Food safety course to ‘change how thousands learn’

By Mike Stones

- Last updated on GMT

Related tags Food safety Food

The new food safety training plan will change the way 'tens of thousands of food manufacturing staff are trained' claims the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
The new food safety training plan will change the way 'tens of thousands of food manufacturing staff are trained' claims the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health
A new food safety training package from the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health (CIEH) will change how “tens of thousands of food manufacturing staff are trained”, claims the organisation.

The training plan – called Group Learner – provided an alternative to classroom training and eLearning.

Developed by Irish firm Nvolve, training is conducted in groups of up to 30 using a facilitator, one laptop linked to a screen and a handheld keypad. Students use a handheld device to record their answers to multiple choice questions.

Electronic answers

The facilitator engages students through the training session by asking questions every four minutes or so. Their electronic answers provide the trainer with instant results on student performance.

The package uses the content of the CIEH level 2 food safety for the food manufacturing sector.

The 2 Sisters Food Group plans to use the system to train 16,000 staff across 35 of its manufacturing sites in the UK and Ireland. Kirsty Derry, its group HR director, said trials had shown the system had cut training times and improved effectiveness.

“We are absolutely delighted with CIEH-Group Learner courses,”​ she said. “Before Group Learner, 2 Sisters was typical of many food manufacturers, providing classroom training using a range of tutors site by site with the possibility of duplication and inconsistency. Training could take many hours. With 16,000 staff, that is a lot of hours off the production line.”

2 Sisters

Des Hancox, CIEH head of sales and customer service, said traditional classroom-based training can prove impractical for large numbers of staff on multiple sites. “This new initiative provides a new rigorous training option for food manufacturers​,” he added.

Hancox said that that while CIEH eLearning courses were popular, they had limitations. “For example, there is the need for each student to have access to a computer, and while this may work for the deskbound it is not quite so simple for thousands of people who work on manufacturing productions lines.”

Information about e-learning courses offered by FoodManufacture.co.uk’s publisher, William Reed Business Media, is available here​.

Meanwhile, the Food Manufacture​ Group is staging a food safety conference on Thursday October 17 2013 at the National Motorcycle Museum. The conference – which will explore the latest thinking on how to protect your food and drink business from food safety challenges – will be chaired by Professor Colin Dennis, former president of the Institute of Food Science & Technology.

More details about the conference – including the early bird ticket offer – is available here.

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