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Supervision and instruction and/or training guide

SUPERVISION AND INSTRUCTION AND/OR TRAINING GUIDE

The supervision and instruction and/or training of food handlers is an essential activity in any food business if employees are to understand how they can contribute to food safety and so that they may appreciate how to deal with food hazards.

Not all staff will need the same level of supervision and instruction or training. It will depend upon the work they do and type of foods handled. It is important to note that the Regulations do not require attendance on external training courses. Whilst some of these may be valuable, businesses may choose to provide instruction or training themselves, if suitably skilled staff are available.

This part of the Guide is intended to help you to find the best option for your business.
For the purposes of this Guide a food handler is any member of staff who prepares food directly, serves open foods, replenishes displays, or handles food even where packaged such as a checkout operator.

Legal requirement:

The proprietor of a food business shall 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.

Guide to compliance:

This regulation introduces a requirement that food handlers be given supervision and instruction and/or training.

The type of supervision and instruction and/or training that is required to be given however is dependant on the degree of product handling and on the nature of the product. A warehouseman who only handles sealed boxes of high risk foods still needs to know about for example, the importance of temperature control, stock rotation and pest control. A confectioner who sells and handles low risk sweets does not present the same risk as someone selling delicatessen products.

It is important to note that there is however a minimum base level of hygiene awareness that is necessary even for the lowest risk category food handler.

Background Information:

Where to obtain external training if required, training formats or the medium used to deliver the training will be the choice of the retailer.

Various options are available:

Colleges, schools and some Environmental Health Departments run formal courses or can provide material.

These often use a syllabus set by one of the following organisations:

Chartered Institute of Environmental Health, Royal Environmental Heath Institute of Scotland, Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, Royal Society of Health, Society of Food Hygiene Technology, Consultants can be hired to train all employees within a business.

Distance/open learning packages can be obtained via professional magazines or journals or contact your local Environmental Health Department for information of availability of such packages.

Suitable hygiene training may be provided as part of another wider vocational course, e.g. for catering or as part of an NVQ.