Sage Journals: Discover world-class research

Abstract

Aims: Food safety training has a high UK profile, although this is mainly concerned with initial training at levels 1—4. Regular secondary hygiene training (collectively refresher, remedial, update training or retraining) for food handlers is recommended by the Catering Industry Guide, although the subject is relatively understudied. The aim of the present work was to determine the beliefs, mode and experiences of secondary training, especially refresher training, in five larger south east Wales catering businesses.

Methods: Construction, piloting and distribution of a questionnaire (n = 100) followed by descriptive statistical analysis.

Results: A 70% response rate was obtained covering five large catering operations. All had received secondary hygiene training. This training did not appear to be directly related to specific work performance. The duration of this training ranged from 20 minutes to six hours and the frequency from six months to every three years. The majority (94%) agreed that regular secondary training was beneficial and that it could be applied in their work (81%). The content of secondary training varied from a repeat of the initial hygiene course to selected topics deemed relevant to the needs of the employees and the businesses. The majority of refresher training was delivered by conventional classroom instruction but some businesses made use of more informal methods. Trainees estimated that they have only forgotten 10% of their initial training, 63% believed that the best way to refresh their knowledge was to repeat the course and 94% welcomed new information. Most (77%) felt that this training should be tested/examined. Reaction evaluations of secondary training were collected by most businesses and training records were maintained by all.

Conclusions: Secondary training was valued by food handlers. The content and methods of delivering secondary training were more varied and were relatively conservative in format and approach.

Keywords

secondary hygiene training refresher hygiene training catering businesses school meals providers

Get full access to this article

View all access options for this article.

References

Food Safety and Hygiene Working Group. Industry Guide to Good Hygiene Practice: Catering Guide 1997. London : Chadwick House Group Limited, 1997

IFF Research Ltd. Food Hygiene Trade Campaign 2002. London: Food Standards Agency , 2002

Egan MB , Raats MM , Grubb SM , Eves A. , Lumbers ML , Dean MS , et al. A review of food safety and food hygiene training studies in the commercial sector. Food Control 2007; 18(10): 1180-1190

Consumer Behaviour and Health Research Centre. Evaluation of UK food hygiene and safety training Food. Final Report. London: Food Standards Agency, 2004

Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development. Who learns at Work - Employees experiences of training and development. London: CIPD, 2005

Brinkenhoff RO Telling Training Story: Evaluation made simple, credible and effective. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler, 2006

Tones BK , Tilford S. Health Education: Effectiveness Efficiency and Equity. Second Edition. London: Chapman and Hall, 1994

Adair J. Developing Tomorrows’ Leaders CBI Guide to Leadership, 2005. http://www.johnadair.co.uk/articles/Devlopingtomorrowsleaders.pdf . (last accessed 03/02/10)

Holton III EF The flawed four-level evaluation model. Human Resources Development Quarterly 1996; 7(1): 5-21

10.

Clayton DA , Griffith CJ Efficacy of an extended theory of planned behaviour model for predicting caterers’ hand hygiene practices. International Journal of Environmental Health Research 2008; 18(2): 83-98

11.

Ray L. How to Measure Training Effectiveness. Third Edition. Hampshire: Gower Publishing Limited, 1997

Experiences and perceptions of secondary food hygiene training: A preliminary study of five larger catering companies in south east Wales

Abstract

Keywords

Get full access to this article

References