What is the principle objective of food hygiene?

Food hygiene is a set of food manufacturing practices that aim to minimize biological food hazards through safe and clean operations to protect public health from foodborne diseases.
Food safety is a management system that is applied by a food business to ensure that hazards are controlled to acceptable levels. Food safety is concerned with all types of hazards and includes the system of corrective actions, monitoring, and how to achieve safe operations.
Adequate training and seminars can help attain a higher level of food hygiene for your food business.

Every consumer has the right to safe and good quality food. However, now and then, people all over the world get sick from consuming unsafe food. Such events are clear proof of lapses in a food business's commitment to food hygiene and safety. Food hygiene is a crucial aspect of ensuring food safety and preventing foodborne illnesses.

Whether cooking at restaurants, working in a catering service, or a food factory, maintaining food hygiene is pivotal in keeping harmful contamination at bay, thus protecting your consumers and your reputation. This aspect of food safety is a collaborative effort from you and everyone in your whole team. Good quality food hygiene cannot be easily fulfilled with a HACCP plan. It must be practised and continuously monitored throughout the existence of your food business.

This article is a comprehensive review of food hygiene – the fundamental principles, food hygiene facts, how to pick a proper food hygiene course online, and what to understand from a food hygiene rating scheme. We also give simple food hygiene tips at home to keep your loved ones free from foodborne illnesses.

Definition of food hygiene

Terminologies can always be very confusing. Food hygiene has been defined in many ways, but our task is to make everything easier for you and to answer what is food hygiene. Put simply, food hygiene is the practice a food manufacturing business applies to safeguard public health from any risks of foodborne illnesses that can be caused by microbial contamination. Particularly, food hygiene deals with the biological aspect of keeping food safe.

Food hygiene is a collection of practices and guidelines to keep your operations clean and under healthy conditions. This term is concerned with food handling, transport, proper storage of food, and the actual processing of your materials.

Specifically, the aims of food hygiene include the following:

To prevent food from spoiling due to contamination as a result of unclean environmental conditions, poor food hygiene practices, and lack of orientation on food safety.
To orient and educate people involved in the processing of your product on how to practice safe food handling and sanitary practices.
To extend the shelf-life of your product through clean processing.
To prevent releasing unsafe food to the market that can result in foodborne illnesses.

Food Safety vs Food Hygiene

Is food hygiene the same as food safety? Technically, they are not the same. Although, in some cases, food manufacturers use these terms interchangeably, they have different meanings and encompass different principles.

When it comes to food establishments and manufacturing, food safety is an essential aspect. It includes a wide array of areas to ensure that food is safe and fit for consumption. This term is used to describe a wide management system that is applied by a food business to ensure that hazards are controlled to acceptable levels. Food safety is concerned with all types of hazards and includes the system of corrective actions, monitoring, and how to achieve safe operations. In short, food safety is the bigger umbrella, and food hygiene is under it. Food hygiene is the practice of doing the directives from food safety in the cleanest and safest way possible.

Food safety refers to a holistic approach to controlling and managing food safety hazards. It spans from sourcing raw materials, processing, food packaging, transporting, and finally, until the products are ready for sale. During processing, food is vulnerable to biological, physical, chemical, and allergy contamination. Food hygiene standards mainly cover conditions, rules, and procedures to prevent biological food contamination, leading to foodborne illnesses. The measures range from proper food handling, thorough cleaning activities, preventing cross-contamination, etc. In comparison, traceability and correct labelling are part of food safety management but not necessarily in food hygiene standards.

When preparing your ingredients in a restaurant, food hygiene is applied by segregating raw and cooked materials including the utensils used for each ingredient. It is involved in cleaning and sanitation procedures before cooking as well. These processes are also under food safety, but so is applying a corrective action if any non-complying steps are not part of food hygiene anymore.

Why is Food Hygiene Important for Your Food Business?

There are numerous benefits a business will enjoy from maintaining good hygiene practices. Below are some key signs of why it is important to apply food hygiene to your operations.

