COURSE OVERVIEW:

Welcome to the Safe Food Handling Procedures course. This program will equip you with the essential knowledge, hygiene practices, legislative requirements, and practical techniques required to maintain food safety in all hospitality and food service environments. You will explore how to prevent contamination, manage food storage and preparation safely, comply with regulatory and enterprise standards, and ensure that personal behaviours do not compromise food safety. This course also examines protocols for receiving, preparing, displaying, and serving food, as well as the responsibilities food handlers must uphold when managing illness, personal hygiene, and workplace cleanliness.

This course begins by examining why and how to adhere to workplace hygiene procedures and how to ensure that nothing from your body or clothing contaminates food or food-contact surfaces. You will explore how to take appropriate measures to minimise contact with ready-to-eat food, how to identify non-compliant practices, and how to report unsafe food handling behaviours. This section also covers how to receive, handle, and store food items safely, the core safe food handling requirements, and correct thawing and storage. You will explore the First In, First Out (FIFO) stock rotation method, food preparation and handling protocols, the nature of cross contamination, the primary causes of cross contamination, and the range of measures used to prevent it, including the 2/4 Rule. You will also examine safe practices for serving food to customers, customer self-service, and protocols for unpackaged ready-to-eat food. This section concludes with the requirements for single-use items and how to display food safely.

The next learning area focuses on cleaning, sanitising, and maintaining hygiene standards across all food-related areas. You will explore how to clean food-related items and surfaces, the correct sanitising of eating utensils, and how to clean bar equipment effectively. This section examines safe personal food handling and personal presentation standards, the enterprise and legislative requirements for food handling staff, and how to ensure clothing or items worn do not contaminate food. You will also explore practical measures for avoiding food safety risks associated with jewellery and hair ornaments worn by food handlers.

A further learning area examines personal hygiene and handwashing requirements. You will explore when food handlers must wash their hands, how they should wash their hands, and why strict adherence to these procedures prevents contamination. This section also covers how personal sickness, illness, or injury affects a food handler’s ability to work safely, why reporting personal health issues is crucial, and how food-borne diseases are transmitted. You will explore what food handlers must do if they suffer symptoms of a food-borne disease, what actions to take if they know a colleague is affected, and what responsibilities apply when a food handler is a carrier of a food-borne illness. This section also outlines what must occur if a food handler is suffering from a “condition” and the specific responsibilities they hold to ensure food safety is not compromised.

The next learning area focuses on pathogens transmitted through contaminated food and how food handlers must control their personal habits to avoid unsafe behaviours. You will explore tables of pathogens that can be transmitted by infected food handlers, how these microorganisms spread, and how strict personal discipline—including avoiding eating, sneezing over food, touching hair or face, or improper glove use—is essential to protect public health. This section reinforces the responsibility food handlers have to follow all hygiene and safety protocols consistently.

The final learning area highlights how safe food handling integrates hygiene practices, contamination control, cleaning protocols, personal behaviour, and regulatory compliance to create a culture of food safety. You will explore how continuous training, strong communication, and daily personal accountability ensure that food served to customers remains safe, high quality, and free from avoidable risks.

By the end of this course you will be able to follow workplace hygiene procedures, prevent contamination, apply safe food handling and storage methods, prevent cross contamination, maintain strict personal hygiene, manage illness appropriately, clean and sanitise food-contact areas, comply with legislative requirements, and uphold the responsibilities expected of professional food handlers.

LEARNING OUTCOMES:

By the end of this course, you will be able to understand:

• Why and how to adhere to workplace hygiene procedures?
• How to ensure anything from your body or anything you wear does not contaminate food or food surfaces?
• How to take appropriate measures to minimise contact with ready-to-eat food?
• How to identify non-compliant practices?
• How to report unsafe food handling practices?
• How to receive, handle and store all food items?
• The safe food handling requirements
• The thawing and storing of food
• The First In, First Out stock rotation
• Food preparation and handling protocols
• Cross contamination and the primary causes of cross contamination
• The ways to prevent cross contamination
• The 2/4 Rule
• The serving of food by staff to customers
• Self-service of food by customers and service of unpackaged ready-to-eat food
• Single-use items and what requirements apply to single-use items?
• How to display food?
• How to clean food-related items and areas?
• The cleaning and sanitising of eating utensils
• How to clean bar equipment?
• Safe personal food handling and personal presentation standards
• Enterprise standards and legislated requirements for food handling staff
• How to ensure clothing or other items worn do not contaminate food?
• The practical measures to avoid food safety problems from jewellery
• The practical measures relating to the wearing of hair ornaments for food handlers
• When must food handlers wash their hands?
• How should food handlers wash their hands?
• Food handlers with personal sickness, illness and injury
• Why food handlers should report personal health issues likely to cause a risk?
• What is a food-borne disease?
• What a food handler should do when suffering from symptoms of a food-borne disease?
• What a food handler should do when having definite knowledge of a colleague suffering from a food-borne disease?
• What a food handler should do when being a carrier of a food-borne disease?
• What must happen if the food handler is suffering from ‘a condition’?
• The food handler’s responsibility?
• Tables of pathogens transmitted by food contaminated by infected food handlers
• How food handlers should control their personal habits?

COURSE DURATION:

The typical duration of this course is approximately 2-3 hours to complete. Your enrolment is Valid for 12 Months. Start anytime and study at your own pace.

ASSESSMENT:

A simple 10-question true or false quiz with Unlimited Submission Attempts.

CERTIFICATION:

Upon course completion, you will receive a customised digital “Certificate of Completion”.