1. Food Safety in the food room
Frances Meek, Education Officer

2. Approximately 500 people die each year from food poisoning!
Why is food hygiene and safety important?
To prevent food poisoning – pupils, parents and staff.
Teacher’s own indemnity.
New Ofsted Common Inspection Framework from September 2015 – greater emphasis on healthy eating and practical cookery in the curriculum.
Approximately 500 people die each year from food poisoning!
In pairs, consider why good food hygiene is essential in the classroom.
Source:

3. There are more than 500,000 reported cases of food poisoning a year from known pathogens. There are many hundreds of thousands of unreported cases too.
A study in 2014 found that:
Poultry meat was linked to the most cases of food poisoning (244,000 cases)
Vegetables, fruit, nuts and seeds caused the second highest number of cases (48,000)
Beef and lamb were third (43,000 cases)
Discuss with a partner the foods you think cause the most cases of food poisoning each year.
Source:

4. Why is this significant to teaching food in school?
Most people would consider fruit and vegetables as low risk foods but if not handled properly, they can lead to serious illness particularly in vulnerable groups such as young children.
Consider how many recipes at school use fruit and vegetables as well as other ingredients that would usually be considered high risk such as meat and dairy products!

5. Legal requirements
When considering food safety in the classroom, teachers and schools must take into account:
The Food Safety Act 1990
Health and safety at Work Regulations 1999
General Food Hygiene Regulations 1995 onwards
The Control of Substances Hazardous to Health Regulations Approved Code of Practice and Guidance, 2005.
Along with the recommendations from the Design and Technology Association:
BS4163:2007 Health and safety for design and technology in schools and similar establishments – Code of practice

6. Legal requirements
Legally, a ‘food business’ must demonstrate due diligence. In the business world this would mean:
A food business must be able to demonstrate that it has done everything within its power to safeguard consumer health.
This equates to the classroom:
A …………. must be able to demonstrate it has done everything in it’s power to safeguard ………… health.

7. Legal requirements – food handlers
keep yourself clean
• keep the workplace clean
• protect food from contamination or anything
that could cause harm
• follow good personal hygiene practices –
e.g. hand washing
• wear appropriate protective clothing
• tell your employer if you are suffering from or are a carrier of a food-borne illness.

8. Food hygiene qualifications
It is not a legal requirement for a secondary food teacher to hold a recognised and up to date food hygiene/safety qualification. However, some LAs (or a school’s own policy) may ask their teachers or a teacher in the school to have this.
Having a food safety certificate can:
make you feel more confident about cooking safely in your classroom
help ensure you have considered all possible risks
help ensure you demonstrate best practice
be useful to include in your risk assessment
add to your CPD.
The D&T Association regards a food hygiene qualification as an essential part of overall health and safety training and accreditation.

9. Food safety policies and risk assessments – why are these necessary?
Ofsted reviews risk assessments and health and safety qualifications as part of their safeguarding criteria. This is a limiting judgement and the school can fail if these criteria are not met.
Failure to ensure pupil or staff safety could result in criminal or civil prosecution.
Risk assessments are a legal requirement.
As well as pupil safety, teaching staff are also responsible for the safe storage and handling of all ingredients including those that pupils leave with them from home.

10. In order to minimise the risks involved in food studies at school it is essential that risk assessments are undertaken for recipes, lessons and equipment.
You may think that you do a risk assessment every time you enter your classroom. However, risk assessments are formal activities and should follow five stages:
Look for the hazards
Decide who might be harmed and how
Evaluate the risks and decide whether the existing precautions are adequate or whether more should be done
Record your findings
Review your assessment and revise it if necessary.

