Although we reached the phase of the COVID-19 pandemic where vaccines can assist us in controlling the spread, we are still far from calling the pandemic over. There are still US regions where COVID-19 cases are on the rise and the current rate of vaccine administration is less than one fourth of what our maximum capacity was in April 2021. To assure safe continuation of operation, food facilities have to maintain COVID-19 control programs with appropriate adjustments to accommodate a workforce with a mix of vaccinated and unvaccinated employees as well as potential for localized community spread, especially in regions with low vaccination rates.

For this reason, we developed eleven short, 20 minute training modules to provide the most recent information and recommendations on controlling COVID-19 in food facilities. This training program is designed to provide food industry managers and supervisors with the tools and resources to help manage the impact on their employees and business operations during these later phases of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The topics included in the eleven training modules range from how to establish a “COVID-19 Control Culture” in your food facility that with time can be transformed into a robust, long-lasting food safety culture to the latest information about the biology of the SARS-CoV-2 virus and why it is not foodborne. Although the focus is on managing COVID-19 in food facilities, the lessons learned can be applied to other crises where ‘’risk-based’’ perspective is needed to establish a control program with the optimal impact.

Some of the additional topics covered by this training program that are relevant to building any robust control program are (i) the benefits of using a formal system that includes proper documentation to improve control strategies during any crisis and reduce your legal liability, (ii) the benefits of verifying and validating COVID-19 control strategies in food facilities, as well as (iii) how computer modeling can assist you in optimizing the mitigation strategies in your facility.

In the last module of this training program, we provide useful information on how to develop your own training program for your frontline workers and how to communicate with them during pandemics and other crisis situations that are characterized by both limited availability and consistent change of relevant information.

For more information on this training program visit this link from Cornell’s Institute for Food Safety.

Training Delivery: Online; self-paced.

Date Offered: Take any time, on-demand.

Cost: Free.

Intended Audience: Food industry managers and supervisors.

Eligibility: Open to anyone in the Food Industry from Farm to Fork.