Public at risk if hygiene courses are cut, warns HCIMA
The HCIMA is fighting to win back Government funding for 11 basic food hygiene and safety courses. It fears the withdrawal of support last December will deter small companies from training staff and thus jeopardise consumer health.
The courses, normally held over one to three days in colleges, are among 80 victims of a cost-cutting round by the Further Education Funding Council. They offer entry-level instruction in correct food handling, storage and cooking tailored to specific sectors and roles, ranging from restaurants to butchers, cooks to washers-up. Average cost is £26.
HCIMA chief executive David Wood found it ironic that the cuts were imposed between the beef-on-the-bone ban and the launch of plans for the Food Standards Agency.
"Caterers can kill," he warned, if staff were ignorant of basic procedures. The risk of contracting BSE from beef on the bone was one in 56 million, while food poisoning affected one person in 200.
Wood argued that many small hospitality businesses would neglect staff training without financial help. He suspected it was no coincidence that Scotland, which has never funded basic training courses, has so many cases of E coli.
The HCIMA has raised the issue with the Department of Education.
- See the feature on the Food Standards Agency in next week's Caterer.
