These days in the food business, it’s not enough to just hire someone based on their work ethic and willingness to learn, especially if they’ll be directly handling food within your food establishment. The law requires food business owners and managers to equip their food handlers with the appropriate training when it comes to hygienic food preparation and food safety, and this is where a food safety certificate comes in.  

What is it For?

Although it’s not a legal requirement in the UK yet, many food business owners prefer to equip their food handlers with a food hygiene certificate, regardless of whether they’ll actually be preparing or selling the food. These skills can be gained through self-study, on the job training, or through any prior experience that is relevant to the job.

The best part about food safety certificates in the UK is that they don’t have an expiry date, which means that the onus is on the food operator or the local environmental health officer to decide on the right time for a course update. However, it is generally a good idea to have a refresher course whenever new legislation comes into effect or technological developments force changes in the food handling process.

Food Safety Training Providers in the UK

Pay a visit to your local authority to inquire about whether or not they offer a formal training course on the subject. Other relevant training sources to consult apart from your local authority, would be the local library, a food safety awarding body or even a further education and training college. In fact, just a simple internet search could lead you to the nearest awarding body that you could then visit in order to find out further information.

There are online programs available as well that offer training on a diverse range of food safety training topics, from vacuum packing to managing food allergies, food labelling concerns, and the right food safety management systems to follow in order to ensure hygienic food preparation.

Check Out Training Videos

As mentioned above, online sources of information can be invaluable when it comes to expanding your knowledge and expertise on proper food handling and hygienic food preparation. Certain websites even offer short video courses that provide practical guidance on how to manage the most common food safety concerns that may arise in your business.

These videos will often take only 60 seconds of your time and cover a variety of food safety themes such as:

• How to properly wash one’s hands before food preparation and after handling raw foods.
• How to quickly chill certain foods.
• How to ensure that food is thoroughly cooked through, especially poultry and white meant.
• How to clean surfaces and cooking implements efficiently.
• How to deal with ill staff members and what symptoms to look out for and manage.
• How to do appropriate and consistent pest control, including the specific signs to look out for and what to do in the case of an infestation of any kind.