columbia. If you would like to get involved
with our Student Professional Development Group or would like more information
on our planned activities please contact Stephanie at: studentgroup@bcfpa.net
A group of 4 students and 1 member of the
BCFPA Executive were given a tour of Purdy's Chocolates by Silvie Hardy, Production
Supervisor with Purdy's Chocolates. Silvie showed the students the equipment
involved in making the ingredients used for chocolate production. The students
were shown through the processing areas including the area used to make cream
fillings which are found in the centers of your chocolates. Silvie explained
that invertase is used to slowly break down sugars in the centers and this usually
takes around 2 weeks before the centers get nice and creamy.
Ross, a Candymaker at Purdy's, joined in and explained some
important key concepts in chocolate making. He also pointed out to the students
(if they ever cook with chocolate) that you should never mix water with chocolate.
Ross also explained some interesting facts about chocolate including the white
coating that you would sometimes see in chocolates if you put them in the freezer
or let them heat up followed by cooling down. The white coating can either be
fat or sugar from the chocolate itself which has eventually made its way to
the surface.
On the production line, we watched how chocolates are made and enrobed with
chocolate. The chocolate waterfall we saw was actually called an enrober. The
chocolates would later be lightly streaked with purple lines to give it a characteristic
look.
On the packaging line, the students noticed they had already started to make
chocolates for St. Patrick's Day and Easter. The plant workers would fill chocolate
into plastic molds that are shaped like bunnies. The students got to try some
of the chocolates including Easter eggs and the Sweet Georgia browns which they
found especially delicious! The students eventually passed by the packaging
area where they saw how chocolates get packaged into retail boxes.
The students enjoyed samples of high quality chocolates and everyone had a wonderful
time at Purdy's. The students learned a lot about chocolate production. We would
like to thank Silvie and Ross for giving us a tour and our Student Coordinator,
Stephanie Chiu for making all the arrangements. Photos from this event can be found in
our Photo Gallery. Click
Here
A group of students and 1 member of the Executive toured the
Save-On-Foods store, 8200 Ackroyd Road, on No.3 Road, Richmond as part of Save-On-Foods
"Shop Smart" nutrition tour. The students were guided
through the entire supermarket by Harmeet Mundra, a dietitian, who pointed out
a lot of informative facts about health and nutrition, healthy eating, weight
management, heart health and sports nutrition.
Harmeet informed the group that all the healthy, fresh foods are located in
the outer perimeter of the store whereas all the processed foods are located
on the aisles located in the center of the store. The students were led through
the fresh produce, meats, bread, dairy, cheese, juices, and butter and margarine
sections of the store.
Harmeet told the students that 1 serving of meat for
an adult is roughly equivalent to the size of one's palm. She also recommends
fish intake since fish contains omega-3 fatty acids. For breads, she recommends
that whole grain breads with high fibre content be consumed rather than white
bread.
She adds that reading portion and serving sizes of food labels is important
when purchasing food. Complex carbohydrates which can be found in whole grain
breads are a healthier alternative to simple carbohydrates which can be found
in white breads. For dairy foods, skim, 1% and 2% milk should be consumed rather
than the higher fat content homogenized milk. In addition to milk, yogourts
are also an important source of calcium. For cheese, 1 serving is equivalent
to the volume of one's entire index and middle finger.
When shopping for juice, Harmeet advised the students to read the food labels
on carbohydrate or sugar content per serving because juices tend to contain
a lot of sugar. In the butter and margarine section, Harmeet informed us that
margarines made from unsaturated fats can be a healthier alternative to butter.
She also advised the students that they should pay careful attention to food
labels and ingredients because margarine that is hydrogenated is unhealthy.
Instead, non-hydrogenated margarine should be chosen over hydrogenated margarine.
Lastly, the students were led to the cereal section of the store where they
were informed about fibre content of cereals. Cereals high in fibre should be
consumed over cereals that are high in sugar. For those with active lifestyles
or those who are athletes, special attention should be made with regards to
sports drinks as they are high in carbohydrates and should be diluted.
