Staff Training: Resources
Although South Carolina law does not require you to train your employees in food safety or food defense, we strongly urge you to take the time to carefully train anyone who will be handling food in your facility. You should train employees:
- Before you open for business
- On an ongoing basis.
- To protect your customers and the financial health and reputation of your business.
Use our free videos, brochures and posters, below (in English, Mandarin and Spanish), to help train your employees and continually remind them of safe food handling procedures. Contact us to request laminated posters.
Most Important Training Topics
Make sure to teach your employees how to avoid these five common mistakes, which most often lead to expensive foodborne outbreaks:
- Unsafe cooking, holding, cooling and reheating practices
- Employees with infections or poor hygiene
- Cross contamination such as allowing raw meat, fish or eggs to contaminate other foods.
- Inadequate washing, rinsing and sanitizing of utensils, dishes, pots and pans, equipment, etc.
- Getting ingredients or products from unapproved food sources.
Also include 'food defense' training to guard against the intentional contamination of food in your facility.
Free Training Resources
The following documents are in pdf or wmp format.
Safe Temperatures for Cooking, Holding, Etc.
- Important Temperatures to Remember for Potentially Hazardous Foods (Temperaturas Importantes De Recordar Para Alimentos Potencialmente Peligrosos) (poster/display)
- Important Temperatures to Remember for Potentially Hazardous Foods (English and Mandarin) (poster/display)
Proper Refrigerated Food Storage
Sanitation, Hygiene, Cross-Contamination
- Wash Your Hands (i Lave Sus Manos) (English/Spanish) (poster/display)
- Wash Your Hands (English/Mandarin) (poster/display)
- A Guide to Food Safety (English) (brochure)
- Una Guía para la seguridad en los alimentos (A Guide to Food Safety)(Spanish) (brochure)
- Food Safety in South Carolina - English (video) (Transcript)
- Food Safety in South Carolina - Spanish (video)
- Food Safety in South Carolina - Mandarin (video)
- The Ten Most Common Causes of Infection (English) (poster/display)
Washing, Rinsing and Sanitizing of Utensils, Dishes, Pots and Pans, Equipment, Etc.
- Hand Dishwashing (Chemical Sanitizing) Pasos para lavar la vajilla a mano (limpiar con químicos) (English/Spanish) (poster/display)
- Hand Dishwashing (Chemical Sanitizing) (English/Mandarin) (poster/display)
- Hand Dishwashing (Hot Water Sanitizing) Lavado de platos a mano con agua caliente Lavado de platos a mano con agua caliente (English/Spanish) (poster/display)
- What to Do When a Water-Related Emergency Occurs (English) (poster/display)
- What to Do When a Water-Related Emergency Occurs (Mandarin) (poster/display)
Food Defense
Other (Non-DHEC) Training Resources
ServSafe Food Protection Manager Certification Course
- Clemson University offers a two-day ServSafe® Food Protection Manager Certification Course that uses materials from the National Restaurant Association. You will have to pay a registration fee for each attendee.