Provide safe and hygienic food

Food and hygiene should always go hand in hand. A food business is obliged by law to provide wholesome and hygienic food. Implementing food hygiene standards is a crucial step to achieving the ultimate goal. Through practising good food hygiene, your company will be able to continuously serve safe food and gain a good reputation from consumers. Failure to observe hygienic practices can lead to complaints and issues with public health safety.

Improper food handling will lead to unnecessary waste. For example, if cross-contamination occurs during packaging, depending on the degree of contamination, a batch can be forwarded to disposal. If in case the products get distributed before detection of contamination, your business will be forced to recall and either reprocess or dispose of your contaminated products. Proper food hygiene practices ensure that little to no waste is produced and that they are well managed.

When a business constantly delivers high-quality, safe products as expected by consumers, it's good for its reputation and business sustainability. Reports of recalls or public health issues linked to your business can be bad for your brand's name. In addition, most consumers go back to the brands they are most familiar with and have had satisfactory experiences.

Practising food hygiene in the operation facilities does not only improve your business per se. It also teaches your employees and everyone involved in the production to apply hygienic processes in their everyday lives and therefore improve their way of living. In addition, in order for food hygiene training to be effective, it must be applied and practised every day and become a part of your employee's routines.

Improve business efficiency

Reduced food waste, streamlined workflow, and improved productivity are a direct result of good hygiene practices. Without much food waste and continuous and efficient workflow, your company saves on cost and can positively affect profit.

The fastest way for your team to achieve all of these benefits is for you to employ a comprehensive Food Safety Management System (FSMS). To speed things up, get your own digital FSMS in just an average of 15 minutes using our software. With our digital solution, you can get all of the most essential food safety monitoring forms related to your food operations and start your digital food safety compliance journey right away.

Food Hygiene guidelines and principles for food businesses

Food hygiene can be applied in almost all areas of a food manufacturing business. From the actual production of your raw materials to the delivery of your products, food hygiene is very much applicable. Consumers should also be aware of what food hygiene is. It is a role that is played by everyone.

Below, we give you a few key food hygiene behaviours, principles, and guidelines to apply in your business.

Cleaning

Effective cleaning is vital to ensure that all equipment and surfaces are free from contamination. This principle applies to kitchen utensils, working areas, and even your raw materials. Cleaning also pertains to the sanitation process before working. Some of the essential activities include:

scheduling regular cleaning activities;
set-up monitoring forms to ensure that the cleaning schedule is followed;
making cleaning procedures accessible for all food handlers. For example, by putting a food hygiene poster in food handling areas as well as sanitisers and washing sinks near entrances;
using food-grade chemicals and disinfectants;
sanitize the working area before starting processes;
wash ingredients before cooking, such as fruits and vegetables; and
regularly wash and sanitize all cooking materials before and after use.

To make cleaning procedures clearer, we suggest making your monitoring forms that include areas to be cleaned and disinfected, who are tasked to do the cleaning, how often it should be done, and checking the inventory of cleaning materials. In addition, cleaning instruction materials such as how to properly dispose of trash bags, how to use cleaning materials properly, how to store cleaning materials, and a checklist of what to do can also be helpful in reminding your employees how to conduct the cleaning procedures.

At FoodDocs, we can provide you with a monitoring form template for your cleaning schedules. This template could be perfect for you as it is editable and can be tailored to your food business operations. We offer you an array of templates you can use to satisfy your HACCP food safety management system.

Cooking

Thorough cooking is necessary to kill harmful bacteria that potentially cause food poisoning. Each food item requires a different amount of cooking time and safe and adequate temperature up to the center of your product. A food hygiene sign displaying the correct cooking temperatures for each type of food is vital to make sure not a single item is undercooked. Food safety standards for the correct temperature must always be present and accessible for operators as reference. This principle of food hygiene also includes reheating your food when left for a while in ambient temperatures to ensure that any potential contaminations are controlled.

Chilling

Proper chilling is crucial to stop bacterial growth and keep food safe, particularly for perishable food such as ready-to-eat salad, cooked meat, etc. Storing your food products before use or even after use prevents the multiplication of harmful microorganisms. Chilling means storing your food in conditions with temperatures around or equal to at least 35°F to 40°F (2°C to 4°C).

