A food and hygiene course is a key piece of the food and sanitation in place at any professional kitchen. It is easy for any member of your kitchen staff to obtain their food handlers permit online, so there is no excuse for hiring a new employee to your kitchen staff that does not have food safety certification. You can also host a food safety course for the workers in your kitchen if you feel that the degree of safety being displayed in your kitchen is slipping. A food handling certificate will help the members of your kitchen staff understand the basics about how to work with the food in your kitchen, for making sure the meat is cooked to a proper temperature, making sure that all utensils are wiped down after use, that potential allergens in peanuts or soy products are kept separate from other items being prepared in your kitchen and more.
If the sanitation level in your kitchen is not kept at a high standard, you may face fines from my local health department. A local health department will probably audit each member of your kitchen staff to ensure that they have a food handling certificate of some kind. While there is not a universal metric for a food handling certificate, meaning there are several sources of the certificates that can be used, the knowledge they provide members of your staff with is pretty universal. Most states have individual laws when it comes to providing a food handling certificate, so no matter what program a student takes before he or she joins your kitchen, you can rest assured that back accredited food handling certificate program prepares the potential hires you would like to bring on to your kitchen staff.
You may also want to make sure that the members of your kitchen staff are regularly updating their food handling certificate. If they need to renew a certificate to keep their job, you may be able to improve their performance as an employer by encouraging your kitchen staff members to enroll in a renewal program that is paid for by your restaurant or commercial kitchen. The fee for one of these renewal services is pretty small, so it may be worth attracting the best kitchen staff talent in your area to your kitchen by offering to pay for the renewal of their certificates over their time as an employee in your kitchen.