Food hygiene

[Gill Brownsword]

Hi, do I have to have a food hygiene certificate? I'm pre reg and I'd thought that I was told it wasn't needed but the other day I was told it was. Can anyone recommend a cheap one? I have held one in the past but it expired a few years ago!

Thanks!

[mumofone]

Google virtual college - think it's £15 to do online and you can print your own certificate :-) Good luck

[moggy]

It is not an EYFS requirement BUT your LA Env Health Dept might ask you to have a food hygiene qualification- you need to phone and ask.

But to be honest- why wouldn't you get trained in food hygiene? It is a very very important area and shows parents that you take their child's health seriously, food poisoning happens so easily. It is not a strenuous course, they are online, I did an 'in person' Local Authority course.

[k1rstie]

Hi, do I have to have a food hygiene certificate? I'm pre reg and I'd thought that I was told it wasn't needed but the other day I was told it was. Can anyone recommend a cheap one? I have held one in the past but it expired a few years ago!

Thanks!

I was told by my local EHO that so long as I had done a course, I did not need to renew it every three years.

I also worked in a supermarket on the counters, deli, meat, fish etc for about 20 years. I did my food hygiene when I first started, and it was never renewed in all that time.


There are online courses priced about £15 online, plus if you are gold member of Childcare.co.uk, they offer the food hygiene as part of their free training package - thanks Richard!!!!!!!

[Gill Brownsword]

I was told by my local EHO that so long as I had done a course, I did not need to renew it every three years.

I also worked in a supermarket on the counters, deli, meat, fish etc for about 20 years. I did my food hygiene when I first started, and it was never renewed in all that time.


There are online courses priced about £15 online, plus if you are gold member of Childcare.co.uk, they offer the food hygiene as part of their free training package - thanks Richard!!!!!!!

Thanks! I wish I could afford the membership, it's hard to find £15 while I'm not working! I'm hoping to join soon. I have done it before and I know it is something that is supposed to be renewed. I don't want to have anything go against me when i get my OFSTED visit either.

Moggy, I take food/hygiene very seriously and have a chemical free home and cook mostly from scratch (wish I could say always!) but at the moment I have no income so I'm just looking at the things I need to show OFSTED.

[bunyip]

Thanks! I wish I could afford the membership, it's hard to find £15 while I'm not working! I'm hoping to join soon. I have done it before and I know it is something that is supposed to be renewed. I don't want to have anything go against me when i get my OFSTED visit either.

Moggy, I take food/hygiene very seriously and have a chemical free home and cook mostly from scratch (wish I could say always!) but at the moment I have no income so I'm just looking at the things I need to show OFSTED.

It does depend on your local EHO, but most seem to want to see a level 2 food hygiene certificate. My EHO expects to see it when you set up. They like to see it renewed regularly, but only insist if there's a problem with what you can demonstrate when inspected. Not sure which LA you're under, but I've CM friends in Derbyshire (Erewash) whose LA requires level 2.

I have to agree with Moggy: why would anyone not want the training? Tbh, even though it's only O-level equivalent, it's a far higher standard and more useful than 99% of the codswallop that passes for "training" in the childcare sector. Not meaning to be rude, but I tend to call a spade a spade, and the fact you can describe anything so anti-scientifically as "chemical free" suggests you'd benefit from a bit of basic science, and the food hygeine course is ideal.

Btw, the childcare.co.uk is well worth the fee IME. I too was careful with expenses when starting out, but not joining was a false economy. Since I joined I get lots of enquiries: I really could've done with that when I started.

[FloraDora]

You don't need the food hygiene for your registration visit, you could say you have it in your CPD folder as the next thing to do. Then it shows you know you would need it / want it. Once you are reg you can claim the government grant - then you can purchase the training.

Sorted.

[Gill Brownsword]

Thanks Flora Dora, thats what I needed to know. I spoke to the Ofsted inspector today and she was happy with the "intention" to do it once I was supplying food and minding children. Our food budget is £30 a week at the moment so I'm scraping every penny I can save out of that to join the childminding site but it's going to take a while!

Forgive my Bunyip for the "chemical free" comment, I mean commercial chemicals. I like to mix my "concoctions" up so that I know what is in them. Totally love physics :) The site looks like very good value to me and I have friends that use it for advertising.