Cross-contamination

Perhaps one of the biggest concerns in food hygiene is the problem of cross-contamination. This issue occurs when bacteria spread among food, equipment, and work areas. Cross-contamination occurs as a result of improper segregation of materials, using similar utensils for raw and cooked food, improper wiping of working area, and others. For example, bacteria can spread from raw foods to the finished product when equipment and utensils are not segregated appropriately.

Proper segregation is one of the best ways to avoid cross-contamination. Raw ingredients must always be separated from cooked ones to avoid contamination of already processed food. Because there is no other processing after the food is cooked, the contamination cannot be controlled. Proper segregation also includes setting a space for dried and wet products. Because wet products have more tendency to have a higher microbial count, lumping them with dry ingredients can rehydrate the latter materials and contaminate them. This situation also contaminates the dry ingredients in terms of quality.

Cross-contamination can also be prevented by implementing a good workflow. An effective workflow that can apply food hygiene and safety does not have any "backflow" where a processed product returns to previous sections of the working area. In this way, contaminations can be controlled more efficiently.

In addition to these, cross-contamination is mostly prevented by properly cleaning your materials before and after using them. This reminder includes your working station and even your protective gear.

Safe Transport

Improper handling during transport from your premises to stores may lead to contamination and spoilage. Therefore, it is vital to ensure that the containers provide adequate protection from potential contamination, keep the appropriate temperatures for chilled or frozen products (refrigerated vans, cool bags) and separate raw products from ready-to-eat ones. Included in this principle is to clean the vehicle regularly as well. One common rule during transport is that any food product, whether raw or cooked, must not touch the floor of your vehicle. That is, pallets, crates, or trays must be used to hold your products. In addition, a vehicle used for raw materials must not be used for delivering finished goods at the same time and without proper transition cleaning.

Personal Hygiene

Every personnel working in food handling areas is responsible for maintaining personal hygiene. Safe food and hygiene are two items that work together. Personal hygiene refers to your and your employee's practices and routines in taking care of your body and keeping it clean. Some of the essential practices include:

proper wearing of clean and protective clothing at all times;
keeping hair tidy and covering it with a hat or hair net;
properly washing hands thoroughly before and after handling food;
abstaining from eating, smoking, chewing gum, sneezing, spitting, and touching face or hair

Proper waste management

A food business is always expected to generate waste. These wastes can be but are not limited to fruit peels, raw material packaging, bones, seeds, and even spoiled foods. The mentioned list of wastes includes both biodegradable and non-biodegradable materials. These wastes must be kept far from the working area to prevent possible contamination. In addition, biodegradable wastes attract all types of pests. Their clearance must be more frequent than other waste materials to prevent any pest from residing around your production area. A single location, far from where foods are stored, must be dedicated to waste management.

Safe water

Safe drinking water is one of the most widely used ingredients in all businesses. It is not only used for formulations and food preparation such as in juices or in cooking for a restaurant. Water is also used for cleaning raw materials and utensils alike. As such, the quality of water in all areas of your food business must have a clean and potable source.

Pre and post-operation sanitation

Before operations, your working area must be cleaned and sanitized properly to ensure that no contaminants are present. During off-working hours, dust may build up on the countertops as a result of a lack of proper air ventilation. As such, it must be included in a monitoring form to always check if preoperational sanitation is done. Preoperational checking also allows your production team to verify if any maintenance needs to be done regarding your operations. Similarly, it is equally important to sanitize your working area after work. This assures you that no waste or leftover food is left anywhere around your working area. Pre- and post-operation checklists must be provided to the sanitation crew.

Staff Training

A part of keeping food and hygiene together harmoniously is proper orientation and continuous development of your staff's understanding of food hygiene. New employees must be oriented with how your business implements food hygiene practices and emphasize the importance of these steps. Food businesses are required by law to provide adequate food hygiene training for food handlers and staff. It is crucial that every person has comprehensive knowledge and knows their roles in maintaining food hygiene and safety. Along with a series of training, refresher courses must also be conducted. This activity helps the management to remind all employees of the importance of food hygiene and include any incidence of non-compliance to food hygiene for reference.

