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A 50-week diploma in food safety and quality roles in Scarborough and Mississauga, with a guaranteed 80-hour industry placement.
HYBRID DELIVERY: MOST CLASSES ONLINE, TWO COURSES AND YOUR 80-HOUR PLACEMENT IN PERSON. TWO CAMPUSES: SCARBOROUGH AND MISSISSAUGA.
50 Weeks
Hybrid diploma, 1,000 hours
across ten courses
80 Hours
Guaranteed industry placement,
arranged by the college
11,500
People Canada’s food and
beverage sector needs to hire
each year to 2030
$30.00/hr
Toronto-region median wage for NOC 22100(Job Bank, 2023–2024)
You’re Qualified But You’re Still Being Told You Lack “Canadian Experience.”
You trained in another country. You know this work. But that training doesn’t count here yet, so you’re stuck in a job that’s below what you’re qualified for.
A program that only teaches theory won’t fix that. You’d end up with another certificate and the same problem: no Canadian experience to show for it.
The good news is the field needs people. Canada’s food and beverage manufacturing industry needs about 11,500 new workers a year through 2030, mostly because of retirements. Now’s your chance to step in.
Don’t Just Learn the Job. Do It First.
This program doesn’t just teach you the theory and send you off. You spend 80 hours within a working food operation, learning and doing the job, before you ever apply for one.
You’d take two courses taught in person on campus, Food Chemistry Lab and Food Microbiology Lab, where you practice sampling, testing and monitoring hands-on. Then a guaranteed 80-hour industry placement, arranged by the college, within a food operation. It’s formally assessed, and it counts as Canadian work experience.
By the time you finish, you already know how the paperwork works, how the routines run, and what’s expected of you on the job.
Why Choose Oxford College
You’re most likely comparing this program to other options. Well, here’s our breakdown.
| OXFORD COLLEGE FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY ASSURANCE |
PUBLIC COLLEGE ADVANCED DIPLOMAS |
FOOD HANDLER AND HACCP CERTIFICATES |
|
|---|---|---|---|
| Length | 50 weeks | 156 weeks, full-time | A few hours |
| Entry | OSSD, or Wonderlic assessment for mature students |
OSSD plus specific Grade 11 and 12 credits at minimum grades |
Open |
| Study pattern | Mostly online synchronous, two courses on campus |
Full-time on campus | Online |
| Work experience | Guaranteed 80-hour industry placement |
Optional co-op | None |
| Intakes | Three a year | Typically annual | Anytime |
| What it qualifies you for |
Quality, testing and lab technician roles |
Quality, testing and lab technician roles |
Handling food safely, not testing it |
A certificate teaches you to handle food safely. This diploma qualifies you to test it professionally.
Who Built This Program
PROGRAM INSTRUCTOR TO PROGRAM DEVELOPER
Dr. Hanna Sharafi
Lead Auditor, SQF Advanced Practitioner, PCQI
The program was built by Hanna Sharafi who holds a PhD in Microbiology; more than a decade of hands-on experience across food testing laboratories, quality assurance, food manufacturing and product innovation; ISO/IEC 17025:2017 Lead Auditor; also holds SQF Advanced Practitioner and PCQI; certified in Six Sigma and project management; currently Senior Manager of New Product Development at a Canadian food manufacturer.
She’s a board director of the Ontario Food Protection Association, where she also leads the student committee. The OFPA is affiliated with the International Association for Food Protection.
Dr. Sharafi built this curriculum based on what the industry needs, not on a standard syllabus, after years of teaching the subject at other colleges. That’s why the program is structured the way it is: real lab time, a guaranteed placement, and a curriculum shaped by someone who’s worked the job.
How It Works
This is a 50-week, 1,000-hour hybrid diploma. Most of it is online and synchronous, so you can study around a job or other commitments. Two courses, Food Chemistry Lab and Food Microbiology Lab, are taught in person on campus, and your placement is also in person.
COURSES:
Two courses,
Food Chemistry Lab and Food Microbiology Lab, are taught in person on campus, and your placement is also in person.
REQUIREMENTS:
Admission is open. You’ll need an Ontario Secondary School Diploma (OSSD) or equivalent, or Mature Student Status (19+) with a passing score of at least 17 on the Wonderlic SLE-Q.
You’ll also need a completed immunization record and a clear Criminal Record Check with Vulnerable Sector Screening (CPIC with VSS), both of which are required before your placement starts.
CAMPUSES
Scarborough and Mississauga
INTAKES A YEAR:
There are three intakes a year: January, May and September.
Common Questions Before You Enrol
Where You’ll Need to Attend
Two courses and your placement happen on campus, in Scarborough or Mississauga. If you can’t get to one of those two locations regularly, this program isn’t a fit right now, and it’s better to know that up front than to enrol and find out later.
What This Program Costs
Total program cost is $14,145 (tuition, books and fees inclusive).
Set against that, the Toronto-region median wage for this occupation (NOC 22100, Chemical technologists and technicians) is $30.00 an hour, roughly $58,500 a year at full-time hours.
What the Work Conditions Are
Food production environments can be refrigerated, humid, hot or noisy. Expect standing and walking for extended periods, along with bending, reaching, crouching, and occasional lifting.
Why We Don’t Have Graduates Yet
This is a new program, so there’s no track record to point to yet.
This is a new program, so there’s no track record to point to yet. What we do have is a curriculum built by Dr. Hanna Sharafi, who holds a PhD in Microbiology and has more than a decade of hands-on experience across food testing laboratories, quality assurance, and food manufacturing.
You Don’t Have to Start Over
Whatever you trained in before, this program doesn’t ask you to throw that out and begin again from zero
IT GIVES YOU A DIRECT ROUTE INTO THE CANADIAN FOOD SAFETY AND QUALITY WORK, BUILT AROUND REAL HANDS-ON TIME AND A GUARANTEED PLACEMENT, IN 50 WEEKS.
If this sounds like the door you’ve been waiting for, request more information and one of our advisors will walk you through it.
Frequently Asked Questions
No. This program is open admission and teaches everything. No prior knowledge of food or science is needed.
Yes, for part of the program. Most coursework is online synchronous, but two courses, Food Chemistry Lab and Food Microbiology Lab, are taught in person, along with your placement.
Classes run at our Scarborough or Mississauga campus.
The program is mostly online synchronous, so many students study alongside other commitments. Two courses and the placement require in-person attendance.
Yes. Every student completes a guaranteed 80-hour industry placement, arranged by the college, within a working food operation. It’s formally assessed and counts as Canadian work experience.
The program prepares you for entry-level roles in a large, established industry that is replacing a retiring workforce, but employment outcomes depend on many factors and are never guaranteed by Oxford College.
Roles like Quality Control Technician, Food Safety Technician, Quality Assurance Assistant, Production Technician, Packaging Technician, and Chemistry or Microbiology Laboratory Assistant.
A food handler or HACCP certificate teaches you to handle food safely and takes a few hours.
This diploma prepares you to professionally test and monitor food safety systems over 50 weeks, with a guaranteed 80-hour industry placement.
It costs a total of $14,145 (including tuition, books, and fees).
Three intakes a year: January, May and September.
An OSSD or equivalent, or Mature Student Status (19+) with a Wonderlic SLE-Q score of at least 17.
You’ll also need a completed immunization record and a clear Criminal Record Check with Vulnerable Sector Screening.
Food production environments can be refrigerated, humid, hot or noisy. So expect standing and walking for extended periods, as well as bending, reaching, crouching, and occasional lifting.