AUSTIN, Texas, Feb. 7, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- When Florida legislators passed a law requiring every food handler be trained in food safety before working with food, food handlers have had few options to gain their food handling license. Only within the last few days has that training been made available online.
"Quite frankly, many of the people who need this training don't keep normal hours," said Bill Vear, Vice President of Hospitality with 360training. "They're all working while we're getting ready for bed. Classes during the day simply don't work for many of them."
But through a unique partnership between Glogerm and Learn2Serve (www.learn2serve.com), Environ Health Associates' "Food Safety First" training course can be delivered via the internet, effectively eliminating the problem of conflicting work schedules.
"This is the best way to properly train the people who touch our food," said Vear. "Online training is cost effective, easily accessible and doesn't put an undue burden on business owners."
Food Safety First has been approved by Florida's Department of Business and Professional Regulation (DBPR), but until recently it's only been available on video cassette and DVD.
"The trend now is to train online," said Roy Costa, an enthusiastic consultant and subject matter expert with Environ Health Associates. "I don't care what kind of training you have." Costa sounded almost relieved to be training through the internet.
"The need is definitely there," said Costa. "We recognize this as a very, very valuable method of providing this crucial training."
Costa went on to say how Food Safety First teaches the same subjects that would be taught in the traditional classroom method, subjects like personal hygiene, contaminants, cleaning and sanitizing as required by DBPR.
Online Food Handling Training in Florida
But unlike other training classes, this new course is interactive and uses animation mixed with live action video. The live action portions were filmed and edited at Drexel University in Pennsylvania. Costa described how the action portions contain likeable dynamic characters that "elevate you from a training exercise to a show, almost a sitcom."
Since many of Florida's food workers are native Spanish speakers, this training will also be available soon online with full audio and text in Spanish.
About 360training:
360training -- headquartered in Austin, Texas -- is a leading provider of e-learning technology, content and services helping organizations successfully manage all aspects of learning initiatives. The company's products and services are designed to streamline career education and compliance requirements in a wide variety of industries. For more information, visit www.360training.com. Learn2Serve (www.learn2serve.com) is a subsidy of 360training.
About Glogerm:
For more information about Glogerm, please visit www.glogerm.com.
About Environ Health Associates:
Environ Health Associates is a full service food safety-consulting firm designing food safety management systems, developing innovative products, conducting audits and providing training for an increasing number of domestic and international clients. We are very diverse and count the following as past and present clients: Everclean Services, KMC Citrus, Marler-Clark Attorneys, Intesal SalmoChile, Education Programs, Federal Bakers, Food Hygiene Bureau of Jamaica, Food Safety, Inc., and Design Gourmet, Inc. We also provide consultant services to the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Foodhandler Glove Company and BioSafety U.S.
The 360Training logo is available at: http://www.primezone.com/newsroom/prs/?pkgid=980