Good Documentation

Part of a working food hygiene system is properly monitoring and documenting these activities as proof of compliance. Make your work easier by using our free templates for all your monitoring form needs. You can use easily document different activities, such as cleaning schedules, pest control, and waste control, that will be on the food hygiene inspections list. That way, you'll always be ready for your next food safety inspection.

Read more about the 4 C's of food safety here.

Food hygiene facts & tips at home

Millions of people get ill every year from contaminated foods. WHO states that 1 in every 10 ten gets sick from eating unsafe food, with many of them remaining to have long-term health problems.
Anyone can get sick from consuming unsafe food. Some groups have an increased risk, including elderly people, pregnant women, children, and people with weakened immune systems and certain health conditions, including cancer, diabetes, HIV, and autoimmune disease. Immunocompromised people are twice as vulnerable to foodborne illnesses than healthy individuals and will experience greater side effects from contamination.
Many food poisoning cases happen at home. So, it's important how you prepare and handle food.
Contaminated water serves as a carrier of an array of foodborne illness-causing pathogens.
You need at least 20 seconds of handwashing to make the process effective. Make sure to cover your nails and the spaces between your fingers.
Staphylococcus aureus, one of the leading causes of foodborne illnesses, is commonly transferred through cross-contamination. This bacteria is commensal, which means it lives in some parts of our body, including the skin, ears, hands, and nose. Therefore, touching your skin and then the food you are handling can cause cross-contamination.
It is actually advised not to wash chicken, turkey, or any other poultry meats before cooking. Washing them will only increase the potential of most pathogenic microorganisms to spread all over your area through the water you use.
Unsafe water is a common prerequisite for the occurrence of diarrhoea.

Keeping food safe is everyone's business. Every actor in the food chain has a fair share of responsibility, hence the farm-to-fork approach. It is also consumers' responsibility to ensure that food stays fit for consumption. Here are some basic food hygiene rules you should follow at home.

Keep everything clean. Always wash your food, surfaces, hands, and tools properly. You also need to rinse your hand before handling food. Keeping your kitchen and pantry clean will also prevent insects and pests from invading your food storage.
Separate raw and ready-to-eat food. Keeping raw ingredients and ready-to-eat food separate effectively prevents bacteria from spreading onto each other (cross-contamination). Use different chopping boards for vegetables, raw meat, dairy products, and cooked food.
Cook thoroughly. We need to cook foods thoroughly to kill harmful germs. Use a food thermometer to ensure that food is cooked to an appropriate temperature.
Follow the 2-hour rule. Refrigerate leftovers in an airtight container within 2 hours of cooking. Discard any pieces that have been standing at room temperature for an extended period.

Food Hygiene Course & Training

Having a sound understanding of food safety is a prerequisite for anyone working in food-related enterprises. Therefore, food hygiene and safety training are legal requirements in many countries, such as the UK, Canada, and Australia. It is not only compulsory for food processors but also for catering, restaurants, cafés, retailers, and various premises involved in the food chain, such as wholesalers, school canteens, or food banks.

Orientation, training, and refresher courses aim to emphasize the importance of food hygiene and update existing knowledge about food hygiene. Training must be facilitated by an expert in the field or an accredited agency and must cover the following topics:

Discuss what contamination is and its major types.
Discuss the potential routes of food contamination.
Discuss what hazardous and high-risk food is.
Discuss what is food hygiene and how can it prevent food-borne diseases.
Proper procedures for practicing food hygiene.

To gain sufficient knowledge, staff can learn from various sources, such as:

Accredited online course and training
Self-study
On-the-job training
Prior experience and education

Well-informed personnel is key element to achieving a strong food hygiene system and implementing your food safety plan.

Levels of food hygiene and safety training

The extent of knowledge is based on the roles and job description of your business. For example, a food quality manager should know how to implement a food safety management system, such as HACCP or ISO 22000, whereas a food handler who has direct contact with food on a daily basis must know the foundation of food hygiene rules and how to implement them. These foundations include prerequisite programs such as sanitation standard operating procedures and good manufacturing practices.

Food hygiene and safety training is generally divided into three levels with an occasionally offered 4th level. Learn the difference below, so you can choose which level fits your requirements best.

