Food Hygiene training that gets your team CQC-ready
- CQC-aligned, mapped to the Care Certificate framework
- Completed in the hub in over 60 languages
- A certificate for every staff member, for your CQC evidence
- A wrong answer triggers a follow-up lesson, so gaps are closed
No subscription needed. Bulk discounts from 10+ licences.
From £25.99 per staff member, one-off. No subscription needed.
Trusted by UK care providers
Specialists in the technology behind it all
The same technology behind the world's best products powers CareStream, so your team's food hygiene training stays accurate, always up to date with the latest guidance, and is delivered in over 60 languages.
Personal Hygiene When Handling Food
Before touching any food, you must wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. This removes harmful bacteria that can cause illness. Always wash hands after using the toilet, touching your face or hair, handling waste, or touching raw foods. If you are unwell with sickness or diarrhoea, you must not handle food and should report to your manager immediately.
What is the minimum time you should wash your hands with soap and warm water before handling food?
In the hub, a wrong answer sends the staff member a short follow-up lesson and a fresh question on the same point. They close the gap before they can finish the module, and every attempt is recorded for your CQC evidence.
That is how the training works. Give your whole team the full Food Hygiene module.
Avg. Duration
About 48 minutes
Certificate
For every staff member
Available Languages (60+)
Course Published by
A clear, practical grounding in food hygiene.
This training covers how to keep food safe and prevent illness in a care setting. You will learn about storing, preparing and serving food safely, preventing contamination, and protecting residents with food allergies. These practices protect everyone's health and meet legal requirements.
By the end, your staff will be able to:
- Describe the correct procedures for storing different types of food in your workplace to prevent contamination and spoilage
- Explain how to prevent cross contamination when preparing and serving meals, especially for residents with food allergies
- Identify the 14 allergens that care services must provide information about and how to communicate this information to residents
- Apply proper hand hygiene and personal hygiene practices when handling food
- Recognise signs of food safety risks and know when to report concerns to senior staff
A closer look at the food hygiene module.
The module is built in short, practical sections. Each one teaches a part of the topic, then applies it to a real care scenario and checks understanding before moving on.
Personal Hygiene When Handling Food
Before touching any food, you must wash your hands thoroughly with soap and warm water for at least 20 seconds. This removes harmful bacteria that can cause illness. Always wash hands after using the toilet, touching your face or hair, handling waste, or touching raw foods. If you are unwell with sickness or diarrhoea, you must not handle food and should report to your manager immediately.
Safe Food Storage and Temperature Control
Food must be stored at the correct temperature to prevent harmful bacteria growing. Cold foods must be kept at 5 degrees Celsius or below. Hot foods must be kept at 63 degrees Celsius or above. Raw and cooked foods must always be stored separately, with raw foods on lower shelves so they cannot drip onto ready to eat foods. All food must be covered and labelled with the date it was opened or prepared.
Understanding Food Allergies and the 14 Allergens
Care services must provide clear information about 14 specific allergens that can cause serious allergic reactions. These are celery, cereals containing gluten, crustaceans, eggs, fish, lupin, milk, molluscs, mustard, nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, soya, and sulphur dioxide. Even a tiny amount of an allergen can cause reactions ranging from itching to life threatening anaphylactic shock. Residents' food allergies should be recorded in their care plans, and allergen information should be provided on all menus.
Preventing Cross Contamination
Cross contamination happens when harmful bacteria or allergens spread from one food to another. This can make residents seriously ill. You must clean all utensils, chopping boards and surfaces thoroughly between uses, especially after preparing foods containing allergens. Always wash your hands between preparing different dishes. Store ingredients and prepared foods separately in closed, labelled containers. Never use the same utensil for different foods without washing it first.
Providing Allergen Information to Residents
Every resident has the right to know what is in their food so they can make safe choices. Menus should clearly show allergen information, with allergens highlighted in bold. This information should be provided in formats that residents can understand, including reading menus aloud to those who need support. For residents who lack capacity to understand or make safe choices, staff must help them choose safe foods according to their care plan. Never assume someone cannot understand; always try to explain their choices first.
