Course Title

1. Introduction to Catering Food Safety and Standards

• The importance of food safety in catering environments including (global foodborne illness statistics — WHO estimates 600 million cases annually — and the amplified risk in high-volume institutional catering operations)

• Applicable standards and frameworks including (ISO 22000:2018: Food Safety Management Systems, HACCP principles from the Codex Alimentarius Commission, and ISO/TS 22002-2: Prerequisite Programs on Food Safety for Catering)

• The HACCP seven principles including (Conduct hazard analysis, Identify Critical Control Points — CCPs, Establish critical limits, Establish monitoring procedures, Establish corrective actions, Establish verification procedures, and Establish record-keeping and documentation)

• Prerequisite Programs (PRPs) for catering under ISO/TS 22002-2 including (personal hygiene, cleaning and sanitation, pest control, supplier management, and temperature control as the foundational conditions for HACCP effectiveness)

• Food safety culture in catering operations including (management commitment, staff accountability, reporting of food safety concerns without fear, and continuous improvement through PDCA)

2. Personal Hygiene and Food Handler Requirements

• Personal hygiene standards per Codex Alimentarius General Principles of Food Hygiene and ISO/TS 22002-2 including (handwashing frequency and correct technique — minimum 20 seconds with soap — and critical handwashing moments before food contact)

• Food handler health and illness reporting including (prohibition on food handling with gastrointestinal illness, open wounds, or infectious skin conditions — and the obligation to report health conditions to the supervisor immediately)

• Protective clothing and PPE requirements including (clean uniform, hair restraint — hat or net, gloves for ready-to-eat food handling, and prohibition on jewellery, nail polish, and false nails in food preparation areas)

• Cross-contamination prevention through personal behaviour including (no touching of face, hair, or mobile devices during food handling, dedicated colour-coded equipment use per food category, and hand sanitization after non-food contact activities)

• Food handler health card and certification requirements including (local health authority medical fitness certificate requirements for catering personnel in Middle East regulatory environments — and renewal frequency obligations)

3. Food Receiving, Storage, and Temperature Control

• Food receiving inspection procedures including (delivery vehicle temperature verification, packaging integrity check, use-by and best-before date verification, and rejection criteria for non-compliant deliveries)

• Food storage principles per ISO/TS 22002-2 including (First-In-First-Out — FIFO stock rotation, correct shelf positioning — raw below ready-to-eat, and dry store organization for pest exclusion)

• Temperature control requirements and the danger zone including (bacterial growth danger zone 5°C to 63°C, refrigeration at or below 5°C, freezing at or below -18°C, and hot holding at or above 63°C)

• Cold chain management including (temperature logging at receiving and storage, refrigerator and freezer temperature monitoring frequency, corrective action for out-of-range temperatures, and records maintenance per ISO 22000:2018)

• Thawing procedures including (approved thawing methods — refrigerator thawing, cold running water, and microwave — and prohibition on ambient temperature thawing of high-risk protein foods)

• Date labelling and food traceability including (correct date labelling of opened and prepared foods, batch traceability for supplier recall management, and disposal of foods exceeding use-by dates)

4. Food Preparation, Cooking, and Allergen Management

• Hazard identification in food preparation applying HACCP including (biological hazards — Salmonella, E. coli, Listeria, physical hazards — bone, glass, and metal, and chemical hazards — cleaning agent residue and pesticide carry-over)

• Colour-coded equipment system for cross-contamination prevention including (cutting board and knife colour assignment by food category — red for raw meat, yellow for raw poultry, green for salads and vegetables, white for dairy and bakery, and blue for raw fish)

• Cooking Critical Control Points (CCPs) per HACCP including (minimum safe internal cooking temperatures — 75°C core temperature for poultry and minced meat, 63°C for whole cuts — core temperature verification with calibrated probe thermometer, and corrective action if temperature is not achieved)