Level 1

A basic level course. This level is intended for personnel who don't have direct contact with food but work in food preparation/ handling areas or where the food is handled elsewhere. The main objective is to raise food safety awareness in the workplace. Training courses include basic food and hygiene practices, keeping the working area clean, minimizing contamination in served food, and acquaintance with key food safety issues. This food hygiene course is suitable for bar workers, warehouse staff, waiters, kitchen porters, food delivery riders, etc.

Level 2

This level is designed for anyone who has direct contact with food, whether in preparing, handling, or packaging the food. These employees are normally responsible for the implementation of critical control points approved in the HACCP food safety plan of your business. A trainee will learn the food handling practices and food hygiene, such as allergen control and sanitation, as well as relevant legislation. It also emphasizes the importance of each practice and clarifies a deeper understanding of why and how to control food hazards. This course is perfect for production staff, cooks, baristas, and kitchen assistants. It applies to businesses, including hotels and restaurants, food manufacturers, hospitals, and cafeterias. This level of training is the minimum standard for most businesses to operate.

Level 3

The content is similar to the Level 2 food hygiene course with some additional materials on the implementation of a food safety management system, auditing and training staff. This course is designed for supervisory and managerial roles for retail, manufacturers, and catering service. Employees who have control over handling a group of people are encouraged to take such a course; for example, quality supervisors, restaurant managers, and supermarket managers. For example, quality supervisors, restaurant managers, and supermarket managers. Under this level, managerial employees are also taught strategies on how to spread their food hygiene knowledge to their subordinates in the most efficient way possible and find ways how to apply food hygiene practices throughout the operations.

Level 4

Although uncommonly introduced to most businesses because of the level of technicality, the level 4 training course applies to managers as well in the food manufacturing industries. A minimum of level 3 training is required prior to access to level 4, and this course needs physical appearance to participate. This level deals with more technical aspects of food safety and contamination, microbiology and foodborne illnesses, hazards and their control (HACCP), advanced sanitation strategies, and the roles of managers in food safety.

After completing a course, a trainee will receive a food hygiene certificate. This document is valid proof that a trainee has completed a food hygiene course and has relevant competency as mentioned in the course content. A food hygiene certificate in the UK doesn't expire. However, food industry experts suggest re-taking the course at least every three years to keep up with legislation updates and other developments as well as to refresh previous information.

If you are promoted to a higher position, you will also need to take a more advanced course to upgrade your knowledge. For example, as production staff, you have a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate. Upon getting a promotion to a supervisor, you will need to get a Level 3 Food Hygiene Certificate.

Food Hygiene Rating Scheme

To inform consumers about the level of competency of a business in terms of food hygiene and food safety, food hygiene ratings are given to food businesses depending on their level of maintaining food hygiene. In the UK, this inspection is performed by Food Standard Agency (FSA) in England, Wales, and Northern Ireland.

Meanwhile, Scotland has a similar scheme called Food Hygienic Information System which Food Standards Scotland runs. The rating aims to provide information for consumers regarding food hygiene and safety, but not on the quality (taste, services, or culinary skills). That being said, businesses such as manufacturers who do not provide direct food services to consumers are not included in this rating scheme. Similarly, the rating usually takes time because of comprehensive reviewing, so relatively new businesses may not have a rating.

You can expect to find food hygiene ratings in various types of food establishments, such as:

Restaurants, cafes, pubs, and bar
Food stalls, trucks, and takeaways
Supermarkets, grocery stores, and specialty food stores
Bakery
Canteens, catering, and hotels
Schools, hospitals, and care homes

The rating is usually displayed in a spot that customers can easily see, such as the front door, entrance, or windows. You can also search for it online on FSA's website. A high rating also acts as a marketing tool that can improve customers' trust in a food business, leading to higher sales. The food rating is required to be posted in Northern Ireland and Wales and only encouraged in England.

How is Food Hygiene Rating Scheme Calculated?

Assessment of food hygiene rating includes three primary aspects, which are based on the compliance of a business to legal regulations on food safety and hygiene. They are broken down into a food hygiene inspection checklist that will be evaluated on the day of inspection.

This area includes preparation, cooking, reheating, cooling, and storage.

Cleanliness and physical condition of building and facilities

The scoring for this aspect includes the building and facilities conditions that enable good hygiene practices, such as layout, proper ventilation, pest control, and handwashing stations, such as a 3-compartment sink.