Recognising and Reporting Food Safety Concerns
You must report any food safety concerns immediately to the cook or manager. This includes food that smells or looks wrong, food past its use by date, broken packaging, incorrect storage temperatures, or equipment that is not working properly. Also report if you see poor hygiene practices or if you become unwell with sickness or diarrhoea. Quick reporting prevents residents becoming ill. Never serve food you are unsure about; when in doubt, always ask.
Cleaning and Sanitising in Kitchen and Dining Areas
Cleaning as you go keeps the kitchen and dining areas safe between meals, not just at the end of a shift. Effective cleaning has two stages: first wash the surface with hot soapy water to lift grease and food debris, then apply sanitiser to kill the bacteria left behind. Sanitiser only works if it stays wet on the surface for the contact time printed on the label, often thirty seconds to five minutes, so never spray and wipe straight off. Use the colour-coded boards and cloths every time: red for raw meat, blue for raw fish, green for salad and fruit, yellow for cooked food. The dishwasher rinse must reach 82°C or above to sanitise crockery properly.
Food Safety Management: HACCP in Practice
HACCP sounds technical, but in a care setting it simply means knowing the points where food could become unsafe and checking them every single day. Cook food until the centre reaches 75°C, and probe it to prove it. Keep hot food at 63°C or above while it is being served. Cool leftovers within 90 minutes before they go into the fridge, and label everything with the date it was made or opened. Write your temperature checks in the kitchen records the same day, because if it is not written down, it did not happen. Under Natasha's Law, any food prepacked on site for later service must carry a full ingredient list with the 14 allergens emphasised.
The things your team must remember.
- Always wash your hands thoroughly for at least 20 seconds before handling food and between different tasks
- Store cold foods at 5 degrees Celsius or below and hot foods at 63 degrees Celsius or above; keep raw and cooked foods separate
- Care services must provide clear information about 14 specific allergens on all menus, and staff should help residents make safe food choices
- Prevent cross contamination by washing all utensils between uses, especially when preparing allergen free foods
- Report any food safety concerns immediately, including spoiled food, wrong temperatures, or if you are unwell
- Never serve food containing allergens to residents with allergies, even if they ask for it, and always check care plans
Not a slideshow once a year. Training that sticks.
CareStream delivers food hygiene training in the hub your team already uses, grounded in best practice and your own policies, so it fits your care setting and not a generic template.
Short teaching sections and a real care scenario, then an assessment that checks understanding.
Staff complete it in over 60 languages, while your records stay in English.
A wrong answer triggers a short follow-up lesson and a fresh question, so the gap is closed.
Automatic reminders at 90, 30 and 7 days, with a live compliance dashboard.
From your dashboard to your team, in the CareStream hub.
Training is delivered in the hub each staff member logs into. You allocate the modules, they complete them in their own language, and you get the completion records and certificates for your CQC evidence, with any gaps closed by automatic follow up training.
Assign Food Hygiene to each staff member in seconds. No course builder and no setup for each person.
Staff work through the module on any device, in over 60 languages, teaching then checking understanding. A wrong answer sends a short follow up lesson.
See live completion status and a certificate for every person, ready as evidence for CQC.
Any step, in their language, in one tap.
Care teams are diverse and training should not leave anyone behind. On any lesson or question, a staff member taps the language button and the whole step flips into the language they think in. They understand it properly, and your records stay in English.
- One tap flips any lesson or question into their language, instantly.
- Over 60 languages, with no setup and no separate versions to manage.
- Completions and certificates stay in English for your CQC evidence.
Try the language buttons in the preview above.
Built for real learning, not box ticking
Every CareStream course goes further than a lesson and a quiz. These features come as standard on every course, giving your staff a richer way to learn and giving you the evidence to prove it.
Every course is built on recognised UK guidance and cites its sources, from NICE and Skills for Care to the NHS and the legislation itself.
A plain English glossary of the technical terms in each course. A simple way to support every learner, including staff with English as a second language.
A quick knowledge check before the lesson is compared with the final assessment, so every certificate comes with evidence of how much the course actually taught.
After passing, staff record what they will do differently in their day to day work. Their reflection is saved to their training record and shown with their certificate.
A printable one page takeaway of the outcomes, key points and key terms. Perfect for staff files, supervision conversations and the staff room wall.
A printable checklist for managers to confirm skills in practice, with a sign off section. It completes the picture beyond the knowledge assessment.
