Food Safety, Hygiene & Handling Training and Certification in Nigeria

FOOD SAFETY, HYGIENE & HANDLING TRAINING

Course Outline, Learning Objectives & Assessment

Course Aim:
This course is designed to provide participants with the knowledge and practical skills required to maintain high standards of food safety, hygiene, handling, storage, preparation, and service. Participants will learn how to identify food safety hazards, apply appropriate control measures, and contribute effectively to a safe food environment.

UNIT 1: Food Safety, Food Quality, Food Hygiene & Food Contamination
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Explain the difference between food safety, food quality, and food hygiene.
* Identify microbiological, physical, chemical, and allergenic hazards.
* Explain how food becomes contaminated.
* Identify internal and external sources of contamination.
* Describe measures for preventing contamination throughout the food chain.

Key Topics
* Food safety vs. food quality
* Food hygiene principles
* Types of food hazards
* Sources and routes of contamination
* Cross-contamination
* Food allergens
* Prevention and control measures

Practical Activity
Food Hazard Identification Exercise: Participants identify potential hazards from sample food-handling scenarios and determine appropriate control measures.

UNIT 2: Personal Hygiene
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Explain personal hygiene requirements for food handlers.
* Demonstrate proper handwashing and hand hygiene.
* Maintain appropriate personal cleanliness while handling food.
* Identify behaviours and conditions that may contaminate food.
* Understand when food handlers should report illness or avoid food-handling duties.

Key Topics
* Personal cleanliness
* Hand hygiene
* Proper handwashing procedure
* Protective clothing
* Hair and nail hygiene
* Cuts, wounds, and skin conditions
* Illness and food handling
* Personal habits and behaviours

Practical Activity
Hand Hygiene Demonstration: Participants demonstrate the correct handwashing procedure and identify common hand hygiene mistakes.

UNIT 3: Pest & Waste Control
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Explain the principles of Integrated Pest Management (IPM).
* Identify common food-premises pests and signs of infestation.
* Understand proper waste handling and disposal.
* Identify conditions that attract pests.
* Recommend measures for reducing pest risks.

Key Topics
* Integrated Pest Management (IPM)
* Common food-premises pests
* Signs of pest infestation
* Pest prevention
* Waste segregation and storage
* Waste disposal
* Facility layout and pest control
* Housekeeping and pest prevention

Practical Activity
Pest Risk Assessment: Participants examine a sample food-premises layout and identify potential pest entry points, harbourage areas, and waste-management risks.

UNIT 4: Cleaning & Housekeeping
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Explain the importance of effective cleaning and housekeeping.
* Select appropriate cleaning methods and equipment.
* Identify suitable cleaning chemicals for different applications.
* Safely handle and store cleaning chemicals.
* Develop and implement cleaning schedules and procedures.

Key Topics
* Cleaning vs. sanitising
* Cleaning methods and procedures
* Cleaning chemicals
* Cleaning equipment
* Chemical safety
* Cleaning schedules
* Good housekeeping
* Cleaning verification and records

Practical Activity
Cleaning Procedure Demonstration: Participants develop a basic cleaning procedure for a food-contact surface and identify the appropriate equipment and cleaning products.

UNIT 5: HACCP — Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Explain the purpose and importance of HACCP.
* Describe the seven principles of HACCP.
* Identify food safety hazards within a food process.
* Identify Critical Control Points (CCPs).
* Understand critical limits, monitoring, corrective actions, verification, and documentation.

Key Topics
* Introduction to HACCP
* HACCP principles
* Hazard analysis
* Preventive controls
* Critical Control Points (CCPs)
* Critical limits
* Monitoring procedures
* Corrective actions
* Verification
* Documentation and record keeping

Practical Activity
HACCP Exercise: Participants work through a simplified food-production process to identify hazards and determine appropriate control measures and CCPs.

UNIT 6: Food Delivery & Receiving
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Identify food safety risks during delivery and receiving.
* Inspect incoming food products effectively.
* Assess temperature, packaging, labelling, quality, and condition.
* Identify food that should be rejected.
* Ensure safe transfer of received food into appropriate storage.

Key Topics
* Food delivery requirements
* Receiving procedures
* Supplier and delivery checks
* Temperature checks
* Packaging integrity
* Date and labelling checks
* Signs of spoilage or contamination
* Acceptance and rejection criteria
* Safe transfer to storage

Practical Activity
Food Receiving Inspection: Participants assess sample deliveries and determine whether products should be accepted, rejected, or further evaluated.

UNIT 7: Food Storage
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Apply safe food-storage practices.
* Identify hazards associated with food storage.
* Maintain appropriate storage temperatures and conditions.
* Prevent cross-contamination during storage.
* Apply appropriate stock rotation and labelling procedures.

Key Topics
* Dry food storage
* Chilled and frozen storage
* Temperature control
* Stock rotation
* FIFO principles
* Food labelling and date marking
* Food-grade packaging and plastics
* Cross-contamination prevention
* Storage layout and organisation

Practical Activity
Storage Assessment: Participants inspect a sample storage area and identify incorrect storage practices, contamination risks, temperature issues, and stock-rotation problems.

UNIT 8: Food Processing, Preparation & Service
Learning Objectives
By the end of this unit, participants should be able to:

* Apply food safety controls during food preparation and processing.
* Identify hazards associated with cooking, cooling, reheating, and holding.
* Apply appropriate hot and cold holding practices.
* Prevent cross-contamination during food preparation and service.
* Identify and monitor Critical Control Points throughout food processing.

Key Topics
* Safe food preparation
* Raw and ready-to-eat food separation
* Cooking controls
* Cooling procedures
* Reheating
* Hot holding
* Cold holding
* Food service
* Temperature monitoring
* Cross-contamination prevention
* Critical Control Points during processing

Practical Activity
Food Processing & Temperature-Control Exercise: Participants identify control points within a food-preparation process and practise determining appropriate monitoring requirements.

PRACTICAL TRAINING COMPONENT

The course combines classroom instruction with practical demonstrations and scenario-based exercises.

Practical sessions will include:
1. Proper handwashing and personal hygiene demonstration
2. Food hazard identification
3. Cross-contamination prevention exercise
4. Food-premises pest risk assessment
5. Cleaning and sanitising procedure
6. Food receiving and inspection exercise
7. Food storage inspection
8. Temperature monitoring exercise
9. HACCP hazard-analysis exercise
10. Food preparation and processing safety assessment