Food Safety Supervision Level 3 (Catering)

Who is Level 3 for?

• Supervisors and shift leaders

  You run the shift and check that everyone follows the food safety rules.

• Head chefs and sous chefs

  You decide how food is delivered, stored, cooked, cooled and served in your kitchen.

• Kitchen and catering managers

  You train new staff, keep the records and show inspectors round.

• Owners

  The business is responsible for the food it serves, and you decide how it is run.

In the UK and Ireland, food law asks businesses to make sure the people who develop and keep up their HACCP-based food safety procedures are trained in HACCP principles. Level 3 has a full module on HACCP and food safety management, and it is one way to provide that training and keep a record of it. Training food handlers instead? Level 2 is the course for them.

Each country has its own version, with its own law, inspectors and examples. Module 1 is free to try.

1. 01

   The supervisor's role and the law

   A food handler follows the rules. A supervisor makes sure the rules exist, that everyone knows them, that they are followed every day, and that the business can prove it.

2. 02

   Microbiology and food poisoning

   A supervisor needs to understand why the rules work, so they can make good decisions when something unusual happens and explain the reasons to the team.

3. 03

   Temperature control and monitoring

   Temperature is the control a supervisor checks most often. Your job is to set the right limits, make sure staff measure them correctly, and make sure something happens when a reading is wrong.

4. 04

   Contamination and allergen control

   Supervisors design the kitchen's controls against cross-contamination and allergen cross-contact, and make sure they work when the kitchen is under pressure.

5. 05

   Staff hygiene, training and fitness to work

   The most common way germs get into food is on people. A supervisor sets the standard, makes it easy to follow and deals with problems fairly.

6. 06

   Cleaning, premises and pest management

   Clean premises and good design stop contamination before it starts. The supervisor plans the cleaning, checks it is done and keeps the building and pests under control.

7. 07

   HACCP and food safety management

   Every food business must have a food safety management system based on HACCP.

8. 08

   Inspections, incidents and leading the team

   Things will go wrong. A good supervisor is ready for an inspection on any day, handles complaints and incidents calmly and in the right order, and builds a team that cares about food safety.