Part-Time and Seasonal Food Workers and the Hygieniapassi

Summer terraces, festival stalls, ski-resort kitchens and Christmas markets are staffed largely by seasonal and part-time workers. Many of them assume the hygieniapassi does not apply because no single job lasts long. The rule is not built around one job.

Short periods are added together

A person who handles unpackaged, easily perishable food must have a hygiene passport once such work has lasted at least three months. Earlier work in tasks that required a passport counts toward those three months, and separate short periods are added together.

So a job at a beach kiosk one summer and a stint at a Christmas market in December both count toward the same total. Add a third short job, and you can cross the line partway through a contract that looked too short to matter.

Why seasonal workers are the ones who get caught

Someone in one full-time kitchen job crosses three months in a single stretch and knows it. Someone piecing together short contracts has to keep track of the total. The employer usually only knows the time you have worked for them, so nobody else is counting.

If you do recurring short food jobs, keep a rough tally of the weeks you spent handling unpackaged perishable food.

What happens when you cross the line

From then on, you must have the passport to keep doing those tasks. The employer has to make sure that everyone who needs a passport has one, and has to keep a record of staff hygiene competence that can be shown to the food control authority. An employer who finds out mid-season that you are over the limit without a passport has a problem to solve during their busiest weeks.

Why not wait

The law lets you work up to three months without the passport. It does not stop an employer from asking for it earlier, and the law does not require it from job applicants. Seasonal employers often need someone who can start now. Having the passport already makes you the easier hire.

Other practical points:

• The passport is valid until further notice, so it works for every later season.
• It is personal and not tied to an employer.
• Training before the test is not mandatory, so preparing costs only your study time.

Where to start

Read the free lesson on the hygiene rules of food work, then try the free quiz. The test itself is 40 true/false statements, taken on paper in person. See how the test works.