Date Published: 18 October 2007

safefood introduces food safety at the touch of a button (Eire)

safefood, the Food Safety Promotion Board - in the Irish language, An Bord um Chur Chun Cinn Sabháilteachta Bia - is an implementation body. Food safety policies are underpinned by comprehensive access to current, accurate, high quality scientific information, and to adequate means for the analysis and interpretation of such data.

Since 2002, over 13,500 Transition Year students from 310 schools in the Republic of Ireland have successfully completed the safefood for Life food safety training programme. The course has proven very popular among students and on Tuesday, 16th October, safefood launched a new interactive CD Rom, which will ensure that Transition Year students will have access to food safety information and training at the touch of a button.

safefood for Life gives post primary school students the chance to learn about the sources and risks of food poisoning and acquire lifelong skills in food safety and hygiene. At the end of the course, students have the opportunity to sit an online exam, whereby successful candidates will obtain a Primary Certificate in Food Hygiene. The Certificate, accredited by the Environmental Health Officers’ Association, is valid for five years, which means it will continue to be useful to students who will work or study in the food industry long after they have completed Transition Year.

Speaking at the launch of safefood for Life, Dr Thomas Quigley, Director, Food Science, safefood commented,

“ Recent research conducted by safefood¹ has revealed that 1 in 5 young people are concerned about the safety of the food they eat and almost 4 in 10 young people think that increased awareness and education of food safety would help to improve food safety. A further 4 in 10 young people stated they would seek food safety advice from their school, so the fact that students have access to safefood for Life as part of their Transition Year programme is of real benefit and provides practical life skills for them.”

Speaking at the launch Ms. Ann Marie Part, Chairman of the Environmental Health Officers’ Association commented,

“ In the current climate of food safety, the issue of training and education is extremely important. With so many young people involved in the food industry, working on a regular, part-time basis and also in summer jobs, it is imperative that they are skilled in this area. This new CD Rom is a valuable tool to ensure that they understand the importance of correct food safety techniques from the start. The safefood for Life training programme is very informative for students and should benefit prospective employers in maintaining high food hygiene standards."

The safefood for Life CD Rom consists of four sections; interactive course slides comprising eight different food safety chapters, teachers’ notes, students’ notes and interactive student activities. The course covers a range of topics including food hygiene, food contamination, food preparation, cooking and service. Booklets with teachers’ and students’ notes also accompany the resource.

Details of the exciting new resource will be sent to the 865 post-primary schools in the Republic of Ireland over the coming weeks. The resource is currently available to post-primary schools in Northern Ireland via an online educational portal, C2k Learning NI.

For further information on how to receive a copy of safefood for Life, simply contact the safefood helpline on 1850 40 45 67 or visit www.safefood.eu.

News is included on the IvyRose website to inform visitors about current health issues, but not to endorse any particular view or activity. The views stated in the article above are not necessarily those of IvyRose Ltd.. Material in this news item was released by safeFood (Ireland) on 18 October 2007 and may have been edited (e.g. in style, length, and/or for ease of understanding by our international readers) for inclusion here. For further information, please visit their website using the link below.