Hygene Certificate

[keith157]

Hi boys n girls, there is a liklihood that I'm going to be asked to cook for groups of youths who are attendiong one of my companies events, football, dog training, youth diversion schemes etc.
I'm assuming that the food would be free to the participants, supplied by my boss, so what should I have in the way of "legal paperwork", and what qualifications/certifications would you recommend?

Thanks

Keith

Mods please feel free to move this to another form if needed

[RobinC]

Your local council should be able to put you in touch with someone who will tell you everything you need

[keith157]

Thank you,

[Toby]

When I first started I spoke to the council and the basics are food hygiene certificate which they recommended you get online because its cheaper!!! weird i know. Insurance, which may be covered by your company. Although as already mentioned speak to the council first, as its not an ongoing thing they will probably be just looking for the basics.

[RobinC]

In Cheshire they prefer you to go on a course rather than doing it online. I recently did the course and whilst for he most part it is common sense there were a few useful bits

[keith157]

Thanks again I'll let you know what the council says.

[keith157]

This is the reply from the Food Standards Agency;-
Dear Keith,
Many thanks for your email.
In general, operations such as the occasional handling, preparation, storage and serving of food at events such as church, school or village fairs and other situations such as organised charities are not covered by the scope of the food hygiene regulations. But under the Food Safety Act (as amended) anyone selling or supplying food would be expected to provide food that is safe to eat.
The Agency’s advice to anyone providing food for such events is to get in touch with the Environmental Health Department at your local authority. Your EHD are in the best position to determine whether legislation and registration apply according to individual circumstances. To locate your EHD please visit www.food.gov.uk/enforcement/enforcessential/yourarea

I hope this information is helpful.
Kind regards
FSA Helpline

[RobinC]

Not really - the course isn't run by the council. It was however, run by an ex-EHO

[RobinC]

£40. This was for a course that lasted about 5.5 hours followed by the exam. Where I think it was useful was the the EHO guy imparted a reasonable amount of knowledge. Since everyone, bar myself, actually worked in catering he also related it to what they were doing. From my perspective I found it informative and bits of it were interesting. If you're focus is solely getting the exam passed then online is fine. If you want to actually learn something then I think the course is better.

[Toby]

Makes perfect sense to me, If someone doesnt already have the knowledge then a course is the way forward. I was rather shocked about the local councils attitude and was more fearful of businesses not needing any experience or to be honest knowledge to be deemed food safe.