Level 2 Food Hygiene and Safety Course for Catering

If you work in catering or hospitality, it’s a legal requirement to understand the latest food and hygiene standards. 

Our popular Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering course teaches you everything you need to know to operate a safe kitchen. You’ll learn to disinfect equipment, safely store and prepare food, control common pests, and more. By the end of your training, you’ll be able to comply with all relevant health and safety standards and improve the quality of your cooking. 

This Level 2 Food Safety in Catering course also covers essential legislation, so you’ll be able to understand the legal ramifications of an unsafe cooking environment.  

We also offer sector-specific Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene Certificates for, including options for manufacturing, drinks manufacturing and retail.

Our Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering course is RoSPA Assured, CPD approved and covers all the necessary bases. Whether you’re a self-employed chef, a waiter, or work in any other catering profession, Virtual College’s food safety courses will help you improve your service. 

Do you own a catering business? Ensure your food safety compliance

As a food business owner, you're legally required to make sure all your food handlers have appropriate food safety training. After all, proper food hygiene training protects your customers, your reputation and your business. Virtual College makes doing that simple. 

Our Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering Certificate gives your staff the essential skills they need to handle food safely and meet UK legal requirements. But different roles need different levels of training. Here's what we recommend: 

• Front-line food handlers | Level 2 Food Hygiene

Perfect for chefs, kitchen assistants, waiters and anyone who handles food directly. This course covers all the basics of safe food handling, storage and preparation. 

• Supervisors and managers | Level 3 Food Safety and Hygiene

For kitchen managers, head chefs and supervisors. Dive deeper into food safety management systems, staff training and maintaining high standards across your team. 

• New starters | Level 1 Food Safety and Hygiene

A great introduction for new staff or anyone who needs food safety awareness but doesn't handle food directly. Also useful for business owners who want to understand the fundamentals. 

Legislation covered in this course includes:

If you’re working in the hospitality or service industry, you will need to comply with the latest food and hygiene regulations. This Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering certificate is designed to help you comply with EU Regulation 852/2004, which requires food businesses to ensure that any employee who handles food is fully trained in food hygiene.  

The contents of this course also adhere to the industry standards set by People 1st and the Sector Skills Council for the hospitality, leisure, travel and tourism industries.

Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering Certificate

At the end of this food hygiene course, you will need to complete a test that consists of 30 multiple choice questions. Learners are required to achieve a 75% pass mark, and - if necessary - may attempt the test three times at no extra cost. If learners do not achieve the 75% pass mark, further attempts may be given by contacting our support team.

Posted & Digital Food Hygiene Certificate

Upon completing the food and hygiene course, learners will be able to download a digital food hygiene certificate from Virtual College. If you have bought the posted food hygiene certificate option, a high quality, seal embossed, certificate will be sent out the following working week after completion.

This certification is universally recognised and can be used to provide evidence of food hygiene and safety training both internally and to external auditors.

There is no set time for how long a certificate is valid for, but the accepted industry standard is for food hygiene certificates to be renewed every three years. However, some employers may require you to renew your certification more frequently than this.

This online food hygiene course is not a formal RQF food safety & hygiene qualification, the levels only indicate the type of food and hygiene course so that businesses can choose whom it is suitable for.

Course duration

The Level 2 Food Safety and Hygiene course should take two to three hours to complete, but this depends on how quickly each individual absorbs the study material.

Progress is recorded and automatically saved throughout by the Virtual College Learning Management System, meaning learners can take as long as they need to complete the food hygiene training.

Entry requirements

There are no specific entry requirements for this Level 2 Food Hygiene training course.