FD-001 · Food, Beverage & Hospitality

Food Safety Foundations

Awareness learning for workers who prepare, handle, store, transport or serve food in New Zealand.

You will learn

  • why your workplace food-control system matters
  • how hygiene and separation reduce contamination
  • why time and temperature controls must follow the applicable plan/procedure
  • when illness, contamination or loss of control must be reported
  • why this module does not replace workplace-specific instruction or competency checks.

Follow the food-control system that applies to your workplace

Food businesses operate under requirements that depend on what they actually do. Your job is to know and follow the procedures relevant to your role rather than inventing your own limits.

  • Use the current workplace Food Control Plan, National Programme procedures or other applicable food-safety system.
  • Know which records your role must complete and when.
  • Follow the site's specified cooking, cooling, reheating, storage and transport controls.
  • Ask before changing a process, ingredient, supplier, storage method or time/temperature limit.
Do not substitute a generic online course for the limits in your workplace's registered or applicable food-safety system.

Prevent contamination

  • Wash and dry hands as required by the workplace procedure, especially before food handling and after contamination risks.
  • Keep raw and ready-to-eat food separated using the site's equipment, storage and workflow controls.
  • Clean and sanitise food-contact surfaces and equipment using the approved method.
  • Protect food from chemicals, pests, dirty equipment, waste and other contamination sources.
  • Do not handle food outside your training or when required controls are unavailable.

Time, temperature and unsafe food

  • Use the temperature limits, time limits and checking method specified by the applicable workplace plan or procedure.
  • Use suitable, maintained measuring equipment where the procedure requires it.
  • If a limit is missed, isolate or hold the food as required and tell the responsible person; do not guess that it is safe.
  • Record corrective action where your system requires a record.
  • Report equipment failures such as refrigeration, hot-holding or thermometer problems promptly.

Health, hygiene and speaking up

  • Tell the responsible person about illness or symptoms that may affect food safety and follow the workplace illness/exclusion procedure.
  • Cover wounds and use protective measures required by the procedure.
  • Report contamination, pest activity, unsafe water concerns, foreign matter, allergen mistakes and near misses.
  • Never hide a failed check or change a record to make a result appear compliant.

Stop · Think · Act

A temperature check is outside the limit in your workplace procedure. You are busy and the food looks normal. What should you do?

Knowledge check

1. Which time and temperature limits should a worker use?

2. What is a key way to reduce cross-contamination?

3. What does completing FD-001 prove?