Importance of Food Safety Training
The World Health Organisation (WHO) says that at least 600 million people globally get sick from contaminated food every year, and approximately 420,000 people die as a result. To help lower these numbers, companies should invest in food safety training for their employees, whether they’re in the food industry or not. In this blog post, we explore the importance of food safety training for employees.
Who Needs Food and Safety Training Courses?
Anyone who handles, prepares or serves food, in positions such as chefs, catering assistants, waiters, bar workers, care workers and stock replenishment staff, are required by the law to receive training in food safety to ensure that they can complete their work to the highest standard possible. That said, food safety training is not exclusive to food handlers alone. Anyone working in a catering, manufacturing, or retail setting where food is handled should receive food safety training. This includes supervisors, managers, landlords, and business owners.
What Does Food Safety Training iIclude?
- An introduction to food hygiene
- Food safety legislation, responsibilities and enforcement
- How food is contaminated by microbiological hazards
- Leaning the different diseases that can be caused by consuming contaminated foods.
- How food gets contaminated by chemical, physical and allergenic hazards
- How to prevent cross-contamination
- Food storage – how to store dry, chilled and frozen food safely
- Food preparation – how to thaw, cook and reheat food safety
- Importance of personal hygiene
- Design and layout of food premises
- Cleaning and disinfection
Levels of Food Safety Training Courses
Level 1
Level 1 food safety training is for staff who work in a food environment but only handle low-risk or wrapped foods and do not cook food. It helps them understand how to keep work areas keep, how to help reduce contamination and identify key food safety issues.
Level 2
Level 2 food safety training is for anyone who works in a catering, manufacturing or retail environment where food is prepared, cooked and handled.
It gives them an understanding of the importance of food safety and also the knowledge of safe working procedures. They will learn how to control food safety hazards and ultimately how to deliver safe food to customers.
Level 3
Level 3 food safety training is aimed at anyone who manages or supervises a team of food handlers. It gives them an understanding of how to develop and maintain an effective HACCP system, how to control food safety hazards and how to tackle any issues that should arise.
Level 4
Level 4 food safety training is aimed at managers and business owners of food and drink businesses. It gives learners an in-depth knowledge of food hazards and controls and focuses on the importance of developing, implementing and monitoring food safety procedures. The course is perfect for anyone who wishes to train others in basic food hygiene.
How Can Food Safety Training Benefit Your Business?
1. Reduces food waste
If food is not handled using proper hygiene practices, it can get contaminated. Any contaminated food is considered unsuitable for consumption and must be thrown out immediately. With food hygiene training, employees are educated on how to organize and store food to maintain its quality. This reduces food waste and increases your business’s bottom line.
2. Protecting reputation and business
What happens when your business causes a foodborne disease outbreak? You risk business closure, hefty fines, and license suspension. Food safety training prevents this from happening by equipping your employees with the proper knowledge on how to store, cook and handle food. Also, the more your employees know about foodborne diseases and how to prevent them, the less likely your customers are to get food poisoning. Ultimately, investing in food safety training for your employees sends a positive message about your business and prevents negative reviews.
3. It increases legal protection for your business
In addition to helping your employees handle food more responsibly, food safety training also enables you to stay in compliance with your local environmental health authority. As mentioned above, all food handlers are legally required to undertake food safety training, so failure to do so risks hefty fines and even closure.
4. Improves efficiency
According to HuffPost, businesses that invest in employee training attain a 24% higher profit margin than those that don’t. Since the employees are trained on how to store, handle and cook food safely, they can do so efficiently without any issues.
The Ultimate Guide to Passing the Level 4 Food Safety Examination
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