Colorado State University Extension
SafeFood Rapid Response Network
SAFEFOOD NEWS - Winter 2002 - Vol 6, No. 2
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Uniform Standards For Food Protection Manager Certification
One of the issues that state health departments are facing is a trend among jurisdictions at all levels of government to impose mandatory requirements for education and certification for food protection managers. Requirements set by other states to ensure such knowledge have included:
- Successful passing of an exam (recognized or unrecognized is another question).
- Completion of a training program & passing an exam (program length varies).
- A continuing education or re-certification process (length of time certification valid varies).
There are no easy answers to what the requirements should look like, and all would require additional resources to provide review and follow-up on the established requirements. The Manager Certification Subcommittee of the Colorado Food Safety Task Force, with representatives from local and state health departments, Extension, the Colorado Restaurant Association, and the retail food industry, have been meeting to discuss options for ensuring that food service managers understand safe food handling procedures.
During the spring of 2000, the Conference for Food Protection (CFP) proposed uniform standards for accreditation of food protection manager certification programs as defined in the Food and Drug Administration's (FDA) Food Code. The CFP has representation from the food industry, government, academia, and consumer organizations to identify and address emerging problems of food safety and to formulate recommendations. The national standards serve as the CFP and the federal government's approach to uniform food manager certification for food establishments. This uniform approach ensures a sound, fair and legally defensible certification program based on nationally accepted standards.
The first step leading to accreditation of certification programs is the CFP Test Recognition Program. The purpose of the Recognition program is to ensure certification exams conform to CFP standards for validity, reliability and legal defensibility. Currently there are four recognized test forms. The following four certification programs utilize a recognized test:
- ServSafe - developed by the Educational Foundation of the National Restaurant Association.
- Certified Food Protection Professional (CFPP) - a credential developed by the Dietary Managers Association.
- National Certified Professional Food Manager (NCPFM) - Experior Assessments, LLC, administers the NCPFM exam.
- Certified Food Safety Manager - offered by the National Registry of Food Safety Professionals, Inc.
The first two programs are complete food safety training programs that contain a specific training curriculum followed by the participant taking a recognized exam to become certified. The last two programs are basically recognized exams that can be utilized with any food safety training program available on the market.
While CFP supports the position that training (education) is critical to performance and the operational application of food safety principles and practices, the training program criteria is not incorporated into the accreditation standards. Instead, CFP has included Guidelines for training programs in the Standards for Accreditation document. For additional information about the Standards for Food Manager Certification, visit the following websites: Conference for Food Protection:http://www.foodprotect.org BUROS-Institute for Assessment Consultation & Outreach (BIACO):http://www.unl.edu/BIACO/clientaccess/cfp/ State/local government entities with mandatory Food Manager Certification programs: http://www.nationalgrocers.org/fsStateReg.html
Sources: 1. Standards for Accreditation of Food Protection Manager Certification Programs, April 12, 2000. Conference for Food Protection. http://www.unl.edu/BIACO/clientaccess/cfp/. 2. Conference for Food Protection, Food Protection Manager Certification Test Recognition Program. Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about the Program. BUROS Institute for Assessment Consultation and Outreach (BIACO). http://www.unl.edu/BIACO/clientaccess/cfp/cfpg.html. 3. Programs that Can Certify You As a Food Protection Manager. Food Safety Trng & Education Alliance (FSTEA). http://www.fstea.org/resources/certify.html 4. Conference for Food Protection Letter, September 5, 2001. http://www.foodprotect.org.
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