Everyone had a fantastic and educational time at the nutrition
tour. The students learned many tips about healthy eating and nutrition. We
would like to thank Harmeet Mundra for her informative tour and Stephanie for
her many efforts in organizing and rescheduling the tour. A photo from
this event can be found in our Photo Gallery. Click
Here
A group of 20 students and 2 members of the BCFPA Executive toured the Que Pasa Mexican Foods production plant located at 12031 No. 5 Road in Richmond, BC. Que Pasa produces and distributes select tortilla chips for natural food companies and other organic tortilla chip brands. Their salsas and prepared foods are also produced for and distributed in supermarket and warehouse clubs.
James Lefort, Maria and Vernaida gave us a tour of their facility. The tour began in the lab testing area. James explained the many tests that they conduct on raw food materials as well as final food products. Sodium, microbiology and pH tests are carried out on salsa dips whereas corn products are tested for allergens, rancidity, sensory evaluation and residual calcium hydroxide.
James indicated that microbiology testing for E. coli, yeasts and moulds, and coliforms utilizes Petri film plates. Coliform testing is used as an indicator of unsanitary conditions and E. coli counts must be less than 0. Tomato salsa dips must be at a pH range of 3.9 to 4.1 and if for some reason the range is over 4.1, the entire lot is discarded. Microbiology testing is performed three times a day. Allergen testing is relatively new at Que Pasa and they test for the presence of trace amounts of dairy and gluten.
Non-GMO canola oil is used to produce the organic tortilla chips. Rancidity testing must be performed because canola oil is composed of polyunsaturated fatty acids and contains both omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. Omega-3 fatty acids are unstable and as a result, they go rancid quickly. Aside from the chemical rancidity testing, sensory testing is also performed to determine if the product is rancid.
The tortilla corn chips are packaged in either transparent packages or non-transparent packages. The clear packages of corn chips have a 3-month shelf life whereas the non-transparent packages have a 6 month shelf life. Even though the clear packages are a good oxygen and water barrier, they are a poor UV/light barrier and thus contribute to development of rancidity in the chips.
James also showed us around the corn production area. We saw how the corn is made into corn chips and packaged using various pieces of equipment. James explained that the raw corn is first soaked in a CaOH bath. The hulls are then separated from the corn with specialized equipment. The corn is then ground up using volcanic rock, which needs to be replaced once every 6 months. Even though the volcanic rock is involved in grinding the corn, the rock surfaces do not touch and are 1/16th inch apart. The finely ground corn is moistened, washed and turned to mush before being pressed into shape and heated at 500 °F. These tortilla chips are fried in canola oil at about 120°C for a few minutes. Afterwards, they are seasoned with salt before being packaged.
James also explained that Que Pasa is strict on quality and will throw chips to the floor if they do not meet high expectations where they will be collected for composting or animal feed. As well, Que Pasa has strict rules and does not allow production workers to wear jewelry, watches, rings, nail polish and bring glass to the production room. James also informed us that Que Pasa produces regular, coloured and flavoured corn chips. Flavoured corn chips are produced last due to allergen risk (cheddar flavours are used). The sanitation crew comes at 2 am to clean floors and equipment everyday and production begins daily at 5 am.
In the end, everyone had a great time at Que Pasa and also
enjoyed tasting some of their products at the deli. We would like to thank James,
Maria and Vernaida of Que Pasa for giving us the tour and Stephanie for her
great job of organizing the tour. Look for pictures of
this event in our Photo Gallery. Click
Here
A group of BCFPA student members composed of 14 students attended
a tour of Granville Island Brewery on the afternoon of March 10th. Because last
year's Granville Island Brewery tour went so well, it has been decided that
the tour should be made an annual event. Our tour guide, Adrienne, showed us
around the brewery and let us sample some barley malt they use for their beers.
