FER 205 — Acidified Foods Regulation and Documentation

Sample syllabus of record · Fall 2026 · Section 01 · 3 credit hours · Filed August 14, 2026

Course information

Course

FER 205 — Acidified Foods Regulation and Documentation (3 cr.)

Division

Division of Food, Fermentation and Culinary Production

Program

A.A.S. — Fermentation and Brine Sciences

Prerequisite

FER 120, FER 140.

Meetings

Lecture: Monday and Wednesday, 10:00–10:50 a.m., room as listed in DroverNet

Laboratory: Friday, 9:00–10:50 a.m., Fermentation Cellar

Contact hours

30 lecture hours and 30 laboratory hours (2 lecture credits, 1 laboratory credit).

Instructor

Instructor

Solveig Trapp, M.S., Professor, Food Science

Office

Fermentation Cellar Office · ext. 2325

Office hours

Monday, 11:00 a.m.–12:30 p.m.; Wednesday, 1:00–2:00 p.m.; and by appointment.

Messages to the instructor are sent from the student’s College e-mail account and are answered within two business days.

Course description

Acidified foods regulation under 21 CFR 114: process filing, scheduled process establishment, and record retention. Complete batch records for the practicum term are required to pass.

Course outcomes

On completion of the course, the student will be able to:

1. Classify a product as an acid food, an acidified food, or a low-acid food under 21 CFR 114.3, and identify the products to which Part 114 does not apply.
2. Describe the registration of a food canning establishment and the filing of a scheduled process with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration, and complete a filing exercise.
3. Explain the role of a process authority in establishing a scheduled process, and identify the critical factors a scheduled process specifies.
4. Maintain contemporaneous batch records for an assigned lot, including pH verification against a calibrated meter, and correct an entry without obscuring the original.
5. Document a process deviation, its evaluation, and the disposition of the affected product.
6. State the retention period for acidified foods records and the conditions under which records are produced on inspection.

Required materials

• Course packet, available at the Bookstore: selected text of 21 CFR Parts 108, 114, and 117, and FDA guidance documents assigned in the schedule.
• Bound batch record book, in the format issued by the Division. Entries are made in ink at the time of the observation.
• The program kit issued in the first semester.
• Hair restraint and clean outer garment for each laboratory session.

No course fee is charged. Program bench and kit charges are assessed to the program each semester under the Schedule of Charges (bench $940; kit $96). See the Schedule of Charges. Bench and laboratory fees are not refundable after the second week of instruction.

Schedule

Scroll the table horizontally to see all columns.

Lots in process require pH checks during the Thanksgiving recess. Students with an assigned lot in process during the Thanksgiving recess complete the scheduled pH checks on the rota posted in Week 12. No student is scheduled on Thursday, November 26. A student who cannot meet a rota assignment arranges a substitute through the instructor before the recess begins. The schedule may be adjusted by the instructor; changes are announced in class and in DroverNet.

Assessment

Complete batch records for the practicum term are required to pass. In this section, the batch record file comprises the records for each lot assigned to the student during the term. A student whose file is incomplete at the close of laboratory on December 11 does not pass the course, regardless of the weighted score.

Batch record checks in Weeks 3, 6, 9, and 12 are not separately weighted. Deficiencies noted at a check are corrected by the next check. An entry corrected after the fact is struck with a single line, initialed, and dated; an entry that has been obscured, overwritten, or removed is recorded as missing.

The filing exercise uses a sample product and does not result in a filing with any agency.

Final grades are assigned on the grading scale published in the Catalog of record.

Attendance

Attendance is required at every laboratory. A student absent from a laboratory arranges with the instructor for the batch record entries due that session; entries are not made by another student on the absent student’s behalf.

A student who has vomiting, diarrhea, jaundice, or a sore throat with fever, or who has been diagnosed with an illness transmissible through food, reports it to the instructor before entering the Cellar and does not handle product. An absence for this reason is excused and does not require documentation.

The College observes Labor Day and the Thanksgiving recess (November 25–27). Shop, barn, and clinical assignments may require attendance during recess periods where continuity of care or process requires it.

Laboratory practice

The Fermentation Cellar is a food production area. Hair restraints are worn, jewelry other than a plain band is removed, and hands are washed on entry. The bench pH meter is calibrated against two buffers before each use and the calibration is recorded in the bound log.

Product produced in laboratory sessions is instructional product. It is not sold or distributed by students, and completion of this course does not qualify a student to supervise an acidified foods operation under 21 CFR 114.10. Graduates of the program are eligible to sit for the FDA Better Process Control School examination, which is administered off-site and is not a requirement of this course.

Withdrawal

The last day to withdraw without penalty is September 11. The last day to withdraw with a W is October 30. Withdrawal is processed by the Office of the Registrar and is not effected by ceasing to attend. Term dates are published in the Academic Calendar.

Accommodation

The College provides reasonable accommodation under Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and Title II of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Accommodation is requested from Disability Services, Room A-134, ext. 2144, and not from the instructor. Accommodation is not retroactive; it begins when approved. Students are encouraged to request accommodation before the term begins, particularly in courses with shop, barn, clinical, or field components.

The instructor receives a letter stating the approved accommodations and does not receive the diagnosis, the documentation, or the reason. An instructor who believes an approved accommodation cannot be implemented in this course contacts the Coordinator and does not decline it to the student. Safety requirements are not waived; where an accommodation interacts with a safety requirement, the Coordinator works with Environmental Health and Safety to identify a compliant alternative.

A student who believes an accommodation was wrongly denied or improperly implemented may file with the Section 504/ADA Coordinator, Bernadette Ollsvig, Room A-118, ext. 2240.

Academic integrity

Work submitted in this course is the student’s own. Records, readings, and measurements are entered as made and are not completed from another student’s work or from memory after the session. Academic integrity is governed by the academic policies of the Catalog. A matter is referred to the Office of the Dean of Students under the Student Code of Conduct (Policy 5.30) where the Catalog so provides.

Artificial intelligence

For the use of generative artificial intelligence tools in this course, see the division’s determination. Questions about whether a particular use is permitted are directed to the instructor before the work is submitted.