IMUS CITY, Cavite – Food businesses in Cavite may get their mandatory ‘safe food handling’ compliance requirements or better their chances to conduct business or be employed overseas by availing of a one-day FoodSHAP® Basic Food Safety Training for food handlers training, which will be offered by The International Skills Learning Academy – ISLA here on Sept. 22.
ISLA Business Development Manager, Zarny Zaragoza, on Wednesday said ISLA has opened 40 training slots for the one day training, and admission comes for a fee.
The Sept. 22 schedule comes with post-training assessment, where participants get their certificate “also on that day if they pass,” Zaragoza added.
Under the Food Safety Act No. 10611, Article IX, Section 31 (on Training) mandates that all “personnel shall be trained on HACCP, on the codes of good practice and on technologies that will enable them to comply with regulations.”
It also states that mandatory training on safe food handling and similar courses should be implemented for food handlers of food businesses.
Likewise, Rule 14a.1 states that “all food businesses shall designate a Food Safety Compliance Officer (FSCO) who has passed a prescribed training course for FSCO recognized by the DOH.”
The Cavite provincial government of Cavite, likewise issued Provincial Ordinance No. 180, known as “An Ordinance Strengthening the Food and Beverage Safety Regulatory System in the Province of Cavite and Providing penalties for violation thereof.
Sec. 4.7 – 9 of the said ordinance states that “all food businesses shall have a FSCO who has passed a training course recognized by the Department of Health (DOH).”
The owner may serve as the FSCO, or a consultant. FSCO may be employed as part time or on full time basis.
The training course will depend on the size of the food businesses, whether it is Micro Enterprise; Small Enterprise; and Medium Enterprise.
Handlers of food businesses must attend the mandatory training on safe food handling from the DOH-recognized food safety training providers.
FoodSHAP®, the first Food Safety Certificate program in Asia to be fully accredited by the American National Standards Institute (ANSI) and its certificates recognized in the USA, has ISLA as its authorized course provider (with Centre No. 00025) in Cavite.
FoodSHAP®, Inc. is the partner of the Philippines’ Department of Health (DOH) in charge of developing the national Food Safety Training and Examination System (FSTESTM), and delivering it to every food handler in the Philippines through Authorized Course Providers. Its FSTESTM was also reviewed and accredited by the Department of Education (DepEd).
Another one-day training schedule is set on Oct. 13.
ISLA is located at 446 Tamsui Ave. Bayan Luma, Imus, Cavite (JR Base, at the back of BDO Imus Cavite). (Gladys Pino/PNA)
