Free HACCP test

How the free HACCP test works

You don't need a course date or payment details. After a short sign-up the test is ready for you and you can begin right away.

Each question covers a different learning objective from the training, so within a few minutes you can see how broad your knowledge is. Every question comes with an explanation. What you need to know for each topic is explained on the Test criteria tab.

• Enter your detailsYou enter your first name and email address, and a free account is created for you.
• Open the login linkWe email you a link that logs you in straight away.
• Take the testYou start as soon as you have logged in and answer the questions.
• Read the explanationsAfterwards you see the correct answer to each question, with an explanation of where you went wrong.

The law doesn't require a HACCP test, but it does require safe food handling

There is no official, legally required exam for HACCP. You don't need a course or diploma either. Training providers often issue their own certificate after the training, but that only proves you completed it.

What is compulsory is set out in Article 5 of Regulation (EC) 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs. Every food business must work with fixed procedures based on the 7 HACCP principles, from identifying hazards to keeping documents and records that show you actually apply those measures.

In hospitality there are two ways to do this. You draw up your own food safety plan based on HACCP, or you work according to the latest Hygiënecode voor de Horeca from KHN. That code is a ready-made HACCP plan, and you don't have to buy the book as long as you do work by it. The NVWA checks this through unannounced inspections.

• Food safety planYou work with your own plan based on HACCP or according to the latest Hygiënecode voor de Horeca.
• RecordsAmong other things you record temperatures, delivery checks and cleaning, and under the hygiene code you keep those lists for at least six months.
• Staff instructionThe business owner trains staff in food hygiene suited to their work and can show that this has been done.
• No compulsory certificateIf you work according to the hygiene code, you meet the HACCP requirements. A course does help you train your staff in a way you can prove.

How to get the most out of the HACCP practice test

10 questions give a first impression, not the full picture. The complete material covers 14 lessons with 41 learning objectives, and many questions turn on exact figures: chilled storage at no more than 7 °C, heating to at least 75 °C at the core, hot display at a minimum of 60 °C.

Those figures are exactly where people slip up. If you have 65 °C or 70 °C in your head, you will confidently pick the wrong answer.

• Start without preparingAnswer on instinct, so you get an honest view of what you already know.
• Read every explanationYou only spot a lucky guess when you compare your answer with the explanation.
• Note your mistakesWrite down which topic you got wrong and look it up in the test criteria.

What you get in the full HACCP training

Was the free test harder than you expected, or do you want to train your staff in a way you can prove? In the full training you work through 14 lessons, from the introduction to the hospitality hygiene code from 2016 onwards. At the end of each lesson you test yourself with a few questions covering the whole lesson, with an explanation for every answer. You finish with a final exam of 70 multiple-choice questions on all learning objectives, with no time limit and a pass mark of 70%. Pass it and you can download your certificate.

You work online on any device, choose between practice mode and exam mode, and your dashboard shows which topics are still weak. The questions are checked against current laws and regulations.

Two things are only available in the paid training, not in the free test. After each test you automatically get extra exam questions on exactly the parts where you made mistakes. And if you don't understand a question or its explanation, you can ask the AI tutor about it straight away, and it explains it again based on the law and official sources.

If you work with colleagues who prefer to read in English, there is also an English-language HACCP course.

• 14Lessons from introduction to hygiene code
• 41Learning objectives in the final exam
• 70Questions in the final exam
• 70%Needed to pass