Make sure food safety practices are followed in the preparation and serving of food and drink

This standard describes the competence required to ensure that appropriate food safety practices and procedures are followed in the preparation and serving of food and drink. This standard is for hospitality team leaders, first line managers, supervisors, head waiters, cooks and chefs.
Food safety is imperative. Research published by the Food Standards Agency in June 2014 identified around a million cases of food poisoning each year in the UK, half of which are attributable to 13 specific pathogens. It’s therefore essential in any hospitality environment to remove every possible risk.

The best way to avoid food poisoning is to ensure high standards of food hygiene are maintained when storing, handling and preparing food. Good food safety practices are essential for any person handling food in order to know how to prevent the risks associated with food poisoning.

Making sure potential hazards are identified and mitigated, staff trained and able to serve food and drink safely and any new hazards are reported promptly, are key tasks for anyone supervising the preparation and delivery of food and/or drink to consumers.

This standard is designed for anyone who supervises the preparation and delivery of food and / or drink to consumers.When you have completed this standard you will be able to demonstrate your understanding of and your ability to:

• Make sure food safety practices are followed in the preparation and  serving of food and drink

1. Make sure you have relevant information about food safety procedures and are  interpreting your responsibilities correctly
2. Make sure that good hygiene practices are in place
3. Carry out your own responsibilities for the implementation of food safety procedures
4. Provide feedback to the person responsible for your organisation's food safety procedures on their effectiveness
5. Monitor and be constantly alert to the possibility of food safety hazards in your area of responsibility
6. Identify indicators of potential sources of food safety hazards
7. Identify food safety hazards and appropriate control measures
8. Report any new potential food safety hazards for review and evaluation of food safety procedures to the person responsible

1. The importance of having food safety procedures
2. The types of food safety hazards (microbiological, physical, chemical and allergenic) and the principal causes of food safety hazards (human factors; including lack of effective supervision, lack of labelling information, supplier quality, cross contamination, premises and waste, personal health, handling issues and pests)
3. The significant food safety hazards in your workplace and the principal methods of controlling them
4. The conditions that affect microbial growth
5. The relevant food safety legislation requirements affecting your  responsibilities, your responsibilities under your organisation's food safety procedures and  how to implement these
6. The range of good hygiene practices relevant to your work and why they are important
7. The basic principles of good workplace design and layout
8. The dangers of pest infestation and effective control measures
9. Effective equipment and surface cleaning methods and why these are important
10. The importance of food temperature control and controls for the types of food you are responsible  for during: delivery, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling and reheating, holding and service
11. The importance of hygienic and effective waste disposal and the correct methods to control waste
12. The dangers of cross-contamination and methods you can use to eliminate these for any type of food safety hazard
13. Personal hygiene practices that your staff should follow according to operational requirements including: hand washing, wearing of protective clothing, footwear and headgear, wearing of jewellery and accessories, treatment and covering of cuts, boils, grazes and wounds, reporting of illnesses and infections to the appropriate person
14. How to communicate responsibilities for food safety procedures to staff and make sure they understand these
15. How to ensure that staff receive appropriate training to meet their food safety responsibilities according to your level of responsibility and autonomy
16. The types of failures that may occur with control measures and the corrective actions to take for these 
17. The importance of contributing to the evaluation of the food safety procedures, providing feedback to the person responsible for the food  safety procedures and the types of issues you should communicate
18. The importance of being constantly alert to the possibility of food safety hazards in your area of responsibility and how to look out for these
19. Common examples of food safety hazards in the following groups: microbiological, physical, chemical and allergenic
20. The indicators of food safety hazards in your area of responsibility (food spoilage, temperature controls, condition of premises) and the control measures appropriate to these indicators of food safety hazards

The following behaviours are provided as guidance to underpin effective performance of a hospitality supervisor

1. You identify people's information needs
2. You present information clearly, concisely, accurately and in ways that promote understanding
3. You clearly agree what is expected of others and hold them to account
4. You are vigilant for possible hazards
5. You identify the implications or consequences of a situation
6. You confront performance issues and resolve them directly with the people involved
7. You give people opportunities to provide feedback and you respond appropriately
8. You reflect regularly on your own and others' experiences, and use these to inform future action
9. You check individual's commitment to their roles in a specific course of action
10. You use cost-effective, time-effective and ethical means to gather, store and retrieve information
11. You make best use of available resources and proactively seek new sources of support when necessary

This standard is strongly recommended for those progressing standards HSL7, HSL10 and HSL11. This standard is a sector specific standard and has particular links with the following standards in the Hospitality Supervision & Leadership suite of standards: HSL1, HSL3, HSL4, HSL8, HSL9, HSL12-15, HSL17, HSL24, HSL25, HSL29