Food Safety Awareness

Course Overview

Safe food handling supports the health and wellbeing of the people receiving care. This course explores food safety from delivery and storage through to preparation, cooking and service. You will examine common hazards, the controls used to prevent contamination and the actions required when something goes wrong. Practical care-setting examples will help you connect your learning to everyday responsibilities.

Who Should Complete This Course

This course is intended for care workers, healthcare assistants, support workers, catering staff and other employees who receive, store, prepare, handle or serve food in health and social care settings.

It is suitable for new starters developing food safety awareness and existing staff refreshing their knowledge.

Course Aim

To develop the knowledge needed to recognise food safety hazards, follow appropriate controls and report concerns when handling food for people receiving care.

Learning Outcomes

By the end of this course, you should be able to:

1. Explain food safety responsibilities and the role of legislation, workplace procedures, inspections and food hygiene schemes.
2. Describe the purpose of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) systems, food traceability and delivery checks.
3. Recognise microbial, chemical, physical and allergenic contamination and identify appropriate preventive controls.
4. Explain how personal hygiene, hand washing and suitable clothing support safe food handling.
5. Recognise the 14 regulated food allergens and identify appropriate action when allergy information is uncertain or a reaction is suspected.
6. Describe how microorganisms can affect food safety and recognise possible foodborne illness requiring reporting and further assistance.
7. Apply the principles of cleaning, cooking, chilling and preventing cross-contamination to workplace situations.
8. Explain safe food storage, temperature monitoring, cooking, holding, reheating, freezing and defrosting.
9. Distinguish between use-by dates, best-before dates and signs of spoilage when making food-handling decisions.
10. Identify appropriate controls for equipment, cleaning chemicals, pests, pets, waste, visitors and food gifts.

Topics Covered

1. Food safety principles and responsibilities in care settings.
2. Legislation, policies, procedures and food safety inspections.
3. The Food Hygiene Rating Scheme and Food Hygiene Information Scheme.
4. HACCP, traceability and receiving food deliveries.
5. Personal hygiene, hand washing and protective clothing.
6. Chemical contamination and COSHH.
7. Physical contamination, pests, pets and waste management.
8. Allergen management, the 14 regulated allergens, allergic reactions and anaphylaxis.
9. Microbial contamination, pathogenic bacteria and bacterial multiplication through binary fission.
10. Foodborne illness, including Campylobacter, Salmonella, Listeria, E. coli and hepatitis E.
11. Symptoms of food poisoning and appropriate action when illness is suspected.
12. The four Cs of food hygiene: cleaning, cooking, chilling and cross-contamination.
13. Colour-coded equipment, cleaning methods and cleaning schedules.
14. Safe use and cleaning of kitchen equipment and cleaning equipment.
15. The temperature danger zone, cooking, holding, reheating and microwave use.
16. Temperature probes and accurate temperature checks.
17. Acrylamide and appropriate cooking practices.
18. Chilling, freezing, defrosting and food storage.
19. High-risk foods, date labels and signs of spoilage.
20. Visitors, food brought into the setting and food gifts.

Learning Format

The course combines short explanations, varied interactive activities and realistic workplace scenarios. Visual examples and two short videos support selected learning points.

Work through the course in sequence and complete each activity before moving forward.

Knowledge Checks

Each learning module contains two knowledge-check questions. These use different question formats and provide feedback explaining the relevant principle.

Use the feedback to identify any content you need to revisit before continuing.

Final Assessment

The final assessment contains 15 questions drawn from the content taught in this course.

Questions use a mixture of formats and are different from the module knowledge checks. The final assessment does not include Slider or free-text questions.

Scope of Completion

This is an online knowledge and awareness course. Completion alone does not demonstrate practical competence or authorise you to undertake duties outside your role.

Apply your learning alongside your organisation’s food safety management system, local procedures and any task-specific instruction, supervision or practical assessment required for your work.

Using This Course in Your Workplace

Food safety arrangements and some legal requirements differ across the UK nations. Apply the requirements relevant to your workplace and seek clarification from the responsible person when instructions or food safety information are unclear.

Further Learning

A further-reading list provides direct links to authoritative resources for continued learning and reference.

Ready to Begin

Start the first learning module and consider how each topic relates to the food-handling tasks you carry out.