How To Obtain A Food Hygiene Certificate
If you’re already employed in a kitchen handling food, your employer will probably put you forward for training, as food business operators are required by law to ensure that anyone handling food receives appropriate supervision and training in food hygiene.
This doesn’t prevent individuals from applying for an appropriate training course. Check with your local authority to see if they provide a formal training course. You can also find out about suitable courses from the local library, further education college or contact one of the awarding bodies for food safety such as the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH).
This Institute recommends you should receive training through an accredited trainer or training centre. Make sure you look for a course that involves an interactive classroom-based experience with an assessment at the end. Following the assessment, you will receive a certificate endorsed by a regulatory body, such as The Office of Qualifications and Examinations Regulation (Ofqual).
Steven Fifer from CIEH says “For food handling we recommend Level 2 Food Safety. You can find courses like this as well as others using our online course finder. Once you’ve found the course, you can select where you would like to travel to and then identify what training providers run courses there. You should ensure the training provider is accredited by an awarding body like the CIEH. We don’t offer a specific course in ‘food handling’ but this will be included as an essential element within all food safety courses including catering.”
The one day Level 2 Food Safety course covers the importance of food safety and knowledge of the systems, techniques and procedures involved. It provides an understanding of how to control food safety risks such as personal hygiene, food storage, cooking and handling.
Once you’ve selected your course, with a classroom session, you can expect an interactive one day workshop with an assessment at the end, which will be invigilated. Assessments are sent to an awarding body, such as the CIEH, to be independently marked. If you pass, you will receive a certificate endorsed by a regulatory body via the training provider. If you fail, you’ll be asked to attend the course again.
It’s important to obtain a certificate to show prospective employers. As Steven Fifer from the CIEH says “Certificates make people’s CVs more robust and also lends more weight to businesses if they can prove that their staff are fully training in food safety by showing the certificates.”
If you want to progress beyond Level 2 Food Safety, the CIEH runs many other food-related training courses such as Level 2 Award in Cleaning Food Premises or Level 3 Award in Supervising Food Safety.
UK food hygiene certificates do not have an expiry date, although you may need to go on a refresher course if there are changes to legislation or technological developments in food hygiene. In the CIEH’s Level 2 Food Safety course, the recommendation is to refresh the qualification at least every three years.
By Jackie Mitchell