Learning about food safety is typically not on the top of everyone’s to-do list, unless they happen to work in food service or own a food business. However, the concept of food safety is something that involves everybody – not just food service workers and business owners. Food is prepared everyday in your home, whether by yourself or somebody else. You consume food bought from establishments that may or may not follow the regulations on food safety. It becomes apparent that you – and everybody else- should be concerned that the food they are eating or feeding someone else is safe. Sign Up Now For Hamilton Food Safety Certification.
At Hamilton First Aid, we give you the opportunity to study food safety and how it affects foodborne illness and the public consumption of food products. Our courses are not only offered to food service workers, but to anyone interested in learning food safety.
Foodborne illness in Canada
Foodborne illness, despite being very easy to prevent, affects millions of Canadians each year. Approximately 4.5 million people in Canada are afflicted by foodborne illness (FBI) annually. All over the world, diarrheal complications kill more than 2 million people each year – a big number for a preventable condition. This is why food safety is such a big deal in Canada, not just in Hamilton, Ontario.
Food safety training is governed by the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Care, specifically the Health Protection and Promotion Act. Amendments were made to the act in 2008 and 2010, requiring medium and high-risk facilities to have certified food service workers present at the location at all times.
Mandatory food handler training
Specifically, the Health Protection and Promotion Act requires the presence of a food service worker who has been trained and certified by an approved training provider at all times in medium and high-risk facilities, regardless if the food is served for a fee or free of charge. Hamilton First Aid is one of the few training providers that have been approved by the Hamilton local health authorities – if you train with us, your credentials are valid all over the city and the province on Ontario.
This being said, it is important to note that food handlers are not required by law to get trained and certified in food safety. The health act mandates food facilities, not food handlers – but be prepared anyway, because your employer might select you as the worker who needs to get trained and certified.
Hamilton Food Safety Certification
Our food safety training course is focused on introducing students to the concepts of a safe food handling process. In a food establishment, food handling begins from the moment the raw produce (e.g. meat, vegetables) is bought or delivered until the finished product is stored or served. At home, safe food handling should be practiced during the entire food preparation process.
- Level 1 – basic introductory course to food safety; minimum training requirement for food handlers
- Level 2 – advanced food safety course; targeted towards management and supervisory staff but is open to anyone with a level 1 training credential.