11. Generic risk assessments
These are usually available through Local Authorities but it is essential that schools adapt these to their own setting and account for any specific hazards.
Many schools use the generic risk assessments available from
Exemplar risk assessments for safe preparation and cooking of food will also be available soon from

12. Food hygiene and safety good practice:
Pupil and parent/carer awareness - make pupils and parents aware of the importance of good food hygiene practices. It is recommended that a letter is sent to all new pupils outlining the school’s food safety policy and guidelines.
Allergens – ensure record keeping is up to date and measures are taken to avoid contamination.
Ingredients - should be good quality, within date and stored safely (dry stores, fridge or freezer). Fridge and freezer temperatures should be checked and recorded daily. Any issues should be reported.
Personal hygiene – hair up, jumpers, nail varnish and any jewellery/watches removed, aprons on and hands washed and dried thoroughly (pupils and teachers!).
Preventing cross contamination – where possible different boards should be used for raw and cooked foods (especially raw meat), along with clean cloths and a sanitising spray.

13. Correct cooking time and temperature – to reduce the risk of bacterial multiplication and food poisoning, food must be cooked until it reaches 70ºC for 2 minutes or until it is piping hot.
Cooling and safe storage - cooked foods should be cooled quickly and stored in a fridge within 90 minutes.
Finished dishes should to stored in the food room until the end of the day in order to avoid incorrect storage and bacterial multiplication.
Cleaning/disinfecting – pupils should be taught the importance of washing up thoroughly. Food departments should have cleaning schedules in place for regular cleaning which is over and above ‘clean as you go’.
An exemplar cleaning schedule is available on

14. Storage of ingredients and finished dishes
In order to prevent bacterial multiplication and cross-contamination, it is important that safe storage practices are followed:
Students should store their ingredients in the fridge before schools starts.
Store high risk ingredients such as meat and dairy in the fridge below 5°C.
Store raw ingredients below cooked or ready to eat foods to prevent cross-contamination.
Decant part used tins into plastic containers with a lid. Label with a use by date.
Store all opened jars and bottles in the fridge and label with an ‘opened on’ or ‘use by’ date.
Cool cooked food quickly and store below 5°C within 90 minutes.

15. Pre-print name labels for dishes made– this helps manage the food stored in your fridges but also gives pupils and parents important storage, cooking and allergen information.
The information on the label could include:
Name, date and class/year group
Cooking and storage instructions
Allergens
Name: Date: Class:
Mango and orange chops: Store in a refrigerator and consume within 48 hours. To reheat, place in a pre-heated oven (200°C, gas mark 6) for minutes until piping hot.

16. Sensory testing
Sensory testing is an important part of pupils’ food studies but it is essential that this is carried out safely and hygienically:
Teachers must be aware of, and have record of, any allergies or intolerances their pupils may have .
Any food or ingredients tasted must be good quality, in date and stored correctly.
Clean spoons must be provided and pupils instructed not to ‘double dip’ or use their fingers when tasting their own dishes.
Also:
Pupils should not be allowed to lick the ‘beaters’ of an electric whisk or a wooden spoon when making mixtures using raw eggs, e.g. cakes or muffins.

17. The 4 Cs……
Cleaning – what are the reasons for cleaning?
Cooking – what are safe cooking strategies?
Cross contamination – what is the impact of cross contamination?
Chilling – why is temperature control important?
A great way to teach the 4Cs is to show the Bacteria Bite Business video which is available on the FSA website.

18. Pupil health and safety record sheets
It is good practice to record the food hygiene and safety skills and knowledge that your pupils have learnt.
This could be recorded in your class register, using Excel or in their workbooks.

19. Food hygiene resources available from:
The Food route resources have now been updated and will be available to download soon from:

20. New food hygiene activity coming soon!
A multi-purpose resource that could be used as a board game, bingo game or a starting point for research or discussion.

22. Core competences for children and young people aged 5-16 years
These have recently been updated and include food safety and hygiene.
The core competences are good to use as a basis for writing schemes of work and also for assessing progress and setting targets (self and teacher).
The Food Passport can also be used to assess food safety knowledge..

23. Food Hygiene resources available from:
Videos
Lesson plans
Worksheets and activities
PowerPoint presentations
Interactive whiteboard activities

24. Poster available to download from:

25. Other resources available:
e-Bug is a free educational resource for classroom and home use and makes learning about micro-organisms, the spread, prevention and treatment of infection fun and accessible for all students.
All activities and plans have been designed to complement the National Curriculum. The student pages complement the teacher resources by providing online games, revision pages and lots more to continue the learning experience at home.