Employment Opportunities with a Hygieniapassi
Where the hygiene passport is needed at work in Finland: restaurants, catering, shops, schools, food trucks and food production.
Last updated:
The hygieniapassi is often filed under "restaurant jobs", but the rule reaches further. It applies to anyone who handles unpackaged, easily perishable food in a food premises for at least three months, whatever the industry.
Restaurants, cafés and hotels
Cooks, kitchen assistants, and anyone who prepares or portions food for customers. Cafés, restaurants, shops, canteens and bakeries are typically registered food premises, and the staff who handle open perishable food fall under the passport rule.
Catering and events
Catering and event work often means short contracts for several companies. Because short periods are added together, a few gigs can bring you to three months. Read more in part-time and seasonal work.
Shops and delis
Counters that slice, portion or handle loose perishable food count as handling unpackaged food. A person who only stocks sealed products does not.
Schools, daycare and care homes
Kitchens that feed children and older people handle food for groups Ruokavirasto lists as risk groups: children under school age, pregnant people, older people and people whose immunity is weakened by serious illness. Own-check has to take these groups into account. See school and daycare kitchens.
Food trucks and market stalls
Mobile kiosks and sales carts must run own-check like any other food business, and their staff fall under the same passport rule. See food trucks.
Food production
Bakeries, meat and dairy plants and ready-meal factories all handle food before it is sealed. See factory and production work.
Why having the passport first helps
An employer may ask job applicants for the passport before hiring, even though the law does not require it until three months of the work have passed. A candidate who already has it saves the employer time. The passport is valid until further notice, so it stays with you from job to job.
The passport does not replace the rest
It shows you have passed the test. Your employer still has to instruct you for your actual tasks and keep own-check running.
Get ready
Read the lessons and try the free quiz to see how you do.
Not covered in a specific lesson. Browse all lessons →
Keep reading
Hygieniapassi for Kitchen Staff
What the hygiene passport means in a restaurant or hotel kitchen: temperatures, cross-contamination, own-check and allergens in daily work.
Hygieniapassi for Catering Workers
Transport temperatures, long holding times and short contracts: what the hygiene passport means for catering and event food work.
Hygieniapassi for School and Daycare Kitchen Staff
Feeding children and other risk groups: what the hygiene passport means in a school or daycare kitchen, and where the rules are stricter.