Food hygiene standards and systems

If you are looking for a job in the food industry sector, one specialist area of career that is always needed involves hygiene standards and systems.

A company that operates a food production business always has to take full responsibility for the safety of its customers. To do this staff that work in production areas have to be trained appropriately in all aspects of food handling and food hygiene. The European Food Hygiene regulations state that businesses that produce food must

"ensure that food handlers are supervised and instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activity".

This means that anyone who has not enough experience or feels they are not trained to a high enough standard must be supervised until they are proficient to carry out tasks on their own.

All staff who have food jobs must be aware of personal hygiene requirements and food hygiene issues. The National Qualifications Framework level 2 in food safety (or The Chartered Institute of Environmental Health qualification CIEH) is a highly regarded food industry qualification for anyone who works with or serves food. A level 3 or level 4 qualification is also important if you want to progress to a staff managerial level or higher.