What Is The Difference Between Food Hygiene And Food Safety?

Wondering about the differences between exactly what is food hygiene and what is food safety? As one of the UK’s biggest online food hygiene training course providers, you’re in the right place for frank answers you can rely on.

We’ll break it all down in this easy-to-digest guide.

Why Are Food Safety And Food Hygiene So Important?

If you want to work in the food and drink industry, you’ll need to undergo some kind of industry training to keep the customers you serve food to safe. This training is vital for ensuring that food and drink are only ever prepared under safe and hygienic conditions. These universal industry controls help to achieve this through training.

For people working indirectly with food but in the industry, you’ll need a Level 1 Food Hygiene Certificate - whereas those with more direct interaction will need a Level 2 Food Hygiene Certificate.

While searching for providers, you might have noticed that some of these are referred to as food safety and hygiene interchangeably.

The question is, what’s the difference, and does it matter if you get the terms mixed up? In this article, we’re going to take a quick look at what these commonly encountered phrases mean.

The Key Differences Between Food Hygiene And Food Safety Explained

The top level of differences between the definitions of food safety and food hygiene are quite simple to explain.

Food safety is holistic and refers to all of the processes that ensure food is safe for consumption. Food hygiene refers to specific practices and conditions that control the spread of foodborne illnesses by preventing the spread of biological and chemical hazards in food. However, this only represents one aspect of food safety practices.

It also includes other elements like temperature control, allergen management and systematic approaches to hazard prevention.

Because food hygiene makes up such a large and crucial portion of food safety, the terms are often used interchangeably because of this overlap.

In fact, you’ll find that many individuals and organisations will use the two terms interchangeably. It’s unlikely that any confusion will arise from using either term to mean either definition. As a result, training branded as either food hygiene training or food safety training is likely to cover roughly the same content.

However, if you’re interested in finding out a little more about the differences between the terms as they’re officially used in the UK, then keep reading - we’ll explain it all.

Food Safety Definition & Break Down

Food safety meaning: Food safety is the principles and practices used to prevent contamination and illness by controlling hazards at every stage of food production.

Break down:

Food health and safety is the responsibility of the Food Standards Agency. This governmental department oversees the issue in England, Wales and Northern Ireland, with Food Standards Scotland being responsible in Scotland. The standards they insist on primarily come from EU law (Regulation 178/2002), but these regulations form UK law as a result of The Food Safety and Hygiene (England) Regulations 2013, The General Food Regulations 2004, and the Food Safety Act 1990.

Want to know more about food hygiene legislation? Find out the evolution of Food Legislation.

The general elements that come from these laws, the government and the FSA (when pertaining to businesses) include the following:

Making sure that food is safe to eat. This is, of course, the most important point and is the central function of food safety rules and practices. It’s also the one that has the most overlap with food hygiene.
Ensuring that food is of the same quality as claimed which means ensuring that advertising in particular is accurate. A business cannot market something as being different to how it is served, whether as a one-off or not. This also extends to businesses in any way misleading people.
Recording the traceability of all foods. It’s important that should anything go wrong, a business can easily identify where all of its food comes from, whether they’re a manufacturer, retailer, or involved in the catering industry.
Being able to withdraw or recall products where there is a problem and being in a position to notify customers of this.
Ensuring that the food hygiene rating is clearly displayed.

Find out more about how to ensure food safety in your business.

Food Hygiene Definition & Break Down

Food hygiene meaning: The practical measures and conditions necessary to maintain a clean and wholesome environment during food handling.

As far as UK authorities are concerned, food hygiene is primarily about making sure that food doesn’t cause harm through things like allergies and bacteria. So, it might not directly include things like labelling and traceability of food.

Conveniently, the World Health Organisation also gives five key principles of food hygiene. Understanding these gives a comprehensive overview of what food hygiene encompasses, as well as how the definition might differentiate slightly from food safety. These are:

Prevent contaminating food with pathogens spreading from people, pets, and pests.
Separate raw and cooked foods to prevent contaminating the cooked foods.
Cook foods for the appropriate length of time and at the appropriate temperature to kill pathogens.
Store food at the proper temperature.
Use safe water and safe raw materials.

The food hygiene rating system plays an important part in food hygiene in the UK, which we mentioned in the previous section. This is a star-based awarding system whereby local authorities give businesses a score for their food hygiene practices. This must be displayed so that consumers can make an informed choice.

How Is Food Hygiene Controlled?

Food hygiene systems are put in place by supervisors and adhered to by any staff who come into contact with food or are directly part of the food preparation process.

Managers in these settings will need to undergo Food Hygiene Level 3 Training as well as implement an HACCP plan to control food hazards with an HACCP Level 3 Training Course. HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) is a food safety management system that involves:

Identifying potential food health and safety hazards at each stage of food handling
Determining critical control points where these hazards must be monitored
Establishing critical limits (e.g., minimum cooking temperatures)
Setting up monitoring procedures
Taking corrective actions when limits are exceeded
Maintaining detailed records
Regularly verifying that the system is working effectively

Individual staff members must also follow strict personal hygiene protocols in order to play their part in the prevention of food contamination. This includes things like:

Regular and thorough hand washing, particularly before handling food and after breaks, cleaning, or handling raw foods
Wearing clean protective clothing, including uniforms, hair nets, and appropriate footwear
Following appearance guidelines such as no jewellery (except plain wedding bands), no nail polish, and covering cuts with waterproof dressings
Reporting any illness that could contaminate food

These are some of the key ways that both individuals and business managers can help to ensure food safety standards are maintained.

What Happens When Food Hygiene And Food Safety Aren’t Followed?

Poor food hygiene and safety practices can have serious consequences for both businesses and customers. It can directly cause foodborne illnesses caused by bacterial contamination, leading to food poisoning outbreaks affecting customers.

In severe cases, this can result in serious health complications, especially for vulnerable groups like the elderly, pregnant women, and those with compromised immune systems.

Beyond the harm done to individuals, this can also cause:

A drop in food hygiene rating, which must be displayed to customers
Loss of consumer trust and damage to reputation
Potential closure until improvements are made
Legal consequences, including fines and prosecution in serious cases
Increased insurance costs
Loss of revenue and potential compensation claims
Food spoilage leading to food wastage which eats into business profits
Plus, failing to properly manage allergens can result in potentially life-threatening allergic reactions among customers

Prevention is always better than cure, which is why proper training, regular inspections, and maintaining robust HACCP systems are essential for any food business.

Where Can You Find Out More?

The ASA is able to help with general matters of food safety in the UK, but local authorities are generally responsible for food safety and hygiene when it comes to businesses. If you or your staff want more training in this area, why not sharpen your knowledge with one of our recognised Food Hygiene courses.