Learning objectives
Students will be familiar with the basic concepts of antibiotics, their mechanisms of action and resistance, as well as their use in food producing animals. The strategies implemented at local, national and international scale to fight antimicrobial resistance will be illustrated and discussed. Students will be aware of the role of both food and environment for the development and spread of antimicrobial resistance. Students will understand which preventive measures can be applied to contain antimicrobial resistance. Students will acquire knowledge on the main food-borne zoonotic parasites transmitted through consumption of fresh (including raw and undercooked or poorly processed meat/fish) or processed food. The students will acquire knowledges also on the methodologies for their detection, characterisation and tracing, their occurrence and survival in relevant food matrices, the importance of food as a vehicle of infection and the possible control measures along the whole food chain.
Prerequisites
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Course unit content
• Antimicrobial resistance in food-producing animals
• The transfer of antimicrobial resistance from food to humans
• The role of the environment in the antimicrobial resistance issue
• Management of antimicrobial resistance
• Biosecurity, prevention and animal welfare
• Food-borne parasite of global importance and their life cycle
• Current methods for the detection, identification, characterisation and tracing of the main food-borne parasites in foods that may be likely vehicles of infection
• Food-borne pathways for transmission of the main food-borne parasites to humans
• Occurrence and survival of the selected parasites in foods, and consumer habits that contribute to infection
• Possible control measures along the food chain, from farm to consumption
Full programme
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Bibliography
Lectures slides
Scientific papers
Antimicrobial Resistance in Bacteria from Livestock and Companion Animals [Edited by Frank Møller Aarestrup, Stefan Schwarz, Jianzhong Shen, and Lina Cavaco], 2018, American Society for Microbiology, Washington, DC
Foodborne parasites in the food supply web [Edited by Alvin A Gajadhar], 2015, Woodhead Publishing – Elsevier, Amsterdam, NL
Teaching methods
Face-to-face lectures, scientific seminaries, laboratories activities
Assessment methods and criteria
Final grading of the entire integrated course is calculated as an average of the scores obtained in the two courses “Risk management of zoonotic parasites along the food chain” and “Risk management of antimicrobial resistance”.
Other information
Links to further information
www.ema.europa.eu
www.efsa.europa.eu
www.ecdc.europa.eu
Office hours
See the website of Andrea Barbarossa
See the website of Monica Caffara
2030 agenda goals for sustainable development
