Doctoral Program in Animal and Food Hygiene
In Japan, as in many other countries, safety of food of animal origin has
increasingly become an important public health concern, as well as a political issue
in the light of economies having to survive and compete in a highly-globalized free
market. To help address such realities, in 2004, the University implemented a master's degree program in "Animal and Food Hygiene". The course aims to equip students
with the fundamentals of animal food safety and sanitation, and provide them the
opportunity to carry out relevant research, primarily geared towards the enhancement
of safe food production and delivery systems. Due to globalization, food safety has
become an essential issue of economic survival, particularly in developing countries.
This program was thus instituted purportedly to help these countries upgrade their
food hygiene and sanitation-related programs and become more competitive in the
process.
In view of the highly interdisciplinary nature of the course, the instructional
and research components are shared by research-based faculty and staff of the 21st
Century Center of Excellence (COE) Program of Japan, and serviced by five
laboratories, namely: Meat and Milk Hygiene; Animal Production Hygiene; Food Safety
Economics; Food Microbiology and Animal Hygiene; and Zoonotic Infections. With this
expertise and support, it has attracted a sizable number of international
post-graduates, and thus is expected to produce specialists of international stature,
who can assist in promoting food safety and hygiene worldwide.
While this course aims to address every vital aspect/facet of production,
processing and transportation of food of animal origin, it also helps hone students'
scientific process skills (critical, analytical, integrative, and organizational)
in research. As such, the graduates are expected to be able to translate research
findings on food safety and sanitation within the context of public health from a
much wider and global perspective. Also, the training they obtain should be more
than sufficient to prepare them to work closely with -and complement the studies of -
experts from agriculture, animal husbandry, and veterinary medicine locally,
nationally, and globally.
Courses in Animal Medical Science, Food Hygiene, and Environmental Hygiene