Top 12 food safety courses to build customer trust

Mitti (by SafetyCulture)’s Food Contamination course teaches what your team needs to know about kitchen cleaning procedures and safe food handling. Your workforce will learn what is food contamination and why it should be avoided at all costs. Learners will discover the multiple types of contamination, such as chemical, physical, allergen, and biological. If you want your staff to learn about all of these, this is the course you want to have them enrolled in. However, we all know that adults have a short attention span. Given that, it’s more beneficial if you use an interesting course for workplace learning, and Mitti (by SafetyCulture) made this course very interactive and engaging, so no worries there.

Unique feature/s of the course:

• The course is completely editable so, tailoring it for your team will not be an issue.

• One of the few courses to cover allergens as it relates to food contamination.

Pro/s to using this course to train your team:

• Your staff will have 24-hr access to the material. They will also be able to study on any device.

• These micro-lessons are digestible and perfect for your team that may not have a lot of free time on their hands.

Why you should learn with it:

This course covers proper cleaning procedures that your kitchen staff should know if they want to maintain a safe environment for preparing food.

Proper food storage may seem to be a simple issue to tackle, but as in most circumstances, knowledge is key. Teach your team how to correctly store raw meat, poultry, and seafood in the refrigerator.

If you’re on the lookout for a course that will teach your team all the different types of food safety risk factors and food hazards that can cripple your business, Mitti (by SafetyCulture)’s Food Safety Hazards is perfect to include in your training program. It will take your staff through the food safety risk factors and four types of food hazards (allergenic, physical, biological, and chemical). Mitti (by SafetyCulture) went to the best sources, including government agencies from across the globe, that carry this information and made sure it is up to date, relevant, and accurate.

Unique feature/s of the course:

• The course helps your team understand food safety risks by breaking down stats from the WHO.

• There is an editable quiz at the end that you can use to test your staff’s understanding of the material.

Pro/s to using this course to train your team:

You don’t have to worry if you have a multilingual team spread across the globe as the material can be translated to over 100 languages with a click of a button.

Why you should learn with it:

Your customers should be the #1 priority, and this course will make sure they are protected from food hazards by equipping your team with the necessary knowledge to carry out their jobs.

The sources used to compile the course are reputable and thoroughly vetted to ensure that all of the materials are of international standards.

The Food Runner’s Guide by Mitti (by SafetyCulture) highlights an area in the food industry that often gets overlooked—food runners. Don’t let the jargon mix you up, we are talking about waiters or servers. In addition to traditional server training, this course covers how food should be transported safely from kitchen to customer by your waiters. It also discusses presenting a clean look to customers to maintain presentability. This course can be fully edited to show how being clean will keep food safe. e.g, by talking about keeping nails trimmed to avoid transmission of contaminants to food.

Unique feature/s of the course:

The course helps your employees to understand how being clean and presentable makes your customers have a better experience which means return business for the company.

Pro/s to using this course to train your team:

• One big advantage to using this course is the fact that it has gamification examples that will keep the attention of your staff.

• Another advantage is being able to use Brain Boost which uses spaced repetition. This feature can be accessed upon request. You can use it to provide lessons at increasing levels so the knowledge gets committed to long-term memory.

Why you should learn with it:

If you want your team to learn about how to properly bussing tables, conduct, hygiene, and how they all relate to food safety, you should sign them up for this course.

Leaders should lead from the front. As a supervisor or manager in the food business, this CPD accredited course gives you the information needed to train your employees. This course is targeted at leaders, however, it can be useful to all kitchen staff members. It offers self-paced learning and has a study time of 9-14 hours.

Unique features

• The course covers over 12 topics that will lead to a safer food environment

• The course can be licensed out by Highfield eLearning

Pros

• Teams can study at their own pace on a wide range of devices.

• Due to the depth of the material covered, anyone on the team can benefit and not just specific team members.

Cons

Unfortunately, the course is not free and may be costly depending on team size.

Why learn with it

• Teaches food safety standards such as HACCP.

• Comes with quizzes and assessments.

• Compelling imagery is included to foster understanding.

For leaders or aspiring leaders in the food industry, this course teaches the requirements of ISO 22000:2018 so you can implement, continually improve, and manage food safety systems. No prior knowledge is required to enroll.

Unique features

Teaches the knowledge required to achieve ISO 22000:2018 compliance.

Pros

• Covers HACCP system guidelines.

• Incorporates the PDCA model and risk-based thinking in management system processes.

Cons

The entire course is not available online.

Why learn with it

• Teaches risk-based thinking approaches to food safety.

• Builds understanding of leadership commitment and responsibilities.

For people who want to acquire the CP-FS credential — usually those whose jobs involve the safety and protection of food. Developed by industry experts to teach food safety for the retail environment. Prepares candidates for the National Environmental Health Association's CP-FS credential examination.

Unique features

The food protection course serves as a good preparation tool for an important food safety exam.

Pros

• The 40 lessons are self-paced so learners can study in their free time.

• Ends with a 50 multiple-choice-question exam that tests understanding.

Cons

The course is not free.

Why learn with it

• Teaches causes and prevention of foodborne illness.

• Covers pest control and how to conduct facility plan reviews.

An online, self-paced course on the HACCP System and its prerequisites — useful for frontline retail personnel, quality control and assurance staff, food safety personnel, and retail production managers.

Unique features

• Covers HACCP prerequisites many others don't.

• Unique focus on record keeping.

Pros

The entire team can train on one course, reducing the need for multiple materials.

Cons

Long — 14 modules averaging 1.5 hours each.

Why learn with it

Covers food safety hazards, HACCP principles, hazard analysis, and developing corrective actions.

CPD accredited. Covers proper hygiene and pest prevention, foodborne illnesses, food purchasing, and food service accidents. Currently offers a 10% discount on its certificate.

Unique features

• One of few courses covering ice, steam, and water quality.

• Unique guidance on setting up a cleaning schedule.

Pros

Option to get an Alison diploma (digital, framed, or physical) to add to a resume.

Cons

• The certificate costs extra even though enrollment is free.

• Lengthy and time-consuming.

Why learn with it

• Teaches control of food hazards and allergens.

• Builds understanding of effective incident management.

For training internal auditors in food safety — equips learners to audit ISO 22000 food safety systems and report under ISO 19011. Has notable knowledge requirements to check before enrolling.

Unique features

Designed for professionals in food safety auditing roles.

Pros

• Passing the assessment earns a food protection certificate.

• Explains the internal auditor's role.

Cons

• Not fully available online.

• Requires a lot of prior knowledge.

Why learn with it

• For certified auditors focused on continual improvement.

• Teaches Process-Based Food Safety Management Systems.

Use Mitti (by SafetyCulture)'s Food Poisoning course to train your restaurant staff about the most common forms and causes of food poisoning, as well as how to avoid them. When they complete this course, you can be confident that the food or beverage they offer or serve won't harm or endanger your guests. The food safety program also explains the key differences between bacteria, viruses, and toxins, as well as how each of them can cause food poisoning.

Scope: Food poisoning's most common causes and symptoms, pathogens in food, food poisoning prevention

Lastly, this food allergy training will equip your teams with the life-saving knowledge of knowing how to avoid food allergy and food intolerance in the restaurant. It'll explain what makes food allergies different from food intolerance and what role each staff in the kitchen plays in keeping customers safe from such. This makes this course fit for everyone from restaurant manager to wait staff. The training will end with a game-based quiz to reiterate the crucial information that your teams should retain form this course.

Scope: Management's role in preventing food allergy and food intolerance incidents,

preventing food allergy and food intolerance incidents, food allergies vs. food intolerance