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University of Nebraska–Lincoln

Graduate Online and Distance Education

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Food Safety and Defense

  • About
  • Tuition & Fees
  • Courses
  • Tech Requirements
  • Application Process
  • Contact Us
The Certificate

The Food Safety and Defense Certificate graduate program is for individuals
directly involved in agriculture and food production industries.

The program addresses the advanced educational needs of individuals currently working in the production, manufacturing, and quality monitoring of food products.

The 12 credit certificate program may be completed entirely online or by
combining residence and distance courses.

Who Should Consider This Degree?
  • Food industry professionals who want to enhance or add areas of expertise
  • Professionals who want to fulfill challenging personal and professional goals
  • Full-time professionals who want flexible course schedules and delivery
  • Independent, self-motivated individuals with a strong commitment to lifelong learning

Methods of Delivery:

Courses will be offered online. The courses will be term-specific
meaning that students will need to begin and complete the course during the
offering period (usually a 14-16 week semester or shorter summer session).


For more information visit http://foodsci.unl.edu/index.shtml		 foodsafety Great Plains IDEA logo

Great Plains IDEA Program
This program is part of the Great Plains Interactive Distance Education Alliance (Great Plains IDEA), a consortium of eleven universities offering fully online graduate programs.

Each university brings a unique strength to the multi-institution academic programs.

You apply, and are admitted at one university; enroll in all your courses at that university; and, graduate or receive a certificate from that university. However, your online courses are taught by the best faculty in the discipline from several universities.


Resident Tuition Cost:
  Resident Distance Ed. Tuition Distance Ed. Fee Registration Fee
Per Semester		 Tech Fee Library Fee Total Cost for 3 Credit Hours
 
Graduate per credit hour

 $430.00 -- -- -- --  
Graduate 3 credit hours $1290.00 -- -- -- -- --



Non-Resident Tuition Cost:
  Non-Resident Distance Ed. Tuition Distance Ed. Fee Registration Fee
Per Semester		 Tech Fee Library Fee Total Cost for 3 Credit Hours
 
Graduate per credit hour $430.00 -- -- -- --  
Graduate 3 credit hours $1290.00 -- -- -- -- --

Tuition rates are effective as of 7/1/09 and are subject to change in July of each year.

Program of Study

The Food Safety and Defense Certificate program requirements include 12 hours total of graduate coursework, including:

Core Courses :

  • FDST 871 - A Mulitidisciplinary Overview Of Food Safety And Security (2 credit hours)
    Offered each Fall, Spring, and Summer
    Topics include food safety policy, ag bioterrorism, border security, animal ID, food defense and site security,
    risk analysis, crisis communication, epidemiology, HACCP, and more.

  • FDST 805, Food Microbiology (BIOS 845) (3 credit hours)
    Prerequisite: a 3 hr course in biology and chemistry
    Offered each Fall
    The course includes an introduction to food-borne diseases, the effect of food processing systems on the micro flora of foods, principles of food preservation, food spoilage, and foods produced by microorganisms. Food plant sanitation and criteria for establishing microbial standards for food products are included in the course.

  • FDST 872 - Principles Of HACCP (2 credit hours)
    Offered each Fall and Spring
    A comprehensive study of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point System and its application in the food industry.

  • FDST 873 - Foodborne Toxicants (2 credit hours)
    Offered each Fall
    Mechanisms of action, metabolism, sources, remediation/detoxification, risk assessment of major foodborne toxicants of current interest, design of HAACP plans for use in food industries targeting foodborne toxicants.
Tech Requirements

High speed Internet connection is required. Check the Graduate Distance Catalog to learn the specific requirements for your program.

Some distance courses have supplemental materials on videos or CDs and others may require phone conferencing. You will interact with the professor and other students through e-mail, phone conferencing, and Blackboard.

Blackboard™ Requirements and Browser Configurations:
To effectively use Blackboard the Javascript and cookies on your computer must be enabled. Some content for features may require additional software. Pop-up blockers should be disabled for Blackboard (My.UNL). The browsers below are officially supported.

  • Internet Explorer: 7.0 or higher
  • Firefox: 2.0 or higher
  • Safari: 2.0 or higher

Older versions of the above or alternative browsers (such as Mozilla and Opera) may be compatible, but some features might not be available. To download the latest browsers, click the “help” button in Blackboard (My.UNL) and access the Downloads area.

Operating Systems:
Microsoft® Windows® 2000 and up, or Mac OS X, 10.2 and up are strongly recommended. Older operating systems (Microsoft® Windows® 98SE/ME, MacOS 8/9) or alternative platforms (Linux) are compatible, but may not have full functionality. Blackboard (My.UNL) is not currently compatible with handheld devices or Web-enabled phones.

Windows Macintosh
Minimum System Requirements Minimum System Requirements
Operating System: Windows XP SP 2
(Home or Professional)		 Operating System: OS X (10.2)
Processor: 1 GHz Processor: G3 800 MHz
RAM: 256 MB RAM: 256 MB
       
Recommended System Requirements Recommended System Requirements
Operating
System:		 Windows XP SP 2
(Home or Pro)
or Windows Vista		 Operating
System:		 OS X (10.4) or OS X (10.5)
Processor: 2 GHz or higher Processor: G4 1.25 GHz or higher
RAM: 768 MB or more RAM: 768 MB or more


Note: Using Blackboard with AOL:
While you can use AOL as your service provider, you cannot use the AOL Web browser to access Blackboard (My.UNL). If you try to use the AOL browser, you will find that it will automatically log you out every few minutes and you will experience problems with some of Blackboard’s services including assessments (tests and quizzes).

If you are an AOL user, once you’ve connected to the Internet, use a different Web browser to access the Internet.
 

Admission Requirements

  • A bachelor's degree
  • Work in a food industry related field or have an interest in furthering your knowledge of food safety and defense

Admission Procedure:

1. Required by Office of Graduate Studies


Send to: Office of Graduate Studies
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
1100 Seaton Hall
P.O. Box 880619
Lincoln, NE 68588-0619

2. Required by Food Science and Technology Department

  • Three letters of recommendation
  • Letter of intent stating background and professional goals in pursuing this certificate
  • Resume
  • If English is not your native language, a minimum TOEFL score: Paper-525; Computer -195; Internet-71

Send to: Members of the Graduate Committee
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Department of Food Science and Technology
143 Filey Hall
Lincoln, NE 68583-0919


Application Deadline
Rolling admission

Review Process

  1. Graduate Studies performs a preliminary review after receiving your online application, $45 application fee and transcripts. Your file is then forwarded to the Department Graduate Committee for review.
  2. Department Graduate Committee conducts a departmental review only after all materials are received. The Department Graduate Committee notifies Graduate Studies of their admission recommendation.
  3. Graduate Studies conducts a final review. If you are admitted, Graduate Studies will notify you by e-mail and mail.
For information regarding courses offered and department admission contact:
Extended Education & Outreach
900 North 22nd Street
P.O. Box 888805
Lincoln, NE 68588-8805
Phone: (402) 472-2715
Fax: (402) 472-4345
E-mail: unlextended@unl.edu
Web: http://onlinegraduate.unl.edu