Adrienne, a brew-master, was very knowledgeable of the brewing process. She
explained to us how the equipment works and what it is used for. After the tour,
the students sampled some of Granville Island Brewery's famous beers including
Cypress Honey Lager, English Bay Pale Ale, Robson Street Hefeweizen and Killarney
Stout. Everyone had a great time at the brewery. The students would like to
thank both Adrienne for hosting the tour and Stephanie for organizing the tour.
Look for pictures of this event in our Photo Gallery.
Click
Here
A group of 12 students and 3 members of the BCFPA Executive toured Purdy's Chocolates production facility located at 2777 Kingsway in Vancouver. Purdy's Chocolates is a Canadian company and was started in 1907 by Richard Cormon Purdy. Their first chocolate shop was opened in 1907 on Robson Street in Vancouver. Today, Purdy's, which has been owned by the Flavelle family since 1963, is Western Canada's largest and Canada's second largest retailer of specialty chocolates.
Juliet and George, who work for Purdy's, proudly gave us a tour of the facility. They showed us various equipment involved in making the centers and fillings that will be later used to produce an assortment of chocolates. They showed us the warehouse area where they store incoming shipments of chocolate ingredients and large tanks that store liquefied milk and dark chocolate. These tanks can store 30,000 pounds of liquid chocolate that are connected to pipes that carry the chocolate to the production areas where they will be used to make chocolates. They showed us around the processing areas including those with big, copper kettles which are used to make the cream fillings that are found in the centers of the chocolates. We also saw equipment used to roast the different nuts that will later be either sold separately or enrobed or mixed with dark chocolate.
George advised us how they have to make sure the liquid dark chocolate stays at a certain temperature or it will harden in the pipes. This is because liquid dark chocolate hardens quicker than regular chocolate. During the tour, we found out Purdy's purchases the best quality chocolate from Belgium and California. On the production line, we saw how bite-sized cream pieces get coated with chocolate. These pieces slowly move on the production line over the 'bottomer' where the bottom is first coated with chocolate and then they eventually pass by a chocolate waterfall called an enrober. After it gets coated with chocolate, plant workers uses specific instruments to hand mark the chocolates with special designs. This is to ensure consumers can tell which type of chocolate they are eating. The chocolates go through a cooling chamber where it takes about 15-20 minutes for it them to cool before they are packaged.
During the tour, we found out they are already getting ready for Easter! Easter bunnies and chocolate Easter eggs were being made as we toured the facility. George and Juliet explained how the molded Easter bunny chocolates are made. Plant workers fill chocolate into plastic moldings that are shaped like bunnies. The moulds are vigorously vibrated to disperse the chocolate and remove any air bubbles present in the chocolate. After they cool down and harden, the moulds are taken apart so that the bunnies can eventually be packaged into plastic bags.
In the packaging area, we saw how the chocolates get packaged into boxes. During packaging, each piece is inspected for to ensure quality.. Each chocolate piece is placed over a serving cup where it is then placed in gold tray lines of the famous Purple box. Each box contains an arrangement of assorted chocolates and are inspected and weighed again before the lid is placed on top. The students eagerly sampled many of the high quality chocolates. In the end, everyone had a fantastic time at Purdy's, especially when trying out some of the chocolates and learned a great deal about the manufacture of chocolates and the good manufacturing practices employed at Purdy's.
We would like to thank Juliet and George of Purdy's for giving us the tour and Stephanie for organizing the tour. Look for pictures of this event in our Photo Gallery. Click Here
A speaker's evening was held in the MacMillan building at UBC for students who were interested in hearing what some of the members of our BCFPA Executive do for a living! Guest speakers Terry Peters (BCFPA President), Lorraine McIntyre (BCFPA Treasurer) and Annette Moore (BCFPA Vice President & Newsletter Editor) all filled eager students in on what they do on a day to day basis.
