Using the world wide web to deliver food safety courses for retail food managers

摘要

A growing number of state and local regulatory agencies are developing mandatory Food Protection Manager Certification Programs that require retail food managers to demonstrate competency in food safety. Certification in these jurisdictions is commonly based on the manager's ability to pass a food safety certification examination. Most jurisdictions have not linked mandatory testing with mandatory training. However, a large number of managers will need and/or want some sort of training prior to taking a certification examination. Some food managers will choose to participate in classroom training. Others will not because this type of training is not readily available or they do not have the time and/or schedule required to participate in classroom training programs. For this audience distance education, using an online course, can be a valuable tool for meeting their food safety education needs. There has been tremendous growth in the amount of online training conducted during the last decade. It is likely that retail food organizations - both users of training and providers of training - will move aggressively into this area as a way to effectively meet the future food safety education needs of managers and workers alike.