Tuesday 16 June 2009

From certifiable to certified...



Every now and then I look at escaping computer hell as I affectionately call my day-to-day job. A couple of years ago I was seriously considering doing a Chalet Chef course. This course runs over a couple of weeks and ends up costing in the region of four figures. Various things (cost, having to take quite some time off from computer hell, not sure if it is any good or worth it) made me not go for it, this time.

One thing that stuck in my mind though, one of the pre-requisites, that you needed a Food Safety and Hygiene for Catering certificate.

I'm not really sure if I'll ever do one of these Chalet Chef courses or not but I thought that doing this course wouldn't hurt. I didn't really want to have to go away for a day to attend a course and sit the exam so I used some Google-Fu to find an online version.

Google directed me to Virtual College and their Online Food Hygiene Course. The price was right and I decided to enroll myself. Booking was quick and easy, all major credit cards as well as PayPal is accepted.

Once you got your login you can view the different parts of the course and then you can get started.

The training is divided into 9 different modules and you can go through all of them in your own pace. You can use the software to take notes as you go along, or you can just do it the old-fashioned way and jot notes on a pad as you go along.

You have a instructor on the screen (I've attached a small picture of him here, don't want to break too many copyright laws) that gives you pointers, information and let's you know when to move on.


Each module have some follow-up questions to prepare you for the exam at the end of the course.

You can come and go as you wish with these modules which makes it possible for you to fit the training around your life and not the other way around.

Once you've finished all of the modules it's time for the exam. I must say that I found the 'in-module questions' tougher than the exam itself, but that might just be me.

Once you've passed your exam your result is reviewed and you get your certificate within 2 working days, or at least that's how long it took for mine to arrive.

I was very happy that the training was set up in a way that it worked just as well on Linux as on Windows. I've seen other browser based training that only works on Windows so this was a nice surprise.

I now got the Food Safety and Hygiene Level 2 Catering certificate and I might even hang it on a prominent place in my flat, instead of in the toilet where I hang all of my computer certifications ;)

I'm not exactly sure what use I'll get for it or what to use it for, but I got it.

Maybe I should start looking into one of those Chalet Chef courses again?

6 comments:

  1. Congratulations Mike!

    I've been looking at doing a Food Hygiene course recently too. Was the final exam taken on line, or did you have to book into an examination centre.

    Lou

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  2. Lou,

    Many thanks!

    It's all done online, through the same interface. You basically see the 9 training modules, the exam module and a feedback module.

    Once you've finished the 9 modules the exam module is 'unlocked'.

    This site worked really well and the certificate arrived quickly.

    I can definitely recommend going through this site if you're thinking of doing it.

    // Mike

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  3. Congrats mate, not that there was any doubt!

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  4. Cheers dude, much appreciated. ;)

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  5. Food Hygiene sounds so odd. Like remembering to wash your tomatoes behind it's ears or something. Thanks for visiting SippitySup. GREG

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  6. Greg,

    Well, you should never misunderstimate the importance of the personal hygiene of your vegetables. ;)

    Thanks for coming by!

    // Mike

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// Mike