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FOODSAFE Level 1 overview

FOODSAFE Level 1 study guide: key rules on all 10 topics

Free FOODSAFE Level 1 study guide: 137 key points from the Food Premises Regulation (B.C. Reg. 210/99) and B.C. health authority food safety guidance in plain words, organised by topic, each topic linked to its practice questions.

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This study guide collects our notes on every topic of the FOODSAFE Level 1 (British Columbia Food Handler Certification) on one page: 137 short points in our own words, grouped by topic and by handbook section. Read it from top to bottom before your first practice test, or jump to a topic from the list below.

Each topic ends with a link to its practice questions, so you can check what you just read straight away, and a link to the official chapter for the full wording. The notes summarise the Food Premises Regulation (B.C. Reg. 210/99) and B.C. health authority food safety guidance from the FOODSAFE Secretariat, Province of British Columbia (Ministry of Health); they do not replace it, and where our notes and the official source differ, the official source wins.

Study these notes as flashcards →

FOODSAFE and the Food Premises Regulation

Who must hold FOODSAFE, operating permits, plan approval, notifying a health officer, approved sources, contaminated food and who the regulation covers.

Practise FOODSAFE and the Food Premises Regulation questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

FOODSAFE training

  • Every operator of a food service establishment must hold a FOODSAFE certificate (or an equivalent).
  • When the operator is absent, at least one employee on site must hold the certificate.
  • The regulation does not require every server or cook to hold FOODSAFE Level 1, although many employers do (foodsafe.ca).
  • "Operator" includes a manager and the owner or lessor of the premises.

Approvals and permits

  • Plans for building or altering food premises must be approved by a health officer first.
  • Premises must be separate from living quarters and connected to drinking water and an approved waste system.
  • A food service establishment needs a permit from a health officer; the permit is not transferable and must be posted in a conspicuous place.
  • The operator must immediately notify a health officer of anything on the premises that may cause a health hazard.

Who is covered

  • Not covered: bed and breakfasts in private homes, food banks, volunteer caterers serving their own members and guests, and premises selling only whole fresh produce or prepackaged non-hazardous food.

Operating rules

  • All food must come from approved sources (approved premises or government-approved suppliers).
  • Contaminated or unfit food must not be stored, displayed or sold.
  • Equipment and materials not needed for the operation must not be stored on the premises.
  • Single-service utensils and containers must never be reused.

FOODSAFE program (foodsafe.ca)

  • FOODSAFE is a program of the Province of British Columbia, developed with the BC Centre for Disease Control and health authorities.
  • Level 1 is for operators and front-line workers (cooks, servers, bussers, dishwashers, deli workers); Level 2 is for owners, managers and chefs.

Foodborne illness

How common foodborne illness is, high-risk groups, Salmonella, E. coli, norovirus, botulism, Listeria, shellfish poisoning, allergens and illness complaints.

Practise Foodborne illness questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Foodborne illness

  • Foodborne illness (food poisoning) commonly causes nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, stomach pain and fever.
  • Over 4 million people in Canada get sick from foodborne illness each year.
  • Highest risk: children under 5, people who are pregnant, adults 60 and over, people with weakened immune systems.
  • Contaminated food may look and smell normal: if in doubt, throw it out.

Salmonella, E. coli, norovirus

  • Salmonella: found in raw or undercooked poultry, meat and eggs and unpasteurized dairy; symptoms usually start 6 to 72 hours after eating.
  • Salmonella can move from raw meat to cooked food through a shared cutting board, plate or utensil.
  • E. coli: grinding or mechanically tenderizing meat moves surface bacteria inside, so ground meat must be cooked to 74°C.
  • Norovirus spreads through vomit and diarrhea, unwashed hands and food, water or ice handled by a sick person.
  • Food handlers sick with norovirus should stay off work while ill and for 2 days after they are better; the virus can stay in stool for up to 2 weeks.
  • Antibiotics do not work against norovirus; it is a virus.

Foodborne illness chart

  • Clostridium botulinum is linked to home-canned low-acid foods, garlic-in-oil mixtures and vacuum-packed fish; it can be fatal.
  • Listeria is linked to unpasteurized milk, soft cheeses, prepared meats and unwashed raw vegetables, with a very long incubation (up to about 70 days).
  • Paralytic shellfish poisoning ("red tide") comes from mussels, clams and other bivalves and can start within 30 minutes to 2 hours.
  • Common food allergens include nuts, wheat, soy, milk, eggs, fish and shellfish, and sulphites; reactions can be immediate.

