Food safety level 4 (Catering)

Highfield Level 4 International Award in Food Safety Management for Manufacturing.

Qualification overview and objective

The qualification is intended for product managers, auditors, trainers, and quality assurance staff, whose jobs require them to have responsibility for food safety. Learners are likely to have management responsibilities for an operational team.

This qualification covers the subject of food safety at a suitable depth (management level) to ensure learners have a thorough knowledge of hazards and controls; its focus is on the importance of developing, implementing, and monitoring food safety procedures.

Entry requirements

It is advised that learners already hold the Level 3 Award in Food Safety in Manufacturing or equivalent. It is also advised that learners have a minimum of Level 2 in literacy and numeracy, or equivalent.

What you will learn

Understand the importance of food safety management in manufacturing
Understand the operational requirements needed to ensure food safety
Understand how to establish food safety management procedures
Understand the controls required for food safety
Understand how to maintain food safety management procedures

Advanced opportunities

On successful completion of this qualification, learners may wish to continue their development by undertaking one of the following:

Level 5 Food Safety qualifications
Highfield Level 4 Award in HACCP for Management (CODEX principles) (RQF)
Hospitality competency-based qualifications

Why Aspire Training Research Consulting?

Delivering high-quality, accredited training designed for managers and supervisors in the food industry.
We ensure learners are fully equipped to manage food safety systems effectively within a catering environment.

Highfield Level 5 International Award in Advanced Food Safety Management

Qualification overview and objective

The objective of this qualification is to provide food safety trainers, consultants, enforcement officers, auditors, and quality assurance officers with the enhanced knowledge and skills required to develop and implement effective policies and standards to safeguard businesses and customers throughout the food supply chain.

The content includes: Managing food safety in a food business; effective management and leadership, responsibilities of food safety staff, management skills and failure, effective communication, developing management systems and food safety culture, managing and controlling hazards, management training responsibilities, HACCP, and inspections/audits. The qualification also requires learners to use research, analyse, review and evaluate food safety protocols; to apply reasoning, provide solutions to identified problems, make recommendations and provide conclusions.

Entry requirements

1. The participants must have completed Food Safety level 4 from Highfield or equivalent awarding body

2. The participant has completed all of the below

MSc/BSc/BE/BTech in Food Safety/Food Technology/Fisheries/Dairy/Meat Processing/Microbiology or equivalent
Worked in the food industry for at least 6 months (self-declaration or experience certificate to be provided and submitted to Highfield).
Successfully completed a written PE assessment test before starting the course.

What you will learn

Understand the operational responsibilities of a manager in charge of food safety.
Understand the process of planning, development, implementation, verification, and review of food safety policies, procedures, and practices.
Be able to accurately acknowledge all sources of information and references used in completing the critical review assignment.

Advanced Opportunities

On successful completion of this qualification, learners can wish to continue their development by registering for:

Highfield Certified Manager Programme (CMP)

Key facts

Guided learning hours (GLH): 16 (tutor-led; adjustable based on learners’ prior knowledge)
Total Qualification time (TQT): Average 50 (self-study, assessments and the tutor-led 16 hours)
Assessment method: Multiple-choice and Portfolio of Evidence

Guidance on assessment

This qualification is assessed in two parts (PART 1 and PART 2):

PART 1: Portfolio of Evidence: This part of the assessment is completed in three sections (A, B and C):

Section A

Assignment: learners must complete an extended essay with a minimum of 3000 words (maximum 5000 words), based on a topic developed by the center assessor. Assessors must develop a topic of research, a case study/scenario related to food safety, ensuring that the topic has scope to allow learners to apply skills such as review, evaluate, research and apply food safety and HACCP principles; identify strengths and weaknesses; make recommendations; present arguments and conclusions, all in the context of the Given case study/scenario.

Alternatively, Highfield will provide a list of topics of research - case study/scenario and the assessor can choose one of these topics for their learner assignments. This list will be available within the Highfield tutor/assessor support pack. Instructions on the assignment conditions are available in the Learner Assignment Brief, which learners can use to ensure their assignments comply with the requirements.

The topic for the assignment case study/scenario that the center assessor has designed must be submitted to Highfield for approval before assigning this to the learners.

Section B

Professional Discussion: learners must discuss the main areas of their essay. their evaluation, arguments, and conclusions with their assessors. This can be completed using a PowerPoint presentation or a verbal discussion and reflection of sections of their essay with their assessor. This mandatory section is an opportunity for the assessor to review and ask questions for further engagement and interactions. This discussion including Q&A between the assessor and the learner, must be a minimum of 60 minutes. and must be video recorded. This evidence, along with assessor feedback, must be part of the portfolio of evidence.

The assessment outcome for the assignment will be graded as Refer, Pass, and Distinction. The assessment conditions, the minimum performance criteria, and marking guidance for each of these grades are provided in the tutor/assessor/IQA Support TAI pack available in the members’ area.

The assessor will mark both sections A and B and provide further guidance to learners if necessary. The assessor must write a feedback report for the learner on their performance on both sections.

Relevant feedback templates from the members' area are available in the assessment pack.

Section C

Bespoke documents creation: Learners must produce four bespoke documents relevant to food safety management as part of their portfolio of evidence:

A bespoke internal auditing form/checklist
A bespoke HACCP control chart
A report on developing a positive food safety culture
A comprehensive emergency plan for a food business to deal with power outages, fire incidents, and floods.

Assessors can provide existing templates, which learners must adapt to make these templates bespoke to either their workplace (if a food business) or to a fictitious food business business scenario as provided by the assessor. This section is not marked, but is mandatory, to ensure that learners have the knowledge and understanding required to develop such plans when required in their careers.

The portfolio of evidence (assignment, presentation, video recording of discussions, bespoke documents/forms developed by learners, assessor feedback report and the assessment pack), Along with the results for all learners, it must be submitted to Highfield for external quality assurance checks before certification

PART 2: Multiple-choice Questions Exam: This method of assessment is an end-of-course exam and must follow the Highfield Qualifications Examination and Invigilation Procedures. The examination for this qualification contains 45 questions that must be completed within 90 minutes. Successful learners must achieve a score of at least 27 out of 45 (60%). Learners will achieve a distinction if they score 38 out of 45 (85%).

The examination will be completed via Highfield’s e-assessment platform www.highfieldworks.com, and the result will be available instantly. If a paper-based examination is requested as a special consideration, completed examination papers should be returned to Highfield for marking. Results will be provided to the centre once the marking and quality Assurance checks are completed.

To pass the qualification, learners must pass both Part 1 and Part 2 of the assessment. Learners will achieve a distinction grade on the overall qualification if they achieve a distinction on both the assignment and the multiple-choice exams.