Read This Before Entering Into Health and Safety Training

What is Health and Safety Training in conjunction with Food Safety?

Health and safety training in regards to the food industry is a necessary program to ensure that the delivery of food—in commercial restaurant or food service industries—is safe to consume. Health and safety training courses and programs are legally enforced by various government agencies throughout the United States to effectively limit the likelihood of food contamination and foodborne illness.

Health and safety training is a prerequisite for the majority of restaurant owners, managers and those individuals who operate kitchens. Failure to obtain an appropriate license in an accredited and formalized health and safety training program will, by law, not be allowed to prepare, cook, serve or store food of any kind. Preventing food contamination and limiting foodborne illness is a fundamental objective of the Food and Drug Administration; the presence of illnesses, such as food poisoning, will arise if food is not handled, stored or prepared in accordance to the underlying government agency’s food safety protocol.

Regulation of health and safety training in the United States:

As stated before, the majority of individuals who prepare and serve food to the public are required, in some fashion, to obtain licensing and certification in regards to health and safety training. Individuals can obtain such licensing in a variety of ways; a worker can acquire licensing by completing an educational course at an accredited culinary institute or may obtain certification through a government agency. The latter form of health and safety training typically requires an individual to pass online or in-person courses that will teach individuals how to safely prepare, store and cook food.

The United States has developed a comprehensive system to instill health and safety training in conjunction with the nation’s food services. Each system will deliver a different set of regulations and different procedures to the respective applicants. Those that wish to pass a health and safety training course must understand the various protocol and procedural rules associated with the obtainment of a food and safety certificate.

Federal Level Regulation for Health and Safety Training:

The Food and Drug Administration publishes the health and safety training guidelines through the affirmation of their Food Code—a model set of guidelines and protocol aimed to assist food control jurisdictions by providing a legal and technical basis for regulating the food service industry. The food service industry, by federal definition, includes all restaurants, institutional foodservice providers (such as nursing homes) and grocery stores.

Regulatory agencies aligned with the health and safety training programs are established at all levels of government in the United States; each regulatory agency uses the FDA Food Code to update or develop food safety rules in their particular jurisdictions.

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