Standard operating procedures

  • Keep a current ingredient list for every menu item so staff can answer allergy questions.
  • Record foodborne illness complaints and report them to the health authority.

Personal hygiene and ill workers

Hand washing steps and timing, handwashing stations, sanitizer, clean clothing and hair, no smoking, covering cuts and keeping ill workers away from food.

Practise Personal hygiene and ill workers questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Employees

  • Every employee must wear clean clothing and footwear, be clean and keep hair out of food.
  • No smoking anywhere food is prepared, dispensed or stored.
  • Employees must wash their hands as often as needed to prevent contamination.
  • The operator must provide enough handwashing stations, conveniently located for all staff.
  • A handwashing station = hand basin with hot and cold running water, soap in a dispenser and single-service hand drying.
  • Anyone suspected of having, or carrying, a disease spread through food must not touch food, equipment, utensils or food contact surfaces.

Hand washing

  • Remove rings and jewelry, wet hands, lather with soap for at least 20 seconds, rinse well, dry with a clean or paper towel, use the towel to turn off the tap.
  • Hand sanitizer is an option only when hands are not visibly dirty and soap and water are not available.
  • Wash before handling food, after handling raw meat, poultry or seafood, after using the bathroom, touching pets or changing diapers.

Writing a Food Safety Plan (employee hygiene controls)

  • Good hygiene controls: no ill employees handling food, frequent hand washing, cuts and burns treated and covered, clean clothing, hair restrained, no jewelry, clean fingernails.
  • Ill workers are assigned non-food-handling duties or excluded from work.

Time and temperature control

The danger zone, potentially hazardous food, 4°C and 60°C holding, −18°C freezing, the 2-hour rule, thermometer accuracy, checks and calibration.

Practise Time and temperature control questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Potentially hazardous food

  • Potentially hazardous food can support the growth of disease-causing micro-organisms or toxin production.
  • Examples (Interior Health): meat, fish, dairy, eggs; cut or cooked fruit and vegetables; raw seed sprouts; cooked rice and pasta; tofu and soy milk.

Temperatures

  • Potentially hazardous food must be stored or displayed at 4°C or colder, or 60°C or hotter.
  • Frozen food must be stored, displayed or transported at −18°C or colder.
  • Refrigeration and hot-holding units must hold these temperatures and each must have a thermometer accurate to within 1°C.

The danger zone

  • Germs grow quickly between 4°C and 60°C (the "danger zone").
  • Do not leave meat, poultry, fish, dairy or cooked leftovers at room temperature for more than 2 hours.

Writing a Food Safety Plan (critical limits)

  • Discard perishable food held above 4°C for more than 2 hours.
  • Discard hot-held food that has been below 60°C for more than 2 hours.
  • Check coolers, cold-holding and hot-holding at least once a day; check built-in thermometers against a second accurate thermometer.

Thermometers

  • Colour and texture are unreliable signs that food is cooked; use a food thermometer.
  • To check a thermometer, use boiling water (should read 100°C at sea level; lower at high altitude) or an ice-water method; adjust for any error.

Receiving and storage

Checking deliveries, rejecting unsafe food, put-away order, FIFO, labelling, storage height, cooler and freezer temperatures, storage times, chemicals and power failures.

Practise Receiving and storage questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Receiving and storage guidelines

  • Accept food only from approved sources; reject deliveries from dirty trucks or with signs of pests.
  • Refrigerated food should arrive at 4°C or colder and frozen food at −18°C or colder (check with a probe thermometer).
  • Reject spoiled or damaged food, food past its best-before date, broken boxes, torn bags or strange odours.
  • Put deliveries away in this order: potentially hazardous refrigerated foods first, then frozen foods, then less hazardous refrigerated foods, then dry goods.
  • Use FIFO (first in, first out): move older stock to the front and use it first.
  • Label stored food with the product name and the date received; use only food-grade containers.
  • Store food at least 15 cm (6 inches) off the floor.
  • Keep coolers between 0°C and 4°C and freezers below −18°C; take corrective action if not.
  • Store raw meat, poultry, fish and dairy below cooked and ready-to-eat foods.

Recommended storage times

  • Refrigerated at 4°C or lower: ground meat 1–2 days; raw beef or pork 2–4 days; whole chicken 2–3 days; raw fish 3–4 days; raw shellfish 12–24 hours.

Chemicals

  • Store chemicals and cleaners in a room or cabinet separate from food, in clearly labelled non-food containers.

