Food hygiene training

Under food hygiene law in the UK, food handlers must receive adequate supervision, instruction and/or training in food hygiene for the work they do. This applies to all food businesses and the owner/manager of each business is responsible for ensuring that their business complies with the law.

Before starting any work involving the handling of food, staff should receive induction training in the workplace, to make them aware of food hygiene issues. They will need either written or verbal instruction in the essentials of food hygiene, which should cover personal hygiene, fitness to work, temperature control, cross contamination, cleaning procedures, labelling and any other safety instructions.

Staff will also need further instruction suited to the type of work they do. For instance, someone who only makes tea and coffee will require a lower level of training than someone who prepares and cooks food. You might also need to make special arrangements for staff whose first language is not English and those who have learning difficulties or literacy problems.

Within four weeks of starting work, staff that handle any food must have hygiene awareness instruction from a competent person. The overall aim of hygiene awareness instruction is to develop knowledge of the basic principles of food hygiene. The topics covered may 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 Hazard Analysis.

Within three months of starting work, staff that prepare open high-risk foods or handle food and have a supervisory role must have training to a level equivalent to the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) Foundation Certificate in Food Safety (level 2). Find out about CIEH courses. There are other accredited bodies that offer training such as the Royal Society of Health.

There are local providers offering a wide range of accredited courses, including Farnborough College of Technology and Alton College. The foundation level course is also offered by a number of online providers.