Wrong answers become lessons, not failures
Most e learning marks an answer wrong and moves on. CareStream does not. Every wrong answer triggers an automatic follow up loop that teaches the point again and rechecks it, so no knowledge gap is left behind.
A wrong answer immediately opens a short lesson explaining the point, so the gap is closed there and then.
A fresh question on the same point checks the lesson has landed. The loop repeats until it has.
Staff move on to the next module and their certificate once they genuinely know the answer, not just after one lucky guess.
Why choose CareStream?
Training built for the care sector, delivered the way busy teams actually learn.
- 90+ care-specific training courses
- Bitesize, engaging lessons your staff actually finish
- Mapped to the Care Certificate & CQC standards
- Available in 60+ languages
- Instant certificate on completion
- Flexible learning, anytime, on any device
- Content kept up to date with UK care regulations
- Time to complete: ~48 min
Frequently asked questions.
Is Food Hygiene training mandatory in care settings?
How often should staff complete Food Hygiene training?
Can CareStream deliver Food Hygiene training in other languages?
Does the training include an assessment?
More training your team may need
More mandatory and role-specific training CareStream delivers to your team, in the hub, in any language. Add any of these to your basket.
One-off CertificateCare Certificate
Annual refresher training across all 16 standards of the Care Certificate (March 2025). You will revisit every standard, from understanding your role and duty of care through person-centred working, communication, safeguarding, basic life support, health and safety, handling information and infection prevention and control, including the new standard on awareness of learning disability and autism. Each standard has a short lesson, a workplace scenario and a knowledge check, followed by a final assessment. Your knowledge certificate is issued once you pass the assessment and your manager has verified your observed competency assessment.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateSafeguarding Adults and Children
This training covers how we protect vulnerable adults and children from abuse, harm and neglect at our home. You will learn to recognise signs of abuse, understand our reporting procedures, and know how to respond to challenging behaviour and potential radicalisation risks. This is essential knowledge for keeping everyone in our care safe.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateMoving and Handling of People
This annual refresher covers the essential knowledge you need to move and handle people safely in our home. It reviews why safe moving and handling matters, the principles we follow, how to assess and plan moves, and how to protect both the people we support and yourself from injury. Remember: this module covers knowledge only. You must also complete practical competency assessments with your supervisor.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateGDPR / Data Protection
This training covers how we protect personal information at our home in line with GDPR and our Data Protection policies. You will learn about lawful processing, consent, data security, handling breaches, and responding to access requests. Understanding these rules protects residents, staff, and our service from harm and legal issues.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateGeneral Health & Safety Awareness
This annual refresher covers essential health and safety practices you use every day in our home. You will review how to prevent and respond to falls, manage food allergies safely, and maintain a safe environment for residents and staff. The training is based on our own policies and procedures.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Annual CertificateCOSHH (Control of Substances Hazardous to Health)
This training covers how to safely handle, store and dispose of hazardous substances in our home, including cleaning chemicals, medications and clinical waste. You will learn our procedures to protect yourself, residents and colleagues from harm. Understanding COSHH is essential for maintaining a safe environment every day.
Bulk discounts from 10+ licences
Give your team food hygiene training that actually sticks.
Add it to your basket, allocate it in seconds, and let the evidence build itself.
Compared
Three ways to train a care team.
These modules are written and kept current by us, so your managers do not have to write or maintain them. We have compared what each approach does rather than naming providers, because products change and this should still be true next year.
| CareStream | A generic e-learning library | A trainer you book | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Try a real lesson and a real question before you buy | |||
| Learning outcomes and time to complete stated up front | |||
| Written lesson sections, each with its own illustration | |||
| Interactive exercises after the lesson that teaches them, in every module | |||
| Assessment in every module, with the key points to revisit | |||
| Taken in any of sixty plus languages | |||
| A wrong answer triggers a follow-up lesson, not just a re-sit | |||
| Practical sign-off by a manager where the subject needs it | |||
| Completion files itself into your training matrix and evidence pack | |||
| Bought one module at a time, with no annual contract |
Generic libraries are often cheaper per learner. They teach a national standard rather than being built, updated and evidenced around the way a CQC-registered service is actually inspected.
Care policies
Every module is written from a policy
If the policy behind it is out of date, the training inherits that. Sixty six policies written for your service, checked against current law and read by a person before they carry your name, from £39.
