Do I need a food handler certificate to work in Spain?

What employers in Spain call it

• Carnet de manipulador de alimentos or certificado de manipulador: the food handler (food handling, food safety or food hygiene) certificate. People still say «carnet» (card), but there has been no official card since 2010.
• Formación en alérgenos: allergen training, often asked for in kitchens and restaurants.
• APPCC: the Spanish name for HACCP, the food safety plan of the business.

What Spanish and EU law actually require

• The business is responsible. It must ensure that food handlers are supervised and instructed or trained in food hygiene in line with their work (Regulation (EC) No 852/2004, Annex II, Chapter XII).
• No official card. Royal Decree 109/2010 repealed Royal Decree 202/2000, which regulated it. According to AESAN, the Spanish food safety agency, training certificates have no official format, are valid throughout Spain and do not expire by law, although the business must keep your knowledge up to date.
• No authority approves food handler courses. Training providers need no authorisation, and they may not claim to be approved by the Spanish Ministry or by AESAN. Be wary of anyone selling you an «official card».
• Who counts as a food handler: anyone who prepares, serves, sells unpackaged, stores or transports food: waiters, cooks and kitchen assistants, baristas, bakers, supermarket counter staff, canteen staff and food industry workers.

How to get a food handler certificate online, today

1. Read the course. LaborIA's food handler course in English: hazards, personal hygiene, temperatures, cleaning, allergens and the HACCP plan, with the EU and Spanish rules. Free, no sign-up.
2. Pass the final test and download your PDF training certificate, free.
3. Want it in Spanish? Take the same test in Spanish: the certificate comes out in Spanish and, if you want an employer to be able to check it, there is an optional verifiable version with a code (4,99 €). The course and the free PDF stay free.
4. Your employer decides whether it is enough and trains you on what is specific to the workplace (its allergen sheets, records and cleaning plan).

Which language? LaborIA's course and its test are available in English and other languages, with a free PDF certificate in that language. The same course in Spanish gives you the certificate in Spanish, which is what an employer in Spain reads, and only the Spanish version has the optional verifiable certificate with a code (4,99 €, one-off payment). The Spanish test uses everyday kitchen and workplace Spanish: if you are not sure you can follow it, check your level first with the free Spanish level test (instructions in English).

Allergen training: also asked for in restaurants

Every bar and restaurant in Spain must tell customers which of the 14 allergens listed in Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 (Annex II) are in its food, also for food served unpackaged, and keep that information in writing (Royal Decree 126/2015, Article 6.5). That is why many kitchens ask for allergen training as well. LaborIA has a free allergen course in English (and its test in Spanish).

What LaborIA's certificate is, and what it is not

It is a training certificate in free format, issued by LaborIA when you pass the test, with your name, the course, the score and the date. It is not an official card or a qualification, no public body has approved it, and it does not replace the training your employer must give you. What it does: it shows an employer that you have studied the hygiene rules that apply in Spain.

Sources

• Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs, Annex II, Chapter XII
• Royal Decree 109/2010, which repealed Royal Decree 202/2000 on food handlers (BOE, in Spanish)
• AESAN (Spanish food safety agency): food handlers
• AESAN, information note on food handler training (in Spanish)
• Regulation (EU) No 1169/2011 on food information to consumers, Annex II (the 14 allergens)
• Royal Decree 126/2015, information on non-prepacked food, Article 6.5 (BOE, in Spanish)