The evening started off with Terry Peters who works for the Canadian Food Inspection Agency as a Microbiology Program Specialist. Terry spoke about the CFIA, what he does and even showed us fascinating photos of buildings that did not meet regulations such as pipes in bad conditions, unsanitary storage rooms and food establishments, holes in walls, and pest problems. He also showed specific photos and got the students involved in identifying what should or should not be happening in the photos.
The next speaker was Lorraine McIntyre who works in a laboratory at the BC Centre for Disease Control as Gastroenteritis Outbreak Coordinator and Supervisor of Food Poisoning. She explained about the kinds of lab work dealt with on a daily basis; including the testing samples of peoples' bodily fluids, food and water. She talked about food quality and food poisoning methods, guidelines and procedures including routine aerobic plate counts; total coliform, fecal coliform and E. coli counts; and Staphylococcus aureus testing. She later filled us in on particular food poisoning case reports. The BCCDC tests a wide range of food poisoning agents including bacteria, viruses, parasites, seafood toxins, plant toxicants and chemical substances. Lorraine informed us on past food poisoning incidents and what she has done to identify the food poisoning agent. She told us about a food poisoning incident with strawberries which resulted in two people becoming ill. She told the students about another incident which involved oysters and Norovirus. She explained the Norovirus molecular detection in oysters through the use of PCR (Polymerase Chain Reaction). Lorraine also discussed about investigation methods and gave a general overview of the steps involved in finding out how the oysters came to be contaminated.
The last speaker was Annette Moore who is president of the company she founded called Quality First in Agriculture, Inc.. Annette talked about the company and how it provides agricultural services including HACCP and explained about the importance of on-farm safety and quality programs. She also talked about good production practices, on-farm security and biosecurity. She also gave us insight on particular agricultural companies who already have HACCP in place. On-farm food safety and auditing was also explained to the students.
The students had an interesting and wonderful time learning about what our BCFPA executives do on a day to day basis! They got to find out about the different types of food-science-related jobs that are available and even got to learn more about the CFIA, BCCDC and on-farm safety. The students would like to thank Terry, Lorraine and Annette for their time and Student Coordinator, Kim for her time and effort in organizing the speaker's evening.
A group of 7 students from the Student Professional Development Group as well as 3 members of the Executive toured Granville Island Public Market and Granville Island Brewery.
Karin Schreurs, one of three Market Coordinators at Granville Island Public Market led the group on a tour of the market. Karin outlined the history of the buildings and explained the different types of vendors at the market. The Market strives to offer opportunities for local producers to sell their products. Craft vendors must compete annually via a juried process for vending space. The Market is exploring composting options for the 'green waste' generated by the market.
At Granville Island Brewery, our tour guide, Jessie, showed
us around the beer processing areas of the brewery. The brewery building was
built in the 1940's and in 1984 was converted to a microbrewery. The Granville
Island Brewery was the first licensed microbrewery in Canada and produces ~10
million litres of beer each year. The Granville Island operation is used as
a test brewery for new products and for specialty products; the majority of
the firms product is produced in a second plant in the Okanagan.
Jessie explained about how the beer they produce follows the German Bavarian
Purity Law of 1516. Unlike large breweries, Granville Island Brewery does not
add preservatives or pasteurize their product and as a result, their brews will
only last up to 6 months whereas beer from the major breweries will last up
to 9 to 12 months. Jessie explained the details and steps involved in producing
beer as well as the strict quality standards they have to follow. The brewery
uses 4 natural ingredients in making beer: malt or barley, hops, water and yeast.
