Level 2 food Hygiene training is critical as the last thing a food business needs is a customer becoming ill, choking or consuming food that affects their allergy. The consequences of a food related incident are serious but are easily avoided by knowing the hazards and precautions to take. Safe food production meticulously manages the four main hazard groups- microbiological, chemical, physical and food allergens to protect food consumers from harm.
With the right techniques and controls you can protect the production line or kitchen, reducing the risk of unintentional contamination and maintaining compliance with best practice. Lets see what safe food production looks like for each of the 4 main hazard groups.
Microbiological hazards occur when food is contaminated, often by bacteria and viruses. Being aware of certain food conditions and environments is essential in proactively preventing harmful growth. One of the key controls for food safety are temperature controls and checks. Keeping food outside the danger zone temperature range (5 to 63˚C) dramatically reduces the rate at which bacteria multiply. Routine monitoring of chiller and cooking temperatures will ensure that food is not kept at an unsafe temperature for longer than is necessary.
Following procedures and guidelines covered in iQualifi’s Level 2 food hygiene training course will ensure ingredients are stored safely and cooked correctly to make sure harmful pathogens are eliminated. Make sure that you know what the legal and best practice guidelines are for temperature controls.
Labelling foods with use-by dates is also essential. These help to identify foods that may have experienced slower bacterial multiplication over a long period of time. Even with suitable storage and effective temperature controls these foods may contain enough bacterial pathogens to form an infective dose and make someone seriously ill.
As part of Level 2 food hygiene training you will learn that without correct storage and usage procedures, chemical hazards including cleaning solutions and pesticides might find their way into the contents of food. Staff should be fully aware of how to use disinfectants and cleaners, including the importance of correct storage. These contamination controls will help prevent food products becoming tainted, which at best may make food taste or smell unpleasant, and at its most serious may act as a poison when consumed. Staff should be trained in personal hygiene practices too. Even aftershaves, perfumes and hand creams might produce an unpleasant taint on food products.
Within the UK, diagnoses of dietary allergies grow 5% every year and has risen steadily over the last three decades. Production and catering environments should ensure that the 14 most common allergens are stored separately and no cross contamination with other foods or surfaces occur. Staff should ensure their hands are washed in between using different foods. This will greatly reduce the risk of staff acting as vehicles of allergen cross contamination.
If physical hazards are present in food they could cause choking and even death! Examples of these in Level 2 food hygiene training include bones within fish and meat, stones within fruits and vegetables and anything that could end up within the manufacturing space such as glass. Staff should be vigilant in looking out for these types of object and made aware of the procedures in place for removal and alerting the relevant person. Production workspaces should be kept clear of any unnecessary clutter such as pens or paperclips that could unintentionally end up in food.
Completing a Level 2 food hygiene training course with iQualifi will ensure that your staff will be skilled in identifying and managing all these hazards to ensure that you can be confident in creating a safe food production environment. The actions of your staff can make or break a businesses food safety record, so make sure that your staff are an asset by giving them the best in safe food production training.