Health and safety is one of the most important things you’ll learn at culinary school. Kitchen safety awareness is crucial during food preparation and cooking, as well as during clean-up and daily kitchen use. Understanding the hazards present in the kitchen can help you avoid causing an accident or subjecting your customers to a bout of food poisoning. Ultimately, failure to adhere to health and safety regulations will result in your kitchen being shut down. But it’s more than just doing the bare minimum to avoid closure- putting effort into your health and safety will provide a better working environment to both you and your colleagues as well as a better and more enjoyable dining experience for your customers.

At The Hurst Campus, the Health and Safety module is taught by Phia Murrell. Phia tells us that HCCP, Cross Contamination, Safety Hazards, FIFO (first in first out), are all words that our students become familiar with during the first few weeks of training! There are many dangers that face chefs in a busy kitchen environment ranging from unseen bacteria, sharp knives and boiling, liquids, water and oil.

Our student trainee Chefs are therefore always required to maintain all aspects of hygiene and safety to protect themselves and others to ensure safety. We place a strong emphasis on personal hygiene which includes wearing the correct uniform for protection in the event of an unforeseen accident.  This includes a double breasted cotton chefs jacket and safety shoes with a steel toe cap.

At The Hurst Campus, we have a Pastry kitchen, Demonstration Kitchen, Hot kitchen and a Front of House section where we consistently implement all the aspects of Health and Safety to keep maintain acceptable levels of hygiene and food safety.

The Health and Safety module at Hurst Campus teaches the student chefs how to:

• Identify the importance of food safety procedures, risk assessment, safe food handling and behaviour
• Identify how to report food safety hazards
• Identify the legal responsibilities of food handlers and food business operators
  Identify the importance of personal hygiene in food safety including its role in reducing the risk of contamination
• Recognise effective personal hygiene practices, for example, protective clothing, handwashing, personal illness, cuts and wounds.

So whether you’re a prospective culinary student, culinary student or industry professional, it’s key to always remember the importance of health and safety in the kitchen.