Power failure

  • Keep fridge and freezer doors closed; a full freezer stays frozen about 2 days, a half-full one about 1 day.
  • Refrigerated food is generally safe if the power is out no more than 6 hours with doors closed; discard potentially hazardous food that warms above 4°C.
  • Never taste food to decide whether it is safe.

Cooking, cooling, reheating and thawing

Safe internal temperatures, hot holding, two-stage cooling, discard rules, reheating within 2 hours, thawing and microwave heating.

Practise Cooking, cooling, reheating and thawing questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Writing a Food Safety Plan (critical limits)

  • Cook food to an internal temperature of 74°C (or another established safe temperature), measured at the thickest part.
  • Hot-hold at 60°C or hotter.
  • Cool from 60°C to 20°C within 2 hours, then from 20°C to 4°C within 4 hours (6 hours total or less).
  • Cooling methods: shallow containers, ice bath, ice wand, leave food uncovered until cold.
  • Discard food held between 21°C and 60°C for more than 2 hours, or between 4°C and 21°C for more than 4 hours.
  • Reheat food to 74°C within 2 hours; discard food that takes longer.
  • Safe thawing: in the cooler, under cold running water, or in the microwave just before use.

Cooking and leftovers

  • Cook ground meat (burgers, meat loaf) and mechanically tenderized beef until the centre reaches 74°C and stays there at least 15 seconds.
  • Whole cuts of beef: minimum internal temperature 63°C.
  • Insert the thermometer into the thickest part, avoiding bone.
  • Microwave evenly: cover, cut into smaller pieces, stir or rotate halfway, let stand at least 2 minutes.
  • Food thawed in the microwave should be cooked right away; do not refreeze thawed food.
  • Refrigerate leftovers within 2 hours; reheat to at least 74°C; bring gravies, soups and sauces to a rolling boil.

Food cooling chart

  • Start recording cooling when the food reaches 60°C and take readings at the centre of the food.

Cross-contamination and allergens

Separating raw and ready-to-eat food, cutting boards, previously served food, washing produce, covering and storing food, chemicals near food and allergen information.

Practise Cross-contamination and allergens questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Protecting food

  • All food must be protected from contamination and handled in a sanitary way without risk of spoilage.
  • "Contaminate" includes introducing foreign matter, poisons, pests, disease-causing micro-organisms or toxins.
  • Food already served to one customer must not be served to another unless it was in a container that prevents contamination.
  • Potentially hazardous food that was served to a customer must never be re-served, even in a protective container.

Cross-contamination

  • Germs spreading from raw food to other food is called cross-contamination.
  • Keep raw meat, poultry and seafood separate; store them sealed and below fruit, vegetables and ready-to-eat food.
  • Use one cutting board for raw meat and a different one for ready-to-eat foods.
  • Wash fruit and vegetables under cool running water before eating or cutting, even if they will be peeled; scrub firm produce with a clean brush.
  • Never put cooked meat back on an unwashed surface that held raw meat (HealthLinkBC E. coli file).

Food safety plan (storage and preparation controls)

  • Cover food with plastic wrap or food-grade material; move opened canned food into food-grade containers; reseal opened bags or use pest-proof containers.
  • Store chemicals below, away and separately from food.
  • Sanitize food contact surfaces and equipment before use.

Allergens

  • Keep an up-to-date ingredient list for all menu items and make sure staff know about allergy issues.

Cleaning and sanitizing

Cleaning versus sanitizing, bleach and quat strengths, test strips, the three-sink method, dishwasher temperatures, surfaces to sanitize and cleaning up after vomiting.

Practise Cleaning and sanitizing questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Cleaning

  • "Sanitize" means a treatment that destroys micro-organisms, including pathogens.
  • Premises, equipment and utensils must be kept sanitary; equipment, utensils and food contact surfaces must be washed and sanitized.

Writing a Sanitation Plan (2023)

  • Cleaning agents (soap, degreaser) remove visible dirt but do not destroy micro-organisms; sanitizers (chlorine bleach, quats) do.
  • Example surface sanitizer: 200 ppm bleach = 5 mL (1 tsp) household bleach per litre of water, made fresh daily.
  • Food contact surfaces must be cleaned and sanitized; floors and walls usually only need cleaning.
  • Example: cutting boards washed, rinsed and sprayed with sanitizer every 4 hours.
  • Three-compartment sink: scrape; wash with detergent at 43°C or hotter; rinse at 45°C or hotter; sanitize in 100 ppm chlorine for 10 seconds; air dry.
  • Low-temperature dishwasher: 50 ppm chlorine in the sanitizing cycle, water at least 38°C, checked twice daily.
  • High-temperature dishwasher: wash at 66–74°C; final sanitizing rinse at 82°C for 10 seconds.
  • Review the sanitation plan yearly; it must be approved before a permit is issued.

