Level 2 Food Safety for Catering (RQF)
The essential Food Safety Course for anyone working in hospitality and catering. Price is just £90 per person. The course is held at our Lydney Training Centre in the heart of the beautiful Forest of Dean. Available as a private course for your company for up to 10 (minimum 4) of you and your team members, we also run open sessions that individuals or smaller groups can attend.
- The market leading regulated level 2 food safety catering qualification
- The exam writing team is led by Richard Sprenger, one of the world’s most recognisable food safety experts
The Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering is our most popular course, suitable for the majority of food handlers.
Course aims
1. Understand the importance of food handlers keeping themselves and work areas clean and hygienic
- Recognise the importance of personal hygiene in food safety including their role in reducing the risk of contamination
- Identify the key legal responsibilities of food handlers
- Identify effective personal hygiene practices relating to protective clothing, hand washing, personal illness, cuts, wounds, food handling practices
- Identify how to keep the work area and equipment clean and tidy, by following procedures relating to cleaning methods, safe use of chemicals, storage of cleaning chemicals
- Recognise the importance of safe waste disposal
- Recognise the importance of pest control
2. Understand the importance of keeping food products safe
- Recognise the importance of food safety procedures, safe food handling and avoiding unsafe behaviour
- Identify how to report food safety hazards, infestations and food spoilage
- Recognise the main risks to food safety from contamination and cross-contamination from microbial, chemical, physical and allergenic hazards
- Identify safe food handling and temperature control practices for delivery, storage, date marking and stock rotation
- Identify safe food handling and temperature control practices for preparing, cooking, chilling, reheating, holding, serving and transporting food
- Identify how to deal with food spoilage including recognition and reporting
Further details
LO1 Understand the importance of food handlers keeping themselves and work areas clean and hygienic
1.1 Recognise the importance of personal hygiene in food safety including their role in reducing the risk of contamination
- How good personal hygiene in a catering environment can reduce microbial, chemical, physical and allergenic contamination
1.2 Identify key legal responsibilities of food handlers
- Requirement for:
− Food safety training & supervision in the kitchen
− Reporting of illness
− Following rules and procedures implemented for food safety
1.3 Identify effective personal hygiene practices relating to protective clothing, hand washing, personal illness, cuts, wounds, food handling practices
- Practices in a catering environment regarding:
− Clean, suitable protective clothing
− Jewellery and personal effects
− Effective hand wash
− Times to wash hands
− Recognising illness which may cause food contamination
− When to come to work and when to call in sick
− Covering wounds
− Personal habits to avoid
1.4 Identify how to keep the work area and equipment clean and tidy, by following procedures relating to cleaning methods, safe use of chemicals, storage of cleaning chemicals
- Reasons for cleaning
- Cleaning and disinfection techniques, including order of cleaning
- Cleaning chemicals, including purpose of detergent, disinfectant and sanitiser and following manufacturer’s instructions and safe storage
- Clear and clean as you go
1.5 Recognise the importance of safe waste disposal
- Internal and external controls within catering businesses, including regular removal of waste, clean areas, secure and lidded externally, cleaned regularly
1.6 Recognise the importance of pest control
- Hazards from pests
- Common food pests and signs of pests
- Reporting of signs
- Basic environmental control (which they are responsible for) such as clearing food spillages, keeping doors and windows closed, lids on bins
LO2 Understand the importance of keeping food products safe
2.1 Recognise the importance of food safety procedures, safe food handling and avoiding unsafe behaviour
- Benefits to customers, catering businesses and food handlers of effective procedures
- Costs of poor practices to a catering business
2.2 Identify how to report food safety hazards, infestations and food spoilage
- What to report, when to report, who to report to with regards to:
− Hazards, infestations/signs of pests and spoilage in a catering environment
2.3 Recognise the main risks to food safety from contamination and cross-contamination from microbial, chemical, physical and allergenic hazards
- Meaning of terms contamination, cross-contamination, raw food to be cooked, high-risk food, low-risk food and ready-to-eat raw food
- Types of microbiological contaminants (bacteria, virus, mould)
- Common sources, routes and vehicles of microbiological contamination in a catering environment
- Recognition of main characteristics of food poisoning bacteria, factors influencing microbiological multiplication and survival (including spores and toxins) and consequences these may have for food safety and basic controls
- Examples of basic controls to prevent microbiological contamination, including keeping raw and ready to eat separate, use of correct equipment to prevent contamination (including colour coding), reporting damaged equipment, including work surfaces
- Examples of common physical hazards within food preparation areas and basic controls
- Examples of common chemical hazards within food preparation areas and basic controls
- Identification of common allergenic foods and risks associated with allergenic hazards
- Awareness of ways to prevent allergenic contamination during food production
2.4 Identify safe food handling and temperature control practices for delivery, storage, date marking and stock rotation
- Basic contamination and temperature controls and checks to be made at delivery
- Importance of labelling
- Importance of stock rotation and date coding
- Importance of temperature control during storage, including correct temperatures and basic ways to achieve them
2.5 Identify safe food handling and temperature control practices for preparing, cooking, chilling, reheating, holding, serving and transporting food
- Preparation:
− Separation of raw and ready to eat foods
− Dedicated equipment
− Not preparing too far in advance - Cooking:
− Following recipes
− Cooking thoroughly
− Safe temperatures
− Preventing contamination - Chilling:
− The need to cool quickly
− The need to prevent contamination - Reheating:
− Meeting required temperature when reheating
− Only reheating once - Holding:
− Preventing contamination
− No topping up
− Safe temperature for hot and cold holding and time allowable out of these temperatures - Serving & transporting food:
− Avoiding contamination
− Clean equipment
− Suitable transportation and containers
− Importance of temperature control
2.6 Outline how to deal with food spoilage including recognition and reporting
- Common signs of food spoilage
- The need to report spoiled food
- Separation of spoiled food
The Level 2 Food Safety for Catering (RQF) course is bookable at our Lydney Training Centre at a time to suit your company. We also run open sessions for individuals and smaller groups to join in.
