Food Safety for Caterers and Events

Course code: FS135

Safe food from your kitchen to the marquee and back.

An interactive, self-paced online course for caterers and event teams. Learners plan an off-site menu, pack and load a vehicle, inspect a marquee buffet for hazards, apply the two-hour and four-hour rule, watch animated scenarios and answer picture-based quizzes.

Who it is for

Caterers, event and function staff, guesthouse and lodge kitchens that cater off site, and food handlers serving at weddings, funerals, conferences and parties.

What the course covers

• Module 1 · Planning an off-site event: Choose a menu you can keep safe, plan quantities and a cooking timeline, check the venue, and pack the right equipment.
• Module 2 · Packing and transporting food: R638 temperatures, cooler boxes and hot boxes, keeping raw and ready-to-eat food apart, and loading a vehicle properly.
• Module 3 · Serving at the venue: Setting up a safe buffet in a marquee or garden, hot and cold holding, the two-hour and four-hour rule, handwashing on site, and allergens.
• Module 4 · Leftovers, cleaning and records: Which leftovers can be kept and which must go, cooling and reheating, food donation, cleaning up, and the records that protect your business.

How it works

4 interactive modules of 40 to 45 minutes each, about 5 hours in total, quizzes included. You cannot skip ahead: each lesson’s Mark as Complete unlocks only when every activity in it is done, and each lesson and quiz opens when the one before it is complete. Each module ends with a 15-question quiz drawn from a bank of 25 that tests the detail in the lesson (70% to pass). A 30-question final assessment drawn from a bank of over 100 questions (70% to pass) closes the course and unlocks a QR-verified ASC certificate of achievement.

The final assessment is proctored. You need a device with a working camera and microphone, and a quiet place to write it. Copying and pasting are blocked, and the recording is reviewed before your certificate is released.

This is a non-accredited short course with a QR-verified ASC certificate of achievement. For their R638 training records, food handlers should also complete Basic Food Safety Practices for Food Handlers.