• Allergen identification and management including (the 14 major allergens listed in international food regulations — cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, peanuts, soybeans, milk, nuts, celery, mustard, sesame, sulphites, lupin, and molluscs — and segregation during preparation, storage, and service)

• Allergen communication and labelling including (allergen declaration on menus and buffet labels, staff training to respond accurately to allergen queries, and escalation procedure when a guest reports a known allergy)

• Cook-chill and cook-freeze procedures including (rapid cooling from 63°C to 5°C within 90 minutes using a blast chiller, portioning before chilling, and reheating to minimum 75°C core temperature before service)

5. Kitchen HSE — Safety, Equipment, and Fire Prevention

• Kitchen manual handling hazards and controls including (correct lifting technique for heavy stock deliveries and catering equipment, team lifting for loads exceeding 25 kg, and trolley use for repetitive transportation tasks)

• Kitchen equipment safety including (correct use and guarding of commercial slicers, mandoline cutters, and mincers — cut-resistant glove requirement, lockout/tagout during cleaning, and prohibition on removing safety guards)

• Burns and scalds prevention including (oven glove and dry cloth use when handling hot equipment, correct pot handle positioning, warning signage for hot surfaces, and immediate cool running water first aid for burn injuries)

• Slip, trip, and fall prevention in kitchen environments including (immediate wet floor sign deployment for spillages, non-slip footwear requirement, anti-fatigue matting in standing work areas, and clear walkway maintenance in high-traffic kitchen zones)

• Kitchen fire safety including (Class F fire extinguisher provision for cooking oil fires, automatic suppression system awareness, prohibition on using water on oil fires, and kitchen fire emergency evacuation procedure)

• Chemical safety in catering including (correct dilution of cleaning chemicals, SDS — Safety Data Sheet — awareness for kitchen chemicals, segregation of cleaning products from food storage areas, and PPE for chemical handling — gloves and eye protection)

6. Service Standards, Quality Management, and HSE Integration

• Professional food service standards including (correct portioning and presentation technique, service temperature compliance — hot food above 63°C and cold food below 5°C at point of service — and utensil hygiene during buffet service)

• Dietary and cultural requirement management including (halal food handling and segregation requirements in Middle East catering environments, vegetarian and vegan meal identification, and managing common dietary restrictions — diabetes-friendly, low-sodium, and allergen-free options)

• Customer communication and complaint handling including (professional response to dietary queries, escalation of allergen concerns to the senior food handler or supervisor, and documenting and reporting food safety complaints)

• Cleaning and sanitation schedules per ISO/TS 22002-2 including (cleaning frequency by area and equipment type, sanitizer concentration and contact time requirements, and verification of cleaning effectiveness through ATP swab testing)

• Integration of catering operations within the Health, Safety, and Environment (HSE) management system including (food safety incidents in the HSE risk register, near-miss reporting for food safety events, and regulatory authority notification obligations for confirmed foodborne illness outbreaks)

• Quality assurance in catering operations per ISO 9001 and ISO 22000:2018 including (HACCP monitoring records, temperature logs, cleaning records, corrective action logs, and audit trail maintenance for regulatory authority inspection)

7. Case Studies and Group Discussions

• Case studies from catering food safety incidents in Middle East industrial, institutional, and corporate environments including (mass food poisoning events from temperature control failures in high-volume worker catering operations, allergen incidents from inadequate declaration during service, and cross-contamination outbreaks from shared cutting equipment) and the importance of proper catering training in protecting consumer health and organizational food safety compliance

• Group discussion on catering challenges in regional environments including (managing halal food integrity across large catering supply chains, maintaining temperature control in extreme heat outdoor service environments, and communicating allergen information to multicultural workforces with language barriers)

• HACCP catering scenario exercise including (teams receive a presented catering workflow and collaboratively identify hazards, assign CCPs, establish critical limits, and develop corrective actions — presented for peer and facilitator review)