Pakistan - 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 Pakistan, the small and medium enterprises development authority (SMEDA) under the ministry of industries and production has laid down regulations (supervision, training in food hygiene practices suitable for their work activity) that are mandatory for the food handlers.
2. Contact Link
3. The candidate shall use the contact numbers from the given page as appropriate to get more information.
4. The food handler (individual or employed in an organization) shall get enrolled in a government accredited institution course for food safety professional.
5. Once the applicant successfully completes the course, the applicant will be provided with a course completion certificate.
6. This certificate will be required for the small and medium enterprises development authority (SMEDA) to provide staff training as per the government regulations.
7. The training includes food hygiene, food safety and other practices. The training will be provided as per the department’s schedule.
8. The applicants and the business owners are advised to follow the department notification to attend the mandatory training program.
9. For more information, please contact the small and medium enterprises development authority (SMEDA) office.
10. Once the training is finished, the candidates may be provided with certificate for the participation in the training.
11. Please pay the necessary course fee and please pay as per the staff training program requirements if any.

Note:

• In general the applicant may be asked to complete the course and obtain a certificate or the applicant may be asked to attend a session on food hygiene as part of the certification process.
  
• Apart from the training course / session, the applicant will be required to provide samples (blood/stool/urine etc) as per the department norms or provide the results from the government approved labs or private labs as per norms.
  

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Required Documents

• Application form
• Valid citizen proof (respective ID’s issued by respective nation)
• Applicant’s proof of identity (identity card / passport / driving licence)
• A photocopy of the original certificate denoting completion of food handler’s course
• 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

Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA),
4th Floor, Building no.3, Aiwan-e-Iqbal Complex
Egerton Road, Lahore - Pakistan.
Phone: (042) - 111 111 456
Fax: (042) - 36304926 / 7
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 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 for 2-3 years or as per the date mentioned on the certificate. The certificate needs to be renewed on regular basis as per the respective department norms.

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

• The timeline of the course as per the institution and the timeline of the staff training should be applicable for this procedure as appropriate.

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 result 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 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 safety 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 safety certificate.
• A food safety 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.