The group followed Jessie as he showed us around the equipment they use to produce
beer. First, he explained about how the malted barley (the first ingredient)
has to be crushed in the grist mill and then mixed with hot water (the second
ingredient) in the mash tun to form a thick and soupy mixture called mash and
wort (sweet water that tastes like ovaltine). The mixture then gets pumped into
the lauter tun where it sieves or filters the insoluble parts from the wort
(sweet water). The wort then gets pumped in to the brew kettle where it is boiled
and with pelleted hops (the third ingredient) which provides flavour and acts
as a preservative. The "hopped wort" is then transferred to a fermenter where
the yeast (the fourth ingredient) is added. The yeast ferments the sugar and
produces ethyl alcohol and carbon dioxide. Jessie mentioned how ales would take
3 to 5 days to ferment the sugars whereas lagers (fermented at a lower temperature)
would take 10 to 14 days to ferment. He also explained that it takes 4 to 6
weeks to properly age the beer. In the end, the beer undergoes maturation in
tanks in the conditioning room and is then filtered through a diatomaceous earth
filter to remove particulates and yeast. The beer is filtered again in a plate
filter at a filter size of 0.6 microns and then sent to the bright tank for
packaging into bottles, cans or kegs.
The tour wouldn't be complete without trying their famous beers! In the end,
we got to try their Granville Island Lager, Maple Cream Ale, English Bay Pale
Ale, and Cypress Honey Lager. Everyone had a fantastic time at the brewery and
also got a complimentary beer glass!! The tour was very interesting and fun,
not to mention the beer tasting component of the tour!
The students would like to thank Karin and Jessie for the tours, and a special
thanks to Kim for her time and effort in organizing the tour. Look for pictures
of this event in our Photo Gallery. Click
Here
On February 3, 2005, the BCFPA participated in the Life Science and Agricultural Science Career Fair at the University of British Columbia. Participation was by donation and the BCFPA was pleased to contribute a $100.00 donation to the Agricultural Sciences Community Partners Fund.
Our display was staffed by President - Terry Peters, Treasurer - Lorraine McIntyre, Student Coordinator - Kimberley Willing and Student Group Secretary - Stephanie Chiu. The displays were open from 5:00 to 7:30 and our display was kept extremely busy with questions about our association and about IAFP. Many students were looking for volunteer opportunities and looking to establish linkages with potential employers as well as researchers in the food safety and protection area.
The event was again an overwhelming success by our standards
with our signing of ten new student members and certainly garnering the interest
of several other potential members. Look for pictures of this event in our Photo
Gallery. Click
Here
Our first student member joined the association in December
2003. In the first part of 2004 our student membership grew to 20 members. With
our second year of successful participation in the UBC Career Fair we are confident
in our ability to maintain an active student membership. Plans are being made
for two activities during the spring semester. In March 2005, we gained our
first student member from the BC Institute of Technology.
The Bread Garden Production Facility supplies food to several
accounts, including the Bread Garden Bakery Cafes. The facility, located at
2672 Rupert St. in Vancouver, is 7 years old and was designed to provide the
Bread Garden Cafes with products of consistent quality.
As the cafes grew in popularity, they became unable to meet the increased demand
for their products in a relatively small space. The cafes still do their own
baking daily, but receive the "raw materials" from the production facility (e.g.
muffin batters, cookie doughs, etc.). The other accounts receive food that is
fully prepared at the facility.
David Eto, manager of the facility, led us through the tour and showed us what
goes on in each area (making muffins, cinnamon buns, soups, sandwiches, etc.).
In a few areas we also had staff members explain in more detail what they do,
as each person has their own area of expertise within the facility. Throughout
the tour Mr. Eto also explained various aspects of the food safe practices that
are followed at the facility, such as their HACCP (Hazard Analysis Critical
Control Point) plan.
As seen in the pictures, we were fortunate enough to be invited to join the
staff in celebrating Persian New Year, an example of just one of the multicultural
events that they make an effort to observe. The staff also participates in daily
group exercises. It was apparent that not only the work of the staff is valued,
but their happiness and well being also.
The tour was very informative, interesting and enjoyable. Thank you again to
Mr. Eto and the rest of the staff for sharing part of your workday with us!
Look for pictures of this event in our Photo Gallery. Click
Here