The inspector checks whether the business has an adequate system to ensure that food hygiene and safety will be well implemented and maintained.

Food hygiene rating is on a scale of 0 to 5, with 0 being the lowest (need urgent improvement) and 5 being the highest (very good).

Rating 5 – very good

Rating 4 – good

Rating 3 – generally satisfactory

Rating 2 – some improvement is necessary

Rating 1 – major improvement is necessary

Rating 0 – urgent improvement is required

Inspection frequency depends on the potential public health risk. The lower the risk, the longer the interval for the next inspection. Generally, it's anywhere between 6 months to 2 years.

Businesses with low ratings must make significant improvements immediately within a scheduled timeframe. If the food safety officer concludes that the food might be unsafe and the company poses a serious risk to human health, this can result in partial or complete closing down of the business.

Results of the assessment usually are released 14 days after the date of inspection, and stickers of their scores are given. Results are also posted on the Food Standards Agency website.

Food hygiene checklist

Keeping up with all the tasks needed to ensure food safety can be a bit overwhelming to everyone on your team. Not to mention that all of these tasks must be done every day, before and after working operations. As such, the best way not to miss any task on your food hygiene practices is to make a checklist of the most important daily tasks that need to be done every day.

A helpful and efficient checklist would comprise the following points:

Personal hygiene list (clean uniforms, protective gear, proper grooming, proper handwashing, presence of loose items, and current status of health).
Presence of first aid kit
Cleaning list for food preparation areas
Properly calibrated thermometers for refrigerators
Clean water testing results
Pre and post-operation checkups (waste disposal and cleaning before work hours)
Proper coding of raw materials
Pest control monitoring

All of these and more points are needed to be regularly checked and must have their monitoring forms. Luckily, our team at FoodDocs has made quick and easy-to-use templates for all types of monitoring forms needed for keeping food hygiene in your business effective and efficient. Our templates contain the basic and most important information you need to guide you on how to start making your forms. If our forms seem to not fit your operations, you can easily edit them to tailor your business.

How can you help your team manage food hygiene?

Food hygiene is an integral part of the food safety management system. It is an integral element that needs to be consistently maintained for a food business to continue operating. Emphasis on this importance is stressed in every food safety law adopted by any country.

To maintain high standards for food hygiene and safety, food premises must use a comprehensive and inclusive food safety management system. This solution is what we specialise in at FoodDocs. Our team of food safety experts came up with the most efficient and effective digital solution to comply with food hygiene rules in your food company.

When you use our digital food safety solution, you can get the following benefits:

Get up-to-date and essential food safety monitoring forms that are automatically generated by our AI system. These monitoring forms are based on your food operations and are built to be customisable to fit your food hygiene needs further.

Some of the monitoring forms that we provide you with include the following:

- Cleaning and sanitation checklist
- Master sanitation checklist
- Cooking temperature log
- Receiving chilled goods log
All monitoring forms are equipped with detailed instructions on how to perform each task and monitor them accordingly. These instructions can help you train food handlers and ensure that all operations are correctly performed all the time.
You can also get a smart notification system that will alert food handlers whenever a task needs t be done. With this system feature, you can ensure that all food hygiene tasks are done on time and never forgotten.

In addition to key features to improve the efficiency of your food hygiene monitoring, our digital Food Safety Management System can also help managers optimize operations.

Get a real-time dashboard that reflects the overview of your operations. With this feature, you can save approximately 20% of your time supervising your team. You can easily point out areas that need more attention to maintain a high level of food hygiene standards.
Store, organize, and access all of your digital information in the unlimited cloud storage that you will get along with our digital FSMS.

What is unique with our system is that it only requires you to answer a few basic questions about your operations, and our AI system will take care of the rest. In about 15 minutes, you will get an automatically generated digital FSMS built particularly based on your needs.

Start managing your operations through a more sustainable and efficient paperless solution from FoodDocs. You don't need extremely technical knowledge to maintain a high level of food hygiene standards with our digital solution.

Do you want to experience these benefits first-hand? Use our free 14-day trial and experience how our solution can help you become more efficient.