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What is a Food Hygiene Officer (FHO)?
FHOs are supervisory personnel who oversee and implement effective food hygiene measures for food establishments to ensure food is prepared in a safe and hygienic manner.
FHOs assist the licensee in establishing, monitoring, and maintaining proper food safety systems. They conduct regular checks and educate food handlers, reminding them to adhere to good food safety practices and personal hygiene during food preparation.
Advanced Food Hygiene Officers (Advanced FHOs)
Advanced FHOs are supervisory personnel who establish and oversee the food safety standards of their food establishment by developing, implementing, and managing Food Safety Management Systems (FSMS).
Additionally, Advanced FHOs conduct internal audits of the FSMS and address any potential non-compliance with SFA regulations.
For more details on establishments that require an Advanced FHO, see Understanding the Safety Assurance for Food Establishment (SAFE) Framework.
Who qualifies to be an FHO for my business?
- The FHO must be supervisory personnel, such as chief chefs, sous chefs, restaurant managers, operations managers, or supervisors.
- FHOs are required to attend and pass the WSQ Food Safety Course (FSC) Level 3, a one-time certification, to register as certified FHOs.
- FHOs are required to attend retraining in WSQ Food Safety Course (FSC) Level 1 or 2, within 5 years from the date of passing WSQ FSC Level 3, and subsequently every 10 years if they continue to handle food.
- Advanced FHOs are required to attain the WSQ Food Safety Course (FSC) Level 4 certification.
What is the role or duties of the FHO?
FHOs help owners or licensees to oversee and enhance the standard of hygiene and sanitation at their premises. Between SFA inspections, they act as food safety checkers, rectifying irregularities.
The duties of FHOs include:
- implementing systems and conducting checks to ensure food handlers practise good food and personal hygiene during food preparation
- educating and reminding food handlers to practise good hygiene
- identifying food safety lapses and taking prompt corrective action
FHOs can adapt this sample checklist to suit the specific requirements of their establishments and use the checklist to conduct food safety checks between SFA inspections.
What are the benefits of having FHOs?
Foodborne incidents impact both consumers and the licensees of food establishments. Such incidents may result in suspension, downgrading, and irreversible reputational damage.
By monitoring and ensuring food safety standards, FHOs help licensees reduce the risk of foodborne incidents which, in turn, prevent financial and reputational losses.
Additionally, by enforcing food safety requirements and guidelines within food establishments, FHOs help licensees to maintain an excellent food safety track record.
How do licensees ensure that their FHOs are registered with SFA?
You can follow the steps below to register your FHOs with SFA. You should register your FHOs before applying/renewing your licence, and whenever you appoint a new FHO.
Step 1: Ensure your FHOs meet the requirements
FHOs | Advanced FHOs |
|---|---|
Must be supervisory personnel | Must be supervisory personnel |
Hold a valid WSQ Food Safety Course (FSC) Level 3 certificate | Hold a valid WSQ Food Safety Course (FSC) Level 4 certificate |
If handling food:
| If handling food, Advanced FHOs must have attained any of the following:
To continue handling food, Advanced FHOs must attain the following:
|
*For details on the training options available for retraining, please see WSQ FSC Level 1 under the section “What are the training options available?”
Step 2: Ensure you are able to register FHOs
For Licensees:
Licensees are required to log in to the GoBusiness portal to register your FHOs using Singpass or CorpPass.
- If the licence is in an individual's name, the person named will be able to use their SingPass to register the FHOs.
- If the licence is under a company's name, then the authorised person can use CorpPass to log in and register the FHOs.
For FHOs:
Food Handlers are required to use their own SingPass to log in to FHD2H to self-register for an account.
To get a SingPass, sign up at the SingPass website. For a CorpPass, refer to the CorpPass Guide for setup instructions.Step 3: Update your FHO's data
For Licensees:
To register your FHOs via the GoBusiness portal, login, find the licence, and choose ‘Amend’ to update the details of your FHOs.
Once you submit the GoBusiness Licence Application form successfully, your licence will be updated in the system.
For FHOs:
On FHD2H, FHOs can log in via SingPass to self-register for an account.
Your FHO’s training data will be in the system about 2 weeks after the date of passing the course.
After the data is shared, FHOs should log into FHD2H to update their photos as required.
Note
Remember: Each FHO should only be deployed and registered with 1 establishment and cannot be registered with multiple establishments.
For more information
You can contact us via the SFA Online Feedback Form.
