The importance of food safety and hygiene training has never been more significant, often a determining factor in whether customers choose to eat at your establishment. Anyone working in an environment where food is handled, prepared, stored, or served will require the proper training to ensure ever-changing safety standards are adhered to.
Similar to reading reviews before buying a product online, a good hygiene and safety rating will encourage consumers to visit your business and increase the likelihood of recommending you to their friends and family. If you work within the food industry, or if your job involves handling food of any kind, you must complete some form of food safety and hygiene training, but if you’re unsure of the benefits, continue reading this article for more information.
Reducing The Risk of Illness
Arguably one of the most important topics covered within food safety and hygiene training is learning how to properly store, cook, handle, and serve food, avoiding cross-contamination and poor hygiene standards.
Completing food safety training will teach staff how to prevent the above issues from occurring and give them the knowledge to implement the proper systems and techniques to ensure the risk of illness is as low as possible.
Why does this concern you? If you serve or deliver food that is unsafe for consumption and leads to food poisoning or other health issues, this could be disastrous for your business, leading to negative reviews, a bad reputation, and in some situations, closure or temporary closure of your operations.
Empower Your Employees
The second benefit is the empowerment and up-skilling of your employees, kitchen staff, and whole team. As someone who owns a business that involves any aspect of food handling, it is your responsibility to ensure that your employees have undergone the correct training outlined by industry standards.
Ensuring your team has completed food safety and hygiene training will empower them to take more responsibility, giving them additional skills and knowledge will stand them in good stead throughout their careers. Furthermore, ensuring the correct qualifications and training have been completed will instil confidence and good practice in everything your employees do, improving business performance and helping you thrive.
Reduce Waste & Expenditure
One of the topics covered in food safety and hygiene training is waste disposal and pest control, which will help reduce the waste your business produces and, in return, lower business expenditure and increase profit margins.
If food is incorrectly handled or stored, this can lead to mass contamination and health hazards, leading to more food being wasted, which could be avoided with the proper training.
How Can We Help?
Level 2 Food Safety & Hygiene Courses
Level 2 is comfortably the most common training course taken by everyone from sandwich makers to waiting staff and cooks. It’s a foundational course providing a minimum qualification for anyone who is being employed to handle food. In a post-lockdown world, when consumers are more choosy about where they eat, drink and socialise, such a qualification should be a top priority for anyone planning to rejoin the workforce.
“Proper training will also ensure that there are minimal mistakes.”
Additionally, it is not just businesses that should be taking the initiative to complete one of these courses. Individuals hoping to find fresh employment opportunities within the food sector will be employable right away if they take the course on their own accord, showcasing to employers their dedication and proactive attitude. This forward-thinking approach could give you something extra over the competition and will ensure when you get the job, you will have minimal mistakes: something none of us can afford in this competitive climate.
There has also been a substantial rise of new, home-based businesses, with many people turning their passion into a profession, starting delivery or food-related businesses. With so much competition in this thriving and growing sector, being able to confidently display a Level 2 qualification might give them a necessary competitive edge and will also inspire more consumer confidence in the sector in general.
Level 2 Food Safety Training Topics
There is a legal requirement that everyone who handles food in any capacity in a catering environment has received the appropriate supervision and training. The Highfield Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering (RQF) is a qualification that fits this bill perfectly and is the most popular food safety qualification accepted by enforcement officers and auditors, accounting for 70% of all regulated food safety qualifications and certifying over 350,000 people every year.
The course covers the following topics:
Law Compliance – One of the most important aspects of any hygiene and safety course is that what you are learning complies with government standards. Now, more than ever, we must be complying with the law on both a moral and customer relations level.
Scientific Knowledge – Not only does the course cover the more general practices and precautions that employees should be taking, but it also underlines the science behind those practices. This includes all of the microbiological, chemical, physical, and allergenic hazards of a food-based environment and how to control them.
Practical Advice – There are several practical tips offered by the course that might otherwise be overlooked by those who haven’t come from a food preparation background. These include the practicalities of temperature control and stock rotation, as well as tips for keeping work areas and equipment clean and safe at all times.
Personal Hygiene – This is the big one, as in a post-lockdown world, whilst businesses can take every possible precaution to encourage employees to practise good hygiene, it is ultimately up to the individual. By learning the best personal hygiene practices and their significant importance, individuals will have the best possible chance of preventing contamination.
Waste Disposal and Pest Control – Pest control is a fundamental aspect of every food safety course, but when it comes to waste disposal, there are going to be more stringent expectations in place, given the potential for coronavirus contamination.
How to book Food Safety Training
Our Highfield Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering is a foundational course regulated by the CCEA, OFQUAL, and Qualification Wales, offering an affordable and reliable solution. This is currently the most popular course of its type in the UK and can be completed in a single day, with online training now available.
“A refresher course would never be a bad idea.”
Even if you’ve already taken a Level 2 course, it’s a sector where the goalposts are always moving, now more than ever, so a refresher course would never be a bad idea. As outlined above, the benefits of food safety and hygiene training are well worth the investment. Indeed, refreshers are recommended every three years.
Buddy offers an online learning course for Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety, which can be completed at any time, at the learner’s pace. Alternatively, we have a range of classroom dates across the UK with spaces available to book.
Contact the Buddy today to book your slot on the next Level 2 Food Safety in Catering Course.
