Online Training Available to Food Business Entrepreneurs

Required Course Available Through UT Extension

KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Are you planning to start a food business selling your tasty and popular pickles or other canned goods like salsas and chow-chows?  If so, University of Tennessee Extension is making it easier to get the required training you need.

Dr. Faith Critzer, a food scientist with UT Extension, and Nathan Miller, an Extension assistant, have been working to convert their in-person workshop, known as Better Process Control School, to an online format to better serve the clients in Tennessee. By law, process control training is required food safety training for anyone wishing to sell acidified and low-acid canned food. 

Acidified foods include any shelf-stable product that contains an acidulant, such as vinegar, for preservation. Examples include pickled vegetables (e.g., corn relish, beets, green beans, etc.), salsa, chow-chow, quick cucumber pickles, pickled meats and eggs. 

Fermented foods, such as sauerkraut, are not considered acidified foods. Acidified foods also do not include any product that is intended to be refrigerated or frozen. Low acid canned foods are any shelf-stable food product with a pH greater than 4.6 (e.g., vegetables, meats and fish).

“We have a great deal of interest from clients around the state who want to make a product that is an acidified food, but who also have a full-time job that makes it hard to take off for several days to attend our in-person courses,” says Critzer. “Since this is one of the first steps in the process, we’re hoping the online access will help them get one step closer to realizing their goal.” 

The self-paced course will allow clients to take their time and follow along as their schedule allows. Support is provided to help answer your technical questions as well as questions related to course navigation in the Extension Online Learning platform (extOL). This training opportunity will provide pertinent knowledge and an expansive overview of key concepts that are of the utmost importance for any acidified or low acid canned food manufacturer.

For more information or to enroll, visit the website http://tiny.utk.edu/BPC or contact Nathan Miller at 865-974-7287 or by email to nathan.miller@tennessee.edu

Through its mission of research, teaching and extension, the University of Tennessee Institute of Agriculture touches lives and provides Real. Life. Solutions. ag.tennessee.edu