[alex__17]

My local environmental health came out not long after a registered when I told them I was a CM, no mention of doing a course, just had to work through the childminder booklet they have on their website, which was long but really very common sense things and I was doing everything in it already.
I've since done the gold members free training one so I have a certificate for my file in case Ofsted want to see it, but as I said they were fine with the certificate from EHO to say he'd been and had a look around and passed me/my kitchen.

[alex__17]

It's called better food better business or something like that

[rickysmiths]

This is the book on the Food Standard Agencies Website.


Safer food, better business for childminders | food.gov.uk (http://www.food.gov.uk/business-industry/caterers/sfbb/sfbbchildminders)

[bunyip]

Thanks Flora Dora, thats what I needed to know. I spoke to the Ofsted inspector today and she was happy with the "intention" to do it once I was supplying food and minding children. Our food budget is £30 a week at the moment so I'm scraping every penny I can save out of that to join the childminding site but it's going to take a while!

Forgive my Bunyip for the "chemical free" comment, I mean commercial chemicals. I like to mix my "concoctions" up so that I know what is in them. Totally love physics :) The site looks like very good value to me and I have friends that use it for advertising.

Sorry for being a bit pedantic. I just tire of 'bad science' especially when it comes to the kitchen and nutrition, etc. I'd given anything for a kitchen that didn't have a layer of yoghurt over everything. :D

This is how I managed to have an argument with an infant school teacher about whether there's an "up" and a "down" in space.

It could also explain why I spend a dull infant assembly at my grandchildrens' school positively bursting with the urge to shout "it's not a javelin, it' a bl33din' pilum" not to mention the fact that they were meant to be dressed as Roman foot soldiers under the Marian reforms and yet were carrying rectangular shields. :eek:

Don't tell me I need to get out more...........I know it. :rolleyes:

[Gill Brownsword]

Sorry for being a bit pedantic. I just tire of 'bad science' especially when it comes to the kitchen and nutrition, etc. I'd given anything for a kitchen that didn't have a layer of yoghurt over everything. :D

This is how I managed to have an argument with an infant school teacher about whether there's an "up" and a "down" in space.

It could also explain why I spend a dull infant assembly at my grandchildrens' school positively bursting with the urge to shout "it's not a javelin, it' a bl33din' pilum" not to mention the fact that they were meant to be dressed as Roman foot soldiers under the Marian reforms and yet were carrying rectangular shields. :eek:

Don't tell me I need to get out more...........I know it. :rolleyes:

PMSL I have a kitchen covered in cake mixture and no pre-schoolers were involved!
I have similar issues with school, luckily my sons teachers seem to think like me at the moment.... but in previous years I have been looked at like I'm a scary bad person by "suggesting" that something may not be accurate....

[k1rstie]

I struggled with 'name 10 dragon facts, and put them in a venn diagram' , this term she/we have to write about a good person, a bad person and an ugly ( in spirit ) person!

[Simona]

Hi, do I have to have a food hygiene certificate? I'm pre reg and I'd thought that I was told it wasn't needed but the other day I was told it was. Can anyone recommend a cheap one? I have held one in the past but it expired a few years ago!

Thanks!

I have been in childcare for 22 years and never did a F&H online or otherwise course....I did cover those topics very well in the old style NVQ and passed my LA Health inspection

You can keep updated with the Food Standards Agency if you subscribe to them their info drops into your inbox via subscription.

There is a variety of F&H courses now as Educare and others do deals with everybody now...if you are a PLA member you get them free as well.

Local Environmental Health will not ask you to be qualified because it is not compulsory....your LA may have training but you may have to pay for it.

I am not sure if Safer Food Better Business is still available but you could ask a CM to lend it to you and you can photocopy it for yourself...it is a good guide.

Good luck whatever you choose to do :thumbsup:

[k1rstie]

I come from a food background. I was really surprised and impressed how good the better business folder was. As Simona suggests, it may be worth copying a copy if you cannot get your own.

[Jelly Baby]

Im not sure if you 'have' to have it btu I have. To be honest the Ofsted woman wasn't particularly bothered but it helps as I do cooked food.

I used virtual college £15