A One-Day Interactive PEM Workshop
Find the pathogen before it finds the consumer – L. Anelich
Besides being a requirement by FSSC 22000 and similar systems, Pathogen Environmental Monitoring (PEM) is a powerful proactive tool for identifying potential pathogen harborage sites and routes of contamination before they result in contamination of food products.
An effective PEM programme goes far beyond simply taking environmental swabs. It requires a sound understanding of microbiological ecology, microbial behaviour, zoning, sampling strategies, environmental vectors, laboratory testing, data management and appropriate corrective actions.
This highly interactive, one-day workshop provides a practical and risk-based approach to developing, implementing and maintaining an effective PEM programme.
Regrettably – no consultants or similar service providers to the food industry – See Ts and Cs.
Why attend this workshop?
A well-designed PEM programme can provide valuable insight into the hygienic performance of your processing environment and help identify where pathogens may be surviving, moving and potentially reaching product.
The workshop will help you move beyond:
“Where should we take swabs?”
to the more important questions:
What pathogens are we looking for and why?
Why are we sampling here?
What does the result tell us?
What do we do when we find it?
What will you learn?
By the end of the workshop, delegates will have a strong understanding of how to:
- Develop a true risk-based PEM programme, based on correct pathogen associations with the product
- Identify appropriate sampling sites and environmental niches
- Apply hygienic zoning principles to PEM
- Understand zoning and sampling considerations for each zone
- Identify potential harbourage sites and contamination vectors
- Develop effective environmental sampling strategies
- Understand the importance of sampling frequency and timing
- Interpret positive and negative environmental results
- Understand the importance of data management
- Establish appropriate responses to positive findings
- Avoid common weaknesses in PEM programmes
Who Should Attend?
This workshop is particularly relevant to professionals responsible for food safety, quality, hygiene and environmental monitoring, including:
- Food Safety and Quality Managers
- HACCP and FSMS Team Leaders and Members
- Microbiology and Laboratory Personnel
- Environmental Monitoring / PEM Coordinators
- Production and Operations Managers
- Hygiene Managers
- Sanitation and Cleaning Personnel
- Technical Managers
- Third-party Certification Food Safety Auditors
- Personnel responsible for food safety verification and validation
It is also highly relevant to organisations that already have a PEM programme but want to assess whether it is genuinely effective and risk-based.
Date: 28 October 2026
Time: 09:00-17:00
Venue: Focus Rooms, Heaton Lane Longlake 20, Modderfontein Lethabong, Sandton
Cost: R3600 excluding VAT (discount of 5% for group bookings of 5 or more from the same entity)
Regrettably – no consultants or similar service providers to the food industry – See Ts and Cs.
Your Trainer
Prof Lucia Anelich of Anelich Consulting:
Lucia is an internationally recognised food safety scientist, consultant, trainer and author with more than 40 years of experience in food safety spanning academia, industry, standards development, regulation, research and consulting.
She is a member of the International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods (ICMSF) and the only African member of the Commission. She is Visiting Professor at Wits Business School and Adjunct Professor at the Central University of Technology.
She has extensive expertise in food microbiology, pathogen control, HACCP, food safety management systems, microbiological testing and environmental monitoring. Her experience includes advisory work with international organisations including FAO and UNIDO, as well as contributing to the development of the Food Safety Strategy for Africa.
As a trainer, she brings together scientific rigour and extensive practical industry experience, with a strong emphasis on understanding why food safety controls work—not simply what needs to be done.
Her approach to PEM is to:
“Find the pathogen before it finds the consumer.”
This workshop draws on decades of scientific and practical experience to help delegates develop a risk-based, intelligent and effective approach to PEM.
