Training for food businesses

Food Business Operator

The Food Business Operator shall ensure that food handlers engaged in the food business are supervised and instructed or trained in food hygiene matters appropriate to their activities.

Food handler

Although there is no recognised legal definition it should be expected to cover anyone involved in a food business, who by their actions or management or decisions or advice can directly influence the hygiene of any food handled by that business at any stage.

This would encompass anyone who handles and prepares food and their supervisors. Food business operators are to ensure that food handlers responsible for the development and maintenance of the food safety management system or hazard analysis have adequate training.

General Advice

For food handlers, the balance between the amount of supervision and instruction or training required will need to be decided on a case-by-case basis. It will depend on a variety of factors such as the job of the individual and the types of food being handled.

People handling 'high risk' foods will need more supervision and instruction or training than those who handle 'low risk' foods. It is a good idea to keep a record of the training your staff receive.

All food handlers, before starting work must have written or verbal instruction in the essentials of food hygiene at the very least.

The necessary skills may be obtained in other ways, such as through on-the-job training, self-study or relevant prior experience.

Resources

All courses can be found on the CIEH course finder website.

Free Training Courses on the Food Standards Agency website.