Dishwashing posters

  • Four steps: wash, rinse, sanitize, dry.
  • Quaternary ammonium (quat) sanitizer: 200 ppm for at least 30 seconds.
  • Do not mix chlorine with detergent; air dry on a clean, non-absorbent surface.

Norovirus clean-up

  • Disinfect areas soiled with vomit or diarrhea with a fresh 1:50 bleach solution (1,000 ppm: 20 mL bleach in 1 litre of water).
  • Never mix bleach with acids or ammonia; it creates a toxic gas.

Food safety and sanitation plans

Written food handling procedures, critical control points and limits, HACCP, monitoring, corrective actions, sanitation plans and approval by a health officer.

Practise Food safety and sanitation plans questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Food handling procedures (food safety plan)

  • Every food service establishment must develop, maintain and follow written procedures to prevent health hazards.
  • They must identify all critical control points, the critical limits for each, the procedures to meet the limits and the actions to take if a limit is not met.
  • Critical control point: a place or step where failure may result in a health hazard.
  • Critical limit: the standard that must be met at a critical control point.
  • Premises that process or prepare food must have these procedures approved by a health officer.

Sanitation procedures (sanitation plan)

  • Written sanitation procedures must cover cleaning and sanitizing of the establishment, equipment and utensils; the cleaning and sanitizing agents used, with concentrations and uses; and any pesticides used, with uses and storage.

Writing a Food Safety Plan (January 2024)

  • Food safety plans use the HACCP method (Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points).
  • Steps: list potentially hazardous foods; identify critical control points; set critical limits; describe monitoring; set corrective actions.
  • Common critical control points: receiving, storage, preparation, cooking, cooling, reheating, hot holding.
  • Corrective action examples: cook longer, reheat, discard the product, return food to the supplier.
  • Plan types: recipe-based, flowchart-based and process-based (no-cook; cook–serve; cook–chill–serve; cook–chill–reheat–serve).
  • Use the plan to train staff and update it when recipes change.
  • Suggested checks: coolers and hot/cold holding daily; cooking and reheating monthly; cooling methods every 2–3 months.

Pests, animals and premises

Pests and pesticides, service animals, construction and equipment standards, and what to do during a boil water advisory.

Practise Pests, animals and premises questionsFlashcardsOfficial chapter

Animals and pests

  • No live animals on food premises, except a guide or service dog (never in food preparation, processing or storage areas), fish in an aquarium, or an animal a health officer approves.
  • Premises must be free of pests, free of conditions that let pests hide or breed, and protected against pests getting in.
  • Pests include rats, mice, cockroaches and flies.

Premises and equipment

  • Premises must be in good repair, easy to clean, well lit and ventilated against smoke, grease, steam and odours.
  • Equipment, utensils and food contact surfaces must be durable, easy to clean, non-toxic and in good working order.
  • The operator must provide the facilities and equipment needed to keep everything sanitary.

Sanitation plan (pesticides)

  • List pesticides used, what they are for and how they are stored; keep pesticides in their original labelled containers in a designated area.
  • If a pest control company is used, keep records of pesticides applied.

Receiving guidelines

  • Reject deliveries showing evidence of pests (droppings, cockroach casings, flies).

Boil water advisory

  • During a boil water advisory, tap water for drinking, rinsing produce or ready-to-eat foods must be brought to a rapid boil for at least one minute and stored covered, or replaced with commercially bottled water.
  • Auto shut-off kettles do not boil long enough and should not be used.
  • Do not use ice from ice machines; empty them, and flush and sanitize the lines before reuse when the advisory ends.
  • Disconnect soft-drink lines connected to tap water; use bottled or canned drinks.

Written in our own words from: Food Premises Regulation (B.C. Reg. 210/99) and B.C. health authority food safety guidance

FAQ

FOODSAFE Level 1 study guide: common questions

What is the best way to use this FOODSAFE Level 1 study guide?

Read one topic, then answer that topic's practice questions while the rules are fresh. Note the questions you miss, re-read those notes, and finish with a full practice test across all 10 topics.

Is this the official FOODSAFE Level 1 handbook?

No. It is our own summary of the Food Premises Regulation (B.C. Reg. 210/99) and B.C. health authority food safety guidance. Use it to review, and use the official handbook when you need the exact wording of a rule.

Can I print the study guide?

Yes, with your browser's print command. For practice questions on paper with an answer key, use our printable questions and answers page instead.

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