Food handling is one of the most tedious jobs and many fail in managing it. The 
job comes with a huge responsibility to prevent it from spoiling and pilferage. The task is one, everybody is familiar with and the only difference is that it requires fair amount of scientific knowledge and analytical skills. There are various courses offered by government as well as private institutions that provide knowledge as well as expertise in managing food safety and handling it with care. Food handling deals with preparation, serving and storage in hygienic conditions to prevent it from spoiling. The food handling also concurs with the presence of virus and bacteria in food. Another important aspect of this course is prevention from getting contaminated. Food poisoning, presence of adulterants, pesticides and additives in food items, food labeling etc are some other issues that food safety class deals with.
The functions of food handlers are:
- Detection and removal: It is one of the foremost functions of food handlers to prevent harmful impurities which can become a health hazard. The food items are chemically tested and verified to find any presence of toxic elements. The results of these tests are then cross checked with prevailing rates and levels and given verdict upon their being healthy or unhealthy.
- Presence of micro organisms: Every food item consists of bacteria and paramecium. Food handlers need to chemically confirm any presence of such micro organisms and kill them if they are harmful. Such food items are then made eatable.
- Poison: Another tedious but a very important aspect of food handling is detection and then subsequent of poisons. Naturally also food items turn poison if not maintained in right conditions. For example stale food is bad for health as some sort of toxins grow on the food items which begin to degrade the food item.
- Maintaining hygienic conditions: The definition of hygiene differs from people to people. To prevent miscommunication and generalize the hygienic conditions certain standards have been set. These standards define and compare the lacuna in hygienic conditions maintained. Food handlers need to maintain and manage these conditions. Also they can only offer a No Objection Certificate if such conditions are met all the time.
- Propagation: Food handlers also have a duty to teach people the importance and reasons for maintenance of hygiene in their surroundings. Hygiene has a direct impact on contamination of food and health effects. Thus it should be a priority of people to prevent harmful germs and bacteria from growing and then multiplying.
- Storage: Generally storage places are not at all clean and tidy. They are full of harmful animals, diseases and contaminations. Whenever storage needs to be done, food handlers are instructed and taught to sanitize them and then approve them for use. In a study it came up that ninety percent of contamination of food takes place in warehouses and storage units.
These are some basic functions and modules of food handling certification course. People should abide by them too when they only handle a meal for three of four family members. Stay healthy and stay fit because a single person can stop contamination from occurring.