Food hygiene certificate or no food hygiene certificate? The Answers

In a nutshell let's get the facts straight about food hygiene certificates, and answer your questions about finding the food hygiene course which is the most suitable for you. Yes, a food hygiene course taken online will be accepted by an Environmental Health officer and by local authorities. They are specifically designed to help you meet the legal requirement for food handlers. No, you don't have to go to a local college or sit in a classroom to achieve your food hygiene certificate; you can take it online and sit back while your new food hygiene certificate finds its way to you through the post.
How do I know which course to take?
That's easy. One simple rule:
If you make food to be sold, or sell food directly...
...You need the Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate for Catering.
It's the most popular course by far, be sure to bear in mind that Environmental Health will be looking to see that you have refreshed your food hygiene training every 3 years!
What's the law?
It's fairly straight forward.
Many people have doubts over whether their local authority, council, or specific company will accept their food hygiene certificate, and are looking for a guarantee that their Food Hygiene Certificate will be accepted. The bottom line is, that in doing this training, you have met the legal obligation.
The Environmental Health officer is looking to see that food handlers are appropriately trained, and if you don't have 2-3 hours for food hygiene training and you are at risk of failing your Environmental Health Officer inspection.
There are different levels of Food Hygiene training, so we won't get too caught up with these right now but I will give an outline of what they are.
Level 1 is just an awareness level, and so it is unsuitable for food handlers. If you make food to be sold or serve the food directly to the public this is inadequate. This old foundation or basic awareness course has been replaced by the Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate, and you will find that Environmental Health Officers will often ask that you have a Level 2 certificate. Level 3 is usually a 3 or 4 day course that would need to be booked at a local college, and is likely to be designed to allow you to manage a team of food handlers. Level 4 allow you to train others in food handling.