Food safety

Why train your teams in food safety?

Because a food safety system is only as good as what operators do on the line. On audit day, the auditor watches practices, questions an operator at the packing station and asks a supervisor what happens when a reading goes past the critical limit.

The gaps we find at diagnosis look alike from one site to the next: a HACCP plan the production team cannot explain, operators trained once at hiring and never refreshed, an accurate allergen matrix but poorly cleaned product changeovers, a traceability test that takes a full day.

For an exporter, the stakes are commercial. A UK or EU buyer will often require BRCGS, IFS Food or FSSC 22000 certification, and these standards expect trained and competent staff, with records to prove it. A fish cannery in Safi, a citrus packer in the Souss, a packaging plant in Kenitra, a processor in Côte d’Ivoire or Egypt: each one keeps its listing on that evidence.

In Morocco, the regulatory baseline comes first: food businesses must hold a sanitary approval or authorisation from ONSSA, under Law No. 28-07 on food safety. Training prepares teams for that baseline; it never replaces the approval itself. In other African or Middle Eastern countries, the same logic applies to the local competent authority.

What does the food safety and GFSI standards domain cover?

HACCP at three levels, the GFSI-recognised standards buyers ask for most, and the cross-cutting programmes auditors check on every site.

In the 2027 training catalogue, these courses form the food safety domain, taught by practising BRCGS, IFS and FSSC 22000 auditors and by IFS Train the Trainer qualified trainers. The main ones:

Two catalogue paths relate to them: the GFSI certification path (management awareness, HACCP, standard requirements, PRPs, internal auditor, mock audit: 9 to 10 days over 6 to 9 months) and the food operators path (hygiene, CCP monitoring, allergens, food defense: 2 days per team, in Darija or French).

The domain combines with the others: a cannery preparing for certification also trains its forklift drivers and its ISO process owners. The full offer is on our training page.

HACCP training in Morocco: which level for which role?

The right level depends on what the person has to do, not on their grade. Operators apply and monitor; supervisors react and make others react; HACCP team members analyse, decide and justify.

All three levels follow the Codex Alimentarius method: seven principles applied in twelve steps, set out in the General Principles of Food Hygiene (CXC 1-1969) published by FAO and WHO.

Operators learn close to their workstation, in the team’s language, with examples from your own products: can seaming, a metal detector, a cooking or storage temperature.

The supervisor is the person an auditor questions when a record is missing. It is often the most profitable level: trained supervisors fix every day what an audit would find once a year.

The HACCP team builds and maintains the plan: biological, chemical, physical and allergen hazards, validation of control measures, updates after every change of recipe, line or supplier. The catalogue’s GFSI certification path includes this level, with work on your own plan between sessions.

BRCGS, IFS Food or FSSC 22000: which course for your standard?

The one your customer requires, in its current version. All three are GFSI-recognised and share a common core, but not the same audit logic.

To choose by export market, see our GFSI standards comparison.

Official courses and implementation courses

BRCGS states that the BRCGS Academy and its Approved Training Partner network are the only providers that guarantee official, accurate and up-to-date BRCGS training. For an official BRCGS course, those are the providers to turn to; we do not present our sessions as such.

IFS lists training providers (certification bodies, education institutes, recognised IFS consultants, freelance trainers) under contract with IFS and using its official training materials. ACG’s trainers are qualified through IFS Train the Trainer; our IFS Food sessions remain implementation courses, and we do not present them as official IFS training.

Our implementation courses serve a different purpose: making the Standard work on your site, starting from your documents and your gaps.

FSSC 22000 Version 7: train before the upgrade

According to the FSSC Foundation FAQ, audits against Version 6 are allowed until 30 April 2027, and upgrade audits against Version 7 run from 1 May 2027 to 30 April 2028. Training the team on the changes well before the audit avoids discovering gaps on the day.

Culture, food defence, allergens, traceability: how to train for cross-cutting programmes?

By linking them to real situations on your site: these programmes often reveal the gap between paper and practice.

• Food safety culture. For senior management and supervisors: build a culture plan, measure it, talk about it with teams, report results at management review. FSSC 22000 Version 7 makes it an additional requirement.
• Food defence and food fraud. Assess vulnerabilities to malicious acts (TACCP) and fraud (VACCP), choose proportionate measures, review them. As useful to purchasing as to quality.
• Allergens. Matrix, scheduling and cleaning of changeovers, cleaning verification, labelling, on your own lines and recipes.
• Traceability and recall. Upstream and downstream tests, mock recall, measured response time. An exercise run with the team beats a procedure read aloud.
• Hygiene and GHP. The foundation of everything else, and the course most often skipped for agency and seasonal workers in packing stations.

How do you train internal auditors and in-house trainers?

By having them practise on real audits. A good internal auditor prepares the audit, interviews without complacency, finds the evidence, writes a finding that will stand and follows the action to closure.

The course draws on the ISO 19011:2026 guidelines and on the requirements of your site’s standard. ISO 19011:2026 was published on 27 May 2026 (4th edition) and replaces the 2018 edition, according to the ISO committee page. The “Food safety internal auditor (GFSI)” course lasts 2 days and sits within the GFSI certification path; to outsource all or part of the programme, see audits and inspections.

On large or seasonal sites, inducting new starters cannot wait for an external trainer. Our trainers, qualified through IFS Train the Trainer, train your in-house trainers: a short session at the workstation, a check of understanding, a record.

How are these courses delivered?

On your site for teams, in open sessions for one or two people, or online through OmniLearn for multi-site groups. For HACCP and allergens, on-site delivery remains the best option: exercises happen on your lines.

• Languages: French, Arabic and English; Spanish and Portuguese on request.
• During: QR-code attendance, practical cases, marked test, end-of-course evaluation.
• After: numbered certificates and a training report produced with Inspirra, the course’s digital twin on OmniLearn, the CourseTwin AI tutor, refresher reminders.

The full sequence is on our before, during and after page. For a programme written on your own procedures, see custom programmes and paths.

How can these courses be funded in Morocco?

By including them in a training plan before they take place. ACG is eligible for OFPPT special training contracts (CSF). The reference rules are 70% for planned training delivered by an external provider, 40% for unplanned training and, for in-house training, the same rates applied to a retained cost of MAD 800 per day per participant, within a ceiling based on the declared vocational training tax. These rules come from the CSF procedures manual (May 2006, Amendment No. 2 of 2 June 2014): rates apply to costs excluding tax, and only in-person sessions qualify, not online modules.

CSF funds training, not the certification audit. Our simulator gives an order of magnitude on your own figures, with no commitment: only OFPPT sets the amount. Details on our CSF and OFPPT funding page.

How do you prepare a training request?

• The target standard and version (BRCGS Food Safety Issue 9, IFS Food Version 8, FSSC 22000 Version 7, ISO 22000:2018)
  
• The date of your next audit: certification, surveillance or upgrade
  
• Headcount per level: operators, supervisors, HACCP team, internal auditors
  
• Participants’ language and shift patterns
  
• Recent audit findings linked to staff practices
  
• Your HACCP plan and allergen matrix, for a tailored programme
  
• Your training plan and, in Morocco, your vocational training tax, for the CSF simulation