RSPH Level 2 Understanding HACCP is an Ofqual-regulated qualification (number 603/3652/3) issued by the Royal Society for Public Health. It is the standard qualification for people who work inside a HACCP-based food safety management system but do not personally design or sign off the HACCP plan — kitchen and production staff, supervisors, technical assistants and HACCP team members.

Retained Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires every UK food business (other than primary producers) to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure based on HACCP principles, and to train staff to a level appropriate to their role. EHOs, BRCGS auditors and insurers expect operational staff working inside a HACCP system to hold documented HACCP training — an Ofqual-regulated Level 2 qualification is the most common way of evidencing that.

The qualification is identical, but RSPH supplies two exam papers so the worked examples match your workplace. Choose the catering paper if you work in a kitchen, restaurant, hotel, contract caterer, school or care home. Choose the manufacturing paper if you work in a factory, production facility, chilled or frozen warehouse, or any food and drink processing environment. We will confirm your paper before the course.

Kitchen Tonic delivers Level 2 HACCP in three formats: a single-day live webinar via Google Meet, an in-house session at your premises, or a scheduled public classroom course. All three formats run to 7 guided learning hours and finish with the official RSPH-supplied 20-question multiple-choice exam under invigilation.

The official RSPH specification covers the purpose and benefits of HACCP, the 7 HACCP principles, prerequisite programmes, hazard categories and hazard analysis, identifying control points and critical control points, setting critical limits, monitoring and corrective action, and the role of operational staff in maintaining a HACCP system day to day.

Assessment is a 45-minute multiple-choice paper with 20 questions, supplied and marked against the RSPH standard. The pass mark is 14 out of 20. The exam is sat at the end of the training day under invigilation by Kitchen Tonic, and certificates are issued directly by RSPH on successful completion.

There is no statutory expiry date for HACCP training in the UK, but the Food Standards Agency, BRCGS and most retailer codes of practice expect refresher training every 3 years. Auditors will typically flag training records older than that as a finding at site visits.

Level 2 Understanding HACCP is for people who work inside an existing HACCP system. Level 3 (Understanding how to Develop a HACCP Plan) is for supervisors, team leaders, technical staff and HACCP team members who actually build, document, validate and review the HACCP plan itself.