Level 2 food hygiene for every handler

Every food handler needs training appropriate to their role. In practice that means the industry-standard Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety for Catering course (CIEH or RSPH accredited) for anyone handling open food, and Level 3 for supervisors and managers. It is not one specific named legal requirement — the law says "adequate" training, and Level 2 is the recognised way of demonstrating that.

There is no fixed legal minimum by name, but "commensurate supervision, instruction and/or training in food hygiene" is a direct legal duty, and an EHO will ask to see training records for every food handler. Untrained staff are also simply more likely to cause the cross-contamination and temperature failures that lead to enforcement action.

Watch out for

• Only training the chef and assuming front-of-house staff who occasionally plate or garnish food don't need it — anyone handling open food needs training.
• Treating the certificate as a one-off box-tick rather than checking staff actually apply what they learned — an EHO can and will ask staff hygiene questions directly during inspection.
• Letting certificates lapse for long-serving staff — there is no fixed renewal period in law, but a 3-year refresh is the widely recognised industry norm and EHOs expect to see it.

Sources

• GOV.UK — Running a food business: staff training, illness and hygiene checked 2026-09-08

See also

• Put your HACCP system in place
• Build your 14-allergen matrix
• Food hygiene refresher training— this becomes an ongoing job once you’re open →