Food and Health Safety Introduction

Introduction

One important area in the hospitality industry is having up to date and thorough food health and safety training of all staff. This allows employees to be aware of the dangers present in  working with food and the surrounding environment. This course is designed to guide employees through training of the requirements needed when working with food.  Moreover, any area within the hospitality industry is legally required to maintain certain standards of food safety and work environment cleanliness in order to reduce the risk of hazards that may occur.

HACCP System

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a systematic approach to identifying and controlling hazards, whether they be microbiological, chemical or physical, that may be a danger in the food preparation process. In simple terms, HACCP works to identify what may go wrong and how measures can be put in place to prevent it.  Since 1998, all food businesses have been required to have food safety management practices in place based on the principles of HACCP. 

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Committing to HACCP

The HACCP system is designed to control and keep food safe in the production, storage and distribution process and ultimately profit the business you work in. There are a number of benefits to HACCP:  Increases your customer base and develops a sense of trust with the customer Protects customers from the dangers of eating contaminated or poorly prepared food Allows your business to serve safe food at all times Saves money in the long term Makes sure you are compliant with international food and health safety regulations Offers up defence in a court of law Provides a consistent high quality product to the customer Illustrates conformity to regulations for the food and health safety sector and the customer's well-being

Seven Principles of HACCP

Food safety management is based on these seven principles of HACCP which help you to identify and control hazards before the safety of food or customer is threatened:  Recognise the hazards - identify each step in the food handling process - purchasing, delivery, storage, preparation, cooking etc. - and what could go wrong e.g. piece of plastic in a salad  Determine the critical control points (CCPs) - establish how you can control a hazard e.g. cooking meat to internal temperature of 75 degrees celsius in order to kill potential pathogens Establish critical limit(s) - setting limits which enable you to recognise when a CCP is out of control  Establish a system to monitor control of the CCP - once CCPS and critical limits are established you need to develop a system to monitor and record what is happening during each CCP 

      5. Establish the corrective action to be taken when                    assessing a certain CCP indicates it is not under control          - e.g. the fridge breaks down and all the milk turns sour; the          fridge needs to be repaired in order to maintain the milk at          the correct temperature       6. Create procedures to verify the HACCP system is           functioning effectively - whenever changes are made to           the operation of the business make sure to review and           correct the system e.g. installation of new fridge       7. Generate documentation and records relating to these           principles and their application - to allow successful and           effective implementation of HACCP standards employers             should have appropriate documentation and records           readily available e.g. cleaning records, cooking           temperatures, delivery