6 full lessons
Written in plain language, illustrated, and kept as a reference afterward.
Working skills · foundations, not a certificate
Seafood and Seaweed Food-Safety Foundations
The hazards that matter, the controls that answer them, the records that prove it, and an honest map of where a recognized outside course is required instead of this one.
Six lessons on the food-safety thinking behind the rules: what this course is and is not, the hazards that actually apply to fish, shellfish, and seaweed, temperature and time through the whole cold chain, what a written plan contains and why, lots and tags that make a recall possible, and labels, allergens, and the claims you may not make.
6 lessons · about 11.5 contact hours
$125 at the regular rate, or $125 at the openly offered Driftline rate. Add review for $60 at the regular rate or $40 at the Driftline rate. Jules reads and grades one real piece of work, passing at 80 percent. Review is optional. This course is not accredited and carries no college credit or continuing education units.
Take this class
Pay once, and it is yours to come back to. Pick how you want to take it.
On your own
The whole class, the practice work, and the knowledge checks. No pass score, no graded work, no certificate gate.
With Jules reading your work
Everything above, plus one real piece of work, "One product, one hazard analysis", that Jules reads and grades against a rubric you can see before you start. You pass at 80 percent, and you can rewrite and send it back as many times as you need. This is optional, and it is not accredited and carries no continuing education credit.
Already taking this class? Add review later for $60 at the regular rate or $40 at the Driftline rate.
11.5 contact hours
Measured per lesson, with written outcomes, so your time is recorded honestly.
No-pressure checks
Clear answers and explanations, unlimited tries, and nothing sent to a gradebook.
Region aware
Rules are shown by state with the source and the date we checked it.
Included with your seat
Complete West Coast Field Guide Set
Eight printable pages covering priority Pacific Northwest and California seaweeds and tidepool life, organized for quick field identification.
Downloadable inside the classroom once your seat opens. Your copy is stamped with your name and is for your own use.
The complete course
Lesson 1 · 1.5 h
What This Course Is and Is Not
- State plainly what this course does and does not qualify you to do
- Identify which recognized training your operation would require
- Explain why a plan writer needs formal training in some systems
Lesson 2 · 2 h
Hazards in Plain Language
- Sort hazards into biological, chemical, and physical
- Name the hazards realistic for a specific product
- Explain why some hazards survive cooking
Lesson 3 · 2 h
Temperature, Time, and the Cold Chain
- Describe how time and temperature drive the main seafood hazards
- Identify the gaps in a real cold chain
- Explain why a recorded temperature beats a remembered one
Lesson 4 · 2 h
Controls and Written Plans
- Turn a hazard into a control with a measurable limit
- Describe monitoring, correction, and verification in your own words
- Recognize the structure of a written food-safety plan
Lesson 5 · 2 h
Lots, Tags, and Traceability
- Define a lot for a specific product
- Describe one step back and one step forward traceability
- Explain what shellfish tag retention is for
Lesson 6 · 2 h
Labels, Allergens, and Claims
- List the elements a food label is expected to carry
- Declare allergens correctly for seafood products
- Avoid health and safety claims you cannot support
What this course covers where you live
We say plainly how well each part of the country is covered, rather than implying the whole country is written to the same depth.
- West Coast: sourced and ready
- Alaska: sourced and ready
- Northeast: sourced and ready
- Mid-Atlantic and Southeast: sourced and ready
- Gulf: sourced and ready
- Great Lakes and inland: sourced and ready
- Hawaii and the Pacific islands: sourced and ready
One federal guidance book sits behind every state's seafood rules
The federal hazards and controls guidance is what processors build a plan around, with chapters on pathogens, aquaculture drugs, and raw molluscan shellfish.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Fish and Fishery Products Hazards and Controls · checked 2026-09-19If you process, you need a plan, and the rule says so
The federal seafood plan requirement, and the training that goes with it, is collected on one page. Start there before you build a wholesale product.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Seafood HACCP · checked 2026-09-19Every state follows the same national shellfish rulebook
State shellfish programs are built on the National Shellfish Sanitation Program, and certified dealers appear on the federal shippers list. If you buy or sell shellfish across state lines, that list is where you check.
U.S. Food and Drug Administration, Interstate Certified Shellfish Shippers List · checked 2026-09-19Connecticut runs a published shellfish sanitation program
Connecticut's Bureau of Aquaculture classifies growing areas, runs water sampling, and posts closures. Maine posts its own closure list separately.
Connecticut Department of Agriculture, Shellfish Sanitation Program · checked 2026-09-19
Where the published guidance is thin
Some of this subject has no rule behind it yet. Rather than sounding more certain than the record allows, we say what is missing, point to the newest and best material that does exist, and give you the date we last checked it.
no rule yet
Seaweed has no federal food-safety rule of its own
Shellfish have the National Shellfish Sanitation Program and fish have the seafood HACCP regulation. Edible seaweed has neither. There is no federal growing-area classification for seaweed, no federal harvest-water standard, and no federal limit set specifically for arsenic, iodine, or cadmium in edible seaweed sold in the United States. The best national material is a voluntary guidance document published by a Sea Grant team in September 2025, and the broadest international review is the FAO and WHO expert meeting report from 2022. Treat both as best practice to build on, not as rules you can point an inspector to.
Best available right now
patchy by state
What a state asks of a seaweed handler varies a lot
Because there is no federal seaweed rule, each state decides for itself what a seaweed harvester, farmer, or processor must hold, and several states have not decided anything yet. Some fold seaweed into an existing food-processing license, some into marine resources licensing, and some say nothing. Ask your own state's food-safety office in writing and keep the answer. Where this course cannot cite a published state page, it says so instead of guessing.
Best available right now
If you want Jules to read your work
Everyone gets the same lessons, practice work, and knowledge checks. Add review for $60 at the regular rate or $40 at the openly offered Driftline rate. You get one real assignment that Jules reads and grades. You can see exactly how it is judged before you start, you pass at 80 percent, and you can rewrite and send it back as many times as you need. This is optional, and it is still not accredited and carries no continuing education credit.
The assignment
One product, one hazard analysis
Take a product from harvest to buyer and control what can hurt someone.
Choose one seafood or seaweed product. Trace it from harvest to the buyer, step by step. At each step identify the hazards, whether biological, chemical, or physical, the control, the limit, how it is monitored, and what happens when the limit is missed. Name the program or regulation behind each required control. Where a hazard is managed by a certified process or a licensed professional, say so plainly and do not claim that role yourself.
How it is graded
Every step in the real chain · 25 points
The flow covers harvest to buyer with no missing handoff, including transport and storage.
Hazards identified at the right steps · 25 points
Each hazard is attached to the step where it actually arises, not listed generically.
Limits and monitoring are specific · 25 points
Limits are numbers with sources, and monitoring says who, how, and how often.
Authority kept straight · 25 points
Certified processes, approved labs, and licensed roles are attributed correctly.
100 points in total. You pass at 80. Jules grades what you worked out, not your formatting or your word count.
Where it can take you
This is foundational knowledge. Where your role requires recognized HACCP training, a food handler card, or a state shellfish certification, you must take that separately. This course prepares you for it and does not replace it.
This course does not carry accreditation, credit, or continuing education units, and completing it does not count toward any outside credential. It is written to the structure a continuing education standard expects, with measured hours, written outcomes, and a completion record you can keep.