Food Hygiene Training
The Food Safety Team give regular training as part of the Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering organised by Alton College. The course is designed for those who work in food businesses and prepare high-risk foods.
Legislation says that the proprietor of a food business should ensure that food handlers engaged in the food business are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activities.
The level of training required will be dependant upon the particular job and the degree of risk involved in the activities undertaken.
A food handler means any person involved in the food business who handles or prepares food whether open or packaged.
Staff who handle 'high risk' food will need more training than those who handle 'low risk' foods. The following table is a guidance to complying with legal training requirements with timescales for completing the training.
Food Hygiene Training
|
Category of Staff
|
Stage 1
Essentials of Food Hygiene
|
Stage 2
Hygiene Awareness Instruction
|
Stage 3
Formal Training
Level 2
|
Stage 3
Formal Training
Level 3
|
|
Category A
Handle low risk or wrapped food only
|
Before starting work for the first time
|
Within 4 weeks
(8 weeks if part time)
|
|
|
| Category B
Food handlers who prepare open 'high risk' food.
|
Before starting work for the first time |
Within 4 weeks
|
Within 3 months
|
|
|
Category C
Food handlers who also have a supervisory role
|
Before starting work for the first time |
Within 4 weeks |
Within 3 months
|
Good Practice |
Stage 1 Essentials of Food Hygiene should cover:
personal hygiene
fitness to work
temperature control
cross contamination
cleaning procedures
labelling and other safety instructions
Stage 2. Hygiene Awareness Instruction should include:
temperature control
food poisoning
personal health and hygiene
cross contamination
food storage
waste disposal
foreign body contamination
awareness of pests
Staff must also be instructed on any control or monitoring points identified by your Documented Food Safety Management System.
Stage 3 Formal Training ( to a level equivalent to the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering.)
There are other accredited bodies who offer equivalent training such as the Royal Society of Health, the Royal Society of Public Health and Hygiene and the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland.
If followed, the above would satisfy legal requirements. Training of food handlers beyond the legal requirement can be carried out as a matter of good practice and as far as their career develops and they take on extra responsibility.
Training records should be kept on the premises in order to demonstrate compliance with the training requirement. Training needs should be reviewed on a regular basis, with refresher or update training given as necessary.
The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health recommend that food handlers should receive refresher food hygiene training at least every three years.
The following establishments are currently running Food HygieneTraining courses:
Highbury College, Cosham Tel: 023 92 313250 or 023 92 313356
Southampton City Council, Tel: 023 80832767
Pride in Pompey, Portsmouth Tel:
The following Websites offer online courses: