Skip Navigation

This is a new website – your feedback will help us improve it.

Food hygiene training

Regulation EC No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs requires food business operators to make sure that any staff who handle food are supervised and instructed, and/or trained, in food hygiene in a way that is appropriate for the work they do.

For food handlers, the balance between the amount of supervision and instruction and/or training required will need to be decided on a case-by- case basis and will depend on a variety of factors.

Formal courses are available in the form of the Level two Award in Food Safety in Catering, Level 3 Award in Supervising Food Safety in Catering, and Level 4 Award in Managing Food Safety in Catering.

You and your staff might have different training needs, so you should consider each member of staff in turn. You may need to make special arrangements for any staff whose first language is not English or for those who have literacy problems.

It is good practice for a business to keep records of training completed by every member of staff, to demonstrate individual levels of competence.

Where to obtain Food Hygiene Training

The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health website will be able to provide you with details of training centres that run food hygiene courses. They can also provide details of trainers who run courses in languages other than English. Their telephone number is 02079 286006 or visit their website at www.cieh-coursefinder.com

Accredited courses are also run by:

The Royal Institute of Public Health
www.riph.org.uk
Telephone 02075 802731
Royal Society for the Promotion of Health
www.rsph.org
Telephone 02076 300121
Society of Food Hygiene Technology
www.sofht.co.uk
Telephone 01590 671979