New Training Center for Food Safety in Pakistan: Competency Model Emerges in HORECA

Establishing standards in food safety is as critical as training employees who can apply these standards at every hour of the shift. The new Centre for Food Safety & Hygiene, established by the Chefs’ Association of Pakistan (CAP) and