Small food producers and food-focused businesses are a key part of the food industry on the island of Ireland. In fact, it is estimated that there are approximately 50,000 business producing food here and around 80% of these are small food producers.
Industry workshops previously hosted by safefood revealed that many staff working in small and medium food businesses (SMEs) don’t have a high level of food safety knowledge. This can lead to a host of serious issues, for both the businesses in questions and the general public at large.
The safefood team has been running information and education events for a number of years and, through these events, has met with small business owners and staff all across the island of Ireland. It is clear that many SME owners appreciate that the food safety knowledge gap in their businesses is something that needs to be addressed.
However, it can be difficult to prioritise food safety while dealing other challenges such as the competitive pressures of the sector; high turnover of staff; and the cost and time involved in training. All these factors can pull time, funds and resources away from food safety training. The issue is all the more pertinent today, with many food businesses now hiring new staff to deal with increases in demand brought about by the ongoing pandemic.
With all this in mind, safefood has introduced ‘safefood for Business’, a free e-learning programme focusing on the basic of food safety for SMEs in the food production arear. This includes SMEs working in food production, food processing, retail, catering and food services.
‘safefood for Business’ is ideally placed to help train these staff as part of their induction process and get them started in the basics of food safety. Speaking about the new enterprise Ray Dolan, safefood CEO said, “Having met many small food business owners through our all-island Knowledge Network, we understand the pressures they face and how they have a lot on their plate, including food safety training. Our aim is to provide business owners with a free and practical food safety training tool that fits their needs.”
‘Safefood for Business’ was created using the collective experience of safefood staff as well as the latest food safety research available. The programme contains easy to understand, online modules designed to engage the participants and is ideal for both new staff and those returning to the sector. The topics featured in the online course cover all the basics of food safety and are ideal for small food businesses looking to train new staff.
“We designed ‘safefood for Business’ to be practical for small food businesses,” Dr Linda Gordon, Chief Specialist in Microbiology with safefood, explains, “so it uses short training modules with real-life scenarios. Because managers and small-business owners can track staff progress while training, it is ideal both for new staff as part of their induction process, as well as re-training staff returning to the industry.”
Participating staff will get a certificate of completion for each module completed and if they are interested in more advanced training, they can get this through external training providers.
The safefood for business course topics include:
- The importance of food safety
- Food microbiology
- Temperature control
- Personal hygiene
- Cleaning essentials
- Allergens in food
- Pest control
- HACCP
Get involved
The ‘safefood for Business’ eLearning programme is free to small and medium-sized food businesses on the island of Ireland.
To register or to find out more information, please see www.safefoodforbusiness.com
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