This course has been created by me specifically for early childhood education centres (ECE’s).

There is a definition of ECE’s under the Education and Training Act 2020 as “premises used regularly for the education or care of 3 or more children (not being children of the persons providing the education or care, or children enrolled at a school being provided with education and care before or after school) under the age of 6 …”     However in developing this training I was also mindful of food safety training for daycares, kindergartens, playcentres, nurseries, creches and home based child-care.

In regards to my background regarding ECE’s I was engaged with checking all of the ECE’s in the Nelson City area when the Food Act 2014 came into effect. I was also contracted to MPI as a consultant to help develop their verifiers academy and that included a full verification of an ECE in the Wellington area (there is a video of my verification of an ECE as an optional lesson in this course).

It was clear to me that each ECE had quite different options for food provision for their attendees ranging from no food (attendees brought their own packed lunch), to snack foods only and some had fully cooked meals either cooked in the school or were delivered by outside catering firms.

So whilst this course is suitable for the higher food risk risk categories it is also suitable for those who have opted to register under the template Food Control Plan or are still registered as a National Programme Level 2.

I am also aware that there are many “ECE’s”  that are exempt from registering under the Food Act 2014
These are:
Home Based early childhood education services 
ECE’s that undertake minimal food handling
However I strongly believe that even in centres with minimal food handling, this course could really be of value