Training
You must make sure staff are adequately supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene to allow them to do their job safely.
If you are responsible for developing and maintaining a business's food safety management procedures, you must have had suitable training on food safety and hygiene to do this.
You must make sure that any member of staff who handles food is trained in food hygiene and safety, including allergens, before they start work.
You should keep training records for you or your staff to show to Environmental Health Officers when they visit your premises.
The following structure is recommended:
- All food handlers should receive instruction on basic hygiene rules before starting work.
- If you are using Safe Catering, you should instruct and train food handlers in each relevant section of the for the job they do in order to ensure the relevant practices and procedures are followed.
- Managers or supervisors responsible for the development and maintenance of the food safety management procedures based upon Safe Catering must be adequately trained in their application. They should have a sound working knowledge of Safe Catering.
- Staff involved in preparing high risk food, such as cooks and kitchen assistants, should be able to demonstrate the skills necessary to enable them to do their job safely within three months of their appointment.
In order to achieve this, some businesses may wish to send their staff to formal Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering courses or to run equivalent formal courses in-house.
The Food Standards Agency provide a number of free online training courses for businesses which can be accessed using the following links: