Being knowledgeable and competent in food safety is important for everyone that works in a food business. But who exactly requires training, what do they need to know and how can you deliver the training?
Why
No-one wants to food poison their customers or cause a complaint, so ensuring that everyone that works in the business is trained is the major way we can impart knowledge and understanding to people. You can’t assume that its ‘common knowledge’ as people have different education, backgrounds, experiences and even different standards. Training helps ensure consistency, and a common understanding of what’s required. It ultimately protects the business against food poisoning incidents, complaints, unhappy customer reviews, and unhappy staff. That’s why it’s a legal requirement too. And it will be checked at every verification.
Who
Everyone that works in a food business needs to be trained. This includes the owner, the manager, paid staff, unpaid people, your kids and mom, basically anyone that is involved in your food business regardless of their position, status or pay!
What
The Food Act says that the training needs to be commensurate with their duties, in other words corresponding to or matching their duties. So if someone has a limited role such as taking orders and payment, or cleaning dishes, then maybe only the 5 Essential topics need to be covered. If they have a more involved role such as preparing ingredients, taking temperatures, cooking, or managing the premises then they will need to know more. A good way to determine this is going through the list of topics on the Staff Training Record, and marking which are applicable to that person. Then if their job changes review the list again for additional topics that may be required. A staff training record can be downloaded below.
When
When staff start is an obvious time to train them in food safety. At least the essentials must be covered, for example sickness policy, personal hygiene and handwashing should be day one requirements. Then the other essential topics should follow fairly swiftly in the first few shifts. If a person’s job later expands, for example from a waitress to kitchen worker, or dishy to sous chef, then additional training will be required at that time to cover all the safety aspects of their new role.
There is no legal requirement for refresher training at certain frequencies. But its smart practice to consider when and how to keep people up to date. A good plan is to talk about a different food safety topic at each staff meeting or each month, so that over time you have cycled through them all. Refresher training is good practice every couple of years to keep up with changes. If there has been a complaint, an incident or a verification these are great opportunities to review things and do refresher training with staff.
How
There is no requirement to go on a specific course or gain a certain qualification, so training can be provided in a number of ways. This includes inhouse training by Managers, buddy training from existing staff, handbooks, getting a trainer in, sending people on courses, and online courses. There are pros and cons of each, and this is where I need to declare my bias in that I provide in-person and online food safety training, as I believe there are significant advantages to these methods. Inhouse training by managers and staff can seem cheap and easy to deliver, but also takes a lot of staff time and can accidently pass on bad habits. Sending people on courses has become more difficult with covid, it takes time to book in and wait and then go on it, and is expensive for people with limited roles. Getting a trainer in can be very effective and gives consistency and compliance, but it can be hard to get everyone available at the same time. Online training is a great option for saving the manager’s time. Its convenient for workers to do online training in small chunks, cheaper than going on courses and is always available. That’s why I made my own online food safety essentials course, so of course I will tell you all the benefits! You can check out my courses for more details on the training I provide : https://training.minervaconsulting.co.nz/
Frequently Asked Questions on Training
Do I need to train cooks and chefs that are already qualified?
If someone is already qualified from doing a previous course or job then you should get a copy of their qualification for your records. And you should still go through the topics required to ensure a shared understanding and to explain your business’s way of doing things, which might be slightly different from their previous job. For example allergens in your dishes will be unique to you. If you were covering temperature control you might ask questions like what temperature do we need to keep fridges at, you might show them where you want different foods kept in your chillers, demonstrate how to take the temperature with your particular thermometer, which fridges are numbered which, where to record temperatures, and what to do if they are over 5 degrees. It should be quicker and easier training a qualified person than someone new to the job, but its still worth doing and a Record is still legally required.
Do I need proof of training like records?
Yes, training records are one of the compulsory records that all food businesses must keep. It’s a topic that always gets checked at a verification too so you must be able to show compliance. There is a training template available to download with the topics already listed and space for staff qualifications and experience.
I’m an owner/operator and my partner helps out. Do I need training?
The minimum expectation is that you have gone through the Food Control Plan or the National Programme Guidance and trained yourself in all the topics relevant to your business. Previous experience and past training are also relevant to showing competency. There is an Owner/Manager competency record available to download from my website where you can add any industry experience or training, and then self-declare that you have covered all the topics. If you can also demonstrate this knowledge during a verification by answering questions and showing understanding, then this should be enough to demonstrate compliance.
If you are new to the food industry or unsure and want to learn more, a training course is a good idea – of course you can take my online food safety essentials course!