“Bakery sector has a well-recognised record for quality, safety and prevention of environmental risks, which while relatively easily controlled, but they are also difficult to influence because the necessary skills are in short supplied within the bakeries themselves. So, Lifelong learning in food hygiene and safety for bakery personnel, food handlers, and, indeed, the general public is also a critical component in the battle against the foodborne disease.” 
Gülden GÖKŞEN
Food Engineering Department, Engineering Department, Mersin University
Bakery products have been a staple in the human diet since ancient times. Almost all people, regardless of age or social status, consume bread in any form. In fact, new food pyramid shows the grain category as its largest part, promoting consumers to eat at least 150 grams of grain products every day. Bakery products, incorporating riskier ingredients and involving a higher degree of development, are more hazardous foods in relation to the transmission of foodborne illnesses.
In addition, bakery products, specifically those with high moisture content are most likely to present food safety concerns as they support the growth of a wide range of bacteria, yeasts and moulds. There are a number of inherent factors and practices in bakeries that increase the potential for these products to be considered as potentially hazardous. Bakery sector has a well-recognised record for quality, safety and prevention of environmental risks, which while relatively easily controlled, but they are also difficult to influence because the necessary skills are in short supplied within the bakeries themselves. So, Lifelong learning in food hygiene and safety for bakery personnel, food handlers, and, indeed, the general public is also a critical component in the battle against the foodborne disease.
BakeSus project was created and financed by the European Commission under the Turkish National Agency, Erasmus+ KA2 strategic partnership programme. It is aimed to find solutions to these problems with the project named 2016 -1-TR01-KA202-034815, Sustainable and hygienic production on the bakery sector trough good exchange of practices-BakeSus, approved by the Turkish National Agency, Republic of Turkey Minister for EU Affairs and supported by the European Commission.
The vocational educational content of the prepared e-learning platform consists of article and videos. It is BakeSus project with five partners: Food Engineering department Mersin University in Turkey (coordinator), Betelgeux SRL in Spain, Food Research Institute Prague in the Czech Republic, Italiana Agricoltori regione Umbria in Italy, Tarsus Municipality in Turkey. BakeSus project has created the development, transfer and implementation of innovative applications at the local-regional, national-international level for Strategic Partnerships supporting the exchange of Innovation and Good Practice. BakeSus project will support the development of basic and transversal skills and competencies and a high-quality VET of trainers and trainees belonging to the bakery and pastry sector through a close cooperation of different companies from the VET and food sector and an exchange of experiences at European level. Key competencies demanded by developments steered by the European Commission will be included into VET programs.
The project aims at developing a series of training materials tailored to bakery and pastry production aspects always taking into account applicable EU legislation, quality standards and good environmental practices. For this purpose, innovative methods will be used to train trainers that later on will be responsible for workers’ training, ensuring in this way the quality of the VET processes.
SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES
• To approach training about EU policy on food safety in a uniform way.
• To use hygiene, quality and environmental protection training as a strategy to increase employee’s adaptability to the changes and developments emerging in the sector, thereby improving their employability and European bakery and pastry sector competitiveness.
• To provide food safety and good practices training for bakery employers and employees, as well as self-employers of the sector, to ensure products of high quality, safe and environmentally friendly.
• To satisfy knowledge and competence needs all along the bakery supply chain on the large variety of ingredients used according to the most recent innovative trends and market demand.
• To facilitate access to NICTs, especially to those groups with low levels of use of these technologies.
Work packages of BakeSus project contain an innovativeness focusing on the good practices of the bakery sector in four countries. BakeSus is prepared as two modules. They are BakeSus basic training and BakeSus training of the trainers. The basic training consists of five main topics which are Bakery and Pastry sector, Food Safety, Food Hygiene, Quality of Bread and Pastry and Good Environment Practices. The training of the trainers contains main themes such as Food Safety Education, BakeSus Training, use of the materials created by BakeSus Project and Evaluation. With this aim, innovative methods will be practiced for training the trainers and after that, they will be held responsible for the staff training in order to sustain the quality of the training system.
Training of the trainers will be achieved with the design and practicality of the training materials that are completely adapted to the bakery and pastry sectors depending on the newest technology. Significant competencies that are demanded by the improvements which are led by the European Commission are thought to be included in the Vocational Education and Training programs. Within the scope of BakeSus project; the design, preparation and development of a series of educational materials are explained in e-learning platform (www.bakesus.com) constituted with the collaboration of the partners. Use of BakeSus project outputs will contribute to the minimization of the spread of foodborne diseases.
EXPECTED OUTCOMES/RESULTS
• Training materials for bread and pastry sector experts-trainers and workers available in Czech, Italian, Turkish and Spanish
• E-learning program.
• Face to face workshops.
• Technical booklets.
• Two pilot courses in each participant country.