Hands-on food safety
Youth Train CTC Wexford and MKRMS Food Safety have teamed up in an exciting project to provide unskilled young people with basic food hygiene training (FSAI Level 1). In a first course, eight learners from Wexford-based community training organisation Youth Train will be given hands-on training in food safety procedures. For this project MKRMS Food Safety has developed an unusual course format: Food safety skills will be trained in a kitchen environment while course participants are preparing food.
“This project is an exciting opportunity, both for the young people involved and for us as a training provider to gain or further professional skills”, says Matthias Kausch, Trainer and Proprietor of MKRMS Food Safety. Thinking outside the box was needed to create a new format for the traditionally classroom-based and theory-focused training to suit this special group of inexperienced learners.
The result is a hands-on, skills-focused training programme, in which essential food safety skills and background knowledge are learned through their application: preparing food in a real kitchen environment.
Paul O’Brien, General Manager of Youth Train explains: “My main expectation from this project is, that our learners will develop an interest they have into knowledge and usable skills that are required by employers in Wexford, thereby helping them find their place in the workforce.” A great buzz of excitement has been generated from the opportunity to sign up to this training: within one week of announcing the programme, more than enough Youth Train learners had signed up to fill the programme, including some students who had been difficult to motivate in the past.
MKRMS Food Safety is a food safety training and consultancy business led by Matthias Kausch. Founded in 2007, the business offers food safety training solutions, HACCP consulting and compliance auditing services to small and medium sized businesses in the food industry. Matthias Kausch is an Environmental Health Officers’ Association-licensed trainer, a member of the International Association for Food Protection and of AONTAS, theIrish National Adult Learning Organisation.
Youth Train CTC Wexford is a community training centre, set up as a response to early school leaving and originally based in the FDYS, the local Youth Service. From an original class of 9 trainees, we have grown to a 40 place centre with state of the art facilities and highly qualified staff, guided by a dedicated Board of Management. The nature of the training is always evolving and increasing emphasis is placed on the learner, their needs, their strengths and their career goals. We have strong working relationships with other agencies in Wexford and in this way we aim to meet our mission of helping young people reach their potential.
