Thursday, June 27, 2013

Food and Nutrition Management Keeps Communities Healthy

Health and nutrition management plays a huge role in keeping communities healthy. When you send your child to school and give him or her money for lunch, you want to ensure that they are ingesting a healthy lunch. When your loved one is hospitalized, you want to ensure the meals they receive have nutritional value. That’s where professionals who have attended a Food and Nutrition Management come in. These Food and Nutrition Managers, Food Service Coordinators, Dietary Managers and Quality Control Technicians are tasked with very important responsibilities that ensure the growing healthcare and food service industry continues to evolve.

Those who attend the two-year Food and Nutrition Management program at Centennial College are especially equipped to handle their duties as they are able to: practice in accordance with the code of ethics of the appropriate professional association, the Canadian Society of Nutrition Management; apply a knowledge of normal and clinical nutrition; participate in the provision of nutritional care in a variety of settings, including institutional and community environments; participate in procurement of goods and services and master menu planning; supervise the preparation of food products and special feedings following standardized recipes and production procedures; supervise food distribution according to established standards; and supervise operational procedures to meet established standards for safety and sanitation according to established policy, procedures and regulations.

But how this Food and Nutrition Management program get students from novices to seasoned professionals? First and foremost, the offering is based at Morningside Campus, Centennial College’s most high-tech location. At this campus, using Centennial’s Hospitality Management Centre, students learn the practical aspects of quantity food preparation and service and conduct experiments to learn the physical food properties. This is achieved through a variety of lecture and lab courses such as: Kitchen Production, Perspectives on Human Aging, Food Properties Analysis, Purchasing for the Food Services Industry, Food Service Accounting, Medical Nutrition Therapy, Supervision Practices and more.

Secondly the final seven weeks of Food and Nutrition Management are balanced by a supervised work experience in a health care facility. This allows students to not only apply what they have learned but also network and work alongside seasoned professionals.

It is worth noting that the Food and Nutrition Management program has received the President’s Academic Program Recognition Award for Preparation for Job Market, Student Satisfaction, Graduate Satisfaction, Employer Satisfaction and Quality of The Learning Experience. It also holds an accreditation from the Canadian Society of Nutrition Management (CSNM). The Food and Nutrition Management’s CSNM accreditation ensures that graduates are automatically eligible for membership in the CSNM and OSNM (Ontario Society of Nutrition Management). CSNM membership is a requirement of the Ontario’s Ministry of Health and Long Term Care to work in a long-term care facility and most acute care facilities.

To apply for the Food and Nutrition Management program, applicants are required to possess at minimum an Ontario Secondary School Diploma or equivalent or be 19 years of age or older. In addition, they must have compulsory English 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent and Math 11M or U or 12C or U or skills assessment, or equivalent.

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