Trainer slams poor hygiene education
More than half of all catering employees do not have adequate training in food hygiene, according to an online trainer.
Richard Taylor, managing director of online training provider Creative Learning Media, believes fewer than half the two million people employed in food-handling jobs have the Basic Food Hygiene Certificate.
He attributes the shortfall to high staff turnover and high training costs.
He said that many companies took the attitude, "If the average life expectancy of an employee is three months, what's the point in training them?"
However, industry bodies were sceptical of his claims. A spokeswoman from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health said there was no figure for the number of people who had received the training.
Ian McKerracher, chief executive of the Restaurant Association, added: "The standard of training and the amount of people in training is higher than it has ever been before."
The law states that everyone who handles food that is not packaged must have training in line with the risks involved. But there is no legal requirement for employees to have the food hygiene certificate.
