Gambia - Apply for Food Safety Certificate

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Procedure

• A candidate shall check with their respective state, province or municipality on the latest updates and regulations on getting a food handler certificate.
• The applicant may be asked to provide the blood sample along with the X-ray at the respective office for processing or the applicant may be asked to submit the blood report and X-ray as per the respective department norms.

Apply In-Person:

1. In order to obtain a food handler certificate, the candidate shall approach the respective office of the “The Food Safety and Quality Authority of The Gambia (FSQA)”.
2. Contact Link
3. The candidate shall use the contact numbers from the given page as appropriate to find the respective office to apply for this certificate.
4. The candidate shall visit the respective office and meet the concerned authority. Don’t forget to take the required copy of documents along with originals to the office.
5. The department conducts training on food safety. Please find the training timing and other details.
6. The applicant will be asked to submit their expression of interest in a written format as applicable and a CV.
7. Please submit the above said documents along with the documents as per the “Required Documents” section of this page and submit it to the designated receiving authority.
8. The authority will check the submitted application form and the attachments. If all are in place, the application will be considered for further processing. The applicants are advised to follow the guidelines of the authority.
9. The department may send updates and notification on the process through “SMS” or through a phone call as applicable. Please follow the notification on regular basis.
10. Please attend the training and complete the full course. The authorities at the venue will guide the applicants about rest of the process to gain the certificate as per norms.
11. The applicants are advised to pay the requisite fees as per the departments advise.

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Required Documents

• Written expression of interest
• Complete CV
• Valid citizen proof (respective ID’s issued by respective nation)
• Applicant’s proof of identity (identity card / passport / driving licence)
• Proof for the employment with a food establishment
• Copy of fitness and medical certificate from a medical practitioner as per requirement
• Copy of blood test report as per requirement
• X-ray as per requirement
• Passport size photograph (taken not more than three months from the applying date - 6 copies)
• Copy of passport

Note: Apart from the above documents, the authorities may ask for additional information or documents. Please provide them for processing.

Office Locations & Contacts

The Food Safety and Quality Authority of The Gambia (FSQA),
103 Kairaba Avenuee
Serrekunda, The Gambia.
Phone: (+220)4399310/ 4399311
Email: [email protected]
Contact Link

Eligibility

• All food handlers are eligible to apply.
  
• Any individual whose main duty involves preparing food, like a chef or cook or server, packing and labelling of food packets and bartenders are eligible to apply.
  
• The establishment owners of a food handling business are also eligible to apply.
  
• Those who are 18 to 35 years (or as per the age limit set by the department) and above are eligible to apply.
  

Fees

• The applicant shall pay the fee as per the authority’s advice.

Validity

• The certificate shall be valid as per the date mentioned on the certificate.

Documents to Use

Please attach documents that can be used by people. e.g. links

Sample Documents

Please attach sample completed documents that would help other people.

Processing Time

• Please adhere to the authorities advise for the timeline.

Related Videos

Videos explaining the procedure or to fill the applications.
Attach videos using the following tag <&video type='website'>video ID|width|height<&/video&> from external websites.
Please remove the '&' inside the tags during implementation.
Website = allocine, blip, dailymotion, facebook, gametrailers, googlevideo, html5, metacafe, myspace, revver,
sevenload, viddler, vimeo, youku, youtube
width = 560, height = 340, Video ID = Can be obtained from the URL of webpage where the video is displayed.
e.g In the following url 'http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y0US7oR_t3M' Video ID is 'Y0US7oR_t3M'.

Instructions

• A valid certificate holder is advised to undergo health examination by a registered medical practitioner once in every six months or as per the timeline fixed by the respective department.
• If the results of a medical examination indicates that the handler is suffering from a disease likely to contaminate food, the employer shall prohibit that person from being employed as a food handler.
• If the food handler is found by a medical practitioner to be suffering from a communicable disease, the department will suspend or revoke a food handler certificate.
• A valid certificate holder who prepares street food shall grant access to the premises in which the street food is prepared for the purposes of inspection.
• If the information given by the food handler in relation to his or her application has been found to be false in any material particular, the department will suspend or revoke a food handler certificate.
• If there are grounds to believe that the food handler poses a risk to food safety, the department will suspend or revoke a food handler certificate.
• A food handler certificate should be displayed at a prominent place and need to be presented when requested during the course of his/her duty.
• Please fill the candidate’s details as per the ID proof submitted.
• Don’t forget to take all the originals of the document along with a copy for applying.
• Incomplete application will be rejected.
• Avoid spelling mistakes while filling the application form.

Required Information

• Name of the applicant
• Valid citizen proof number (respective ID’s issued by respective nation)
• Passport number
• Address of the applicant
• Postal code
• Email ID
• Mobile number
• Date of the application
• Signature of the applicant

Need for the Document

• A food safety certificate is required to legally operate any business that handles or processes or serves food.
• Having a food safety certified staff in required numbers as per the respective area norms is mandatory to operate the business without any worry of fine, legal action and for a happy customer base.

Information which might help

• A food safety certificate is also often referred to as a food handlers licence, food handlers card, or food handlers permit.

Other uses of the Document/Certificate

Please explain what are other uses of obtaining this document/certificate.
e.g. Birth Certificate can be used as proof of identity.

External Links

• Please use the following link for additional information Link

Others

More information which might help people.