A place where food is constantly being prepared or produced, there should be no reason why unsafe practices should be carried out. If you’re working in a kitchen, you are saddled with the responsibility of carrying out all your duties cleanly and safely. Negligence can lead to the growth of salmonella, Escherichia coli, and norovirus.
Carrying out safe practices can curb the growth of disease-causing bacteria. From level 2 courses on staff handling and food preparation, to level 3 courses on food hygiene for business owners and managers, there are training based on environmental factors covered in the Health & Safety training courses like LPG Gas Safety and Hazard Analysis & Critical Control points.
It doesn’t matter if you run a food truck, street food, takeout restaurant, or a simple fish and chip shop. You should be careful about the hygiene of the place where your food is being prepared. Some of the food business owners prefers to take commercial kitchen for rent as it was Hygiene Certified and have grade facilities that are licensed for food service providers to prepare and store food. You should take the health and safety of yourself, members of staff, and customers seriously. Train your staff and keep them updated on all health and safety procedures.
Why is the Food Hygiene Course Needed?
By law, all employees of a food business including the owners and managers are mandated to undergo training food hygiene courses. If there is a change of staff, any old ones are required to train the new ones.
Middle and upper management, head chefs, and food hygiene trainers are to handle the safety training and ensure they are properly carried out.
Benefits of Food Safety Training
There are numerous reasons why health and safety training are important, including:
1. Lesser Risk of Food Poisoning
Contamination of food can occur after improper storage methods, undercooking, person-to-person contact, touching food with unwashed hands, and cross-contamination.
If a person gets food poisoning from your business, it can lead to bad reviews on food rating platforms or word or mouth, fines, and if there are several cases, closure. When providing food hygiene courses for your staff you ensure that it will not happen and at the same time you maintain your reputation and protect brand image.
2. Reduction of Waste Products
Food safety training can aid with food quality control. If the members of staff are efficient and correctly trained, there will be less food spillage, contamination due to poor food handling. This will reduce the quantity of wasted food, which directly increases profits.
3. Behavioral Improvements
After proper training and frequent implementations of all knowledge gained, your members of staff will gradually adjust, and it will seem natural to handle food with care.
4. Better Understanding and Appreciation of Employees’ Jobs
It is well known by every entrepreneur that their staff are the most important resource for the business. By investing in food hygiene courses you encourage them to develop their key competences and to contribute more to your business. Initially, employees may be resentful when these procedures begin for food handling and cleaning. As time progresses, they would become more understanding and responsible for their jobs. This is a great workplace morale booster.