Level 3 Food Safety Group Course

Description

Who this is for

Anyone at supervisory level in a food business. Head chefs, sous chefs, kitchen managers, catering managers, production supervisors and team leaders. It also suits anyone who needs a broad, serious understanding of food hygiene as part of their job without supervising a kitchen day to day, such as a quality or compliance role.

The distinction that matters: Level 2 teaches a food handler their part in the system. Level 3 is for the person responsible for the system working.

Catering or Manufacturing

The course can be structured around different working environments, and the examination can be sat in either route. That choice is worth making deliberately rather than by default, because the hazards, the language and the practical examples differ significantly between a restaurant kitchen and a production line.

Tell us which environment your people work in when you book and we will set the course up accordingly.

What the course covers

• The terminology of supervising food safety
• The supervisor’s role in ensuring compliance with legislation
• Contamination, and the risks it presents to food safety
• The part temperature plays in controlling food safety
• Why workplace and equipment design matters
• Standards of cleanliness, and how to hold them
• Pest control
• Personal hygiene standards and how to enforce them
• The supervisor’s contribution to training others
• The principles of HACCP and how a system is implemented
• Integrating tools such as Safer Food, Better Business

Why the HACCP element is the point

Every food business must have permanent procedures based on HACCP principles. That is a duty on the business, and separately, anyone developing or maintaining those procedures must have had adequate training in applying them.

That is the gap Level 3 fills. A kitchen full of Level 2 certificates does not satisfy it, because Level 2 teaches people to work within a system rather than to build one. If nobody in your business has been trained to develop and maintain your HACCP-based procedures, that is the hole worth closing first.

We set out what the requirement actually involves, and where Safer Food Better Business fits for smaller caterers, in what is HACCP.

What supervising food safety involves in practice

Three days is long enough to get past the syllabus and into the difficult part, which is rarely knowledge. It is holding a standard when the kitchen is under pressure, when a delivery arrives warm on a Friday night, when someone is unwell and wants to work, or when the fridge is reading 9°C and service starts in an hour.

Two things from the law are worth having in mind throughout. 8°C is the legal maximum for chilled food in England, which is a limit and not a target. And a supervisor’s own duty to their staff under health and safety law runs alongside the food safety one, which is where Level 3 Health and Safety often makes sense for the same person.

How the group course works

Delivered at your premises, up to 16 learners with a minimum of 12 places chargeable. At three days, the scheduling conversation matters more than for any other course we run, so tell us your rota and whether the days can be split across weeks.

Realistically, most businesses put a small number of people through Level 3 rather than a room of 16, so it is worth asking us how that prices before assuming the group route is the right one.

Your certificate

Successful candidates receive a Level 3 Award in Food Safety. There is no statutory expiry on food hygiene certification, with three years the working convention.

The awarding organisation is named on the certificate. Ask us which body issues it before you book, particularly at this level where clients and auditors are more likely to check. How to check a qualification is accredited explains what to look for.

Frequently asked questions

How long is the Level 3 Food Safety course?

Three days, followed by a 60-question examination.

Who needs Level 3 rather than Level 2?

Supervisors, team leaders, kitchen and catering managers, and anyone responsible for the food safety management system. Level 2 is for the people working to that system.

Can the exam be taken in manufacturing rather than catering?

Yes. The course can be structured for different environments and the examination can be sat in either route. Tell us which applies when you book.

Are there any exemptions?

Candidates who already hold the Level 3 Award in Implementing Food Safety Management Systems are exempt from parts of the course, but still answer the relevant questions in the examination.

Does Level 3 cover HACCP?

Yes, the principles and how a system is implemented, along with integrating tools such as Safer Food, Better Business. It is the main reason most businesses send someone on it.

Do I need Level 2 first?

It is not a formal prerequisite, but Level 3 assumes a working knowledge of food safety. Most candidates come to it having handled food in practice.

How long does the certificate last?

There is no statutory expiry. Three years is the convention that inspectors, clients and auditors expect.

We only need one or two people trained. Is a group course still right?

Possibly not, and we would rather say so. Tell us your numbers and we will price it honestly against the alternatives.

If you are working out who in your business needs Level 3 and who needs Level 2, call 0845 838 4643 or use the enquiry form and describe the roles.