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.
Last updated:
A school or daycare kitchen handles unpackaged, easily perishable food every day, so its staff fall under the hygieniapassi rule like any other kitchen. What is different is who eats the food.
Risk groups
Ruokavirasto lists risk groups: children under school age, pregnant or breastfeeding people, older people and people whose immunity is weakened by serious illness. Own-check must take these groups into account. A daycare kitchen serves one of them every day.
A specific rule for children
Ground beef patties should always be served fully cooked to children. A raw or medium-cooked patty can carry EHEC. Fully cooked means a core temperature of +75 °C at the thickest point, or +70 °C held for two minutes.
Cold and hot food
Food prepared by heating today to be served tomorrow must be chilled to +6 °C or below in at most four hours. Hot food to be sold or served hot must be at least +60 °C. Reheated food should be heated throughout to over +70 °C. Monitoring the success of cooling and the storage temperatures belongs in own-check.
Allergens
For food that is not prepacked, information about allergenic ingredients is mandatory. A kitchen that plans menus around known children with allergies has to prevent cross-contact too: equipment that has held an allergenic food must not be used for other food unless it has been cleaned and checked. See allergen labeling obligations.
Illness
A worker with diarrhoea, an infected wound or a foodborne communicable disease may not handle food or be in the food-handling area if there is a likelihood of contamination. After an illness caused by norovirus, a worker must stay away for at least two days after the symptoms end. An employee who may come into contact with food and has such a condition must report it to the employer immediately.
Getting the job
Public employers can ask for the passport before hiring, even though the law does not require it until three months of the work have passed. The passport is valid until further notice, so having it ready helps when a position opens.
Own-check is part of the job
Own-check has a named responsible person, and familiarisation with it is part of a new worker's induction. Read the lesson on own-check, then try the free quiz.
Not covered in a specific lesson. Browse all lessons →
Keep reading
Hygieniapassi for Food Truck Operators
Own-check, hand washing, temperatures and notification for a food truck or market stall, and who needs the hygiene passport.
Hygieniapassi for Factory and Food Production Workers
When the hygiene passport applies in food production, how HACCP and own-check fit in, and what your personal hygiene duties are.
Part-Time Food Jobs for Students in Finland
Which part-time jobs for students need the hygiene passport, when the three-month rule bites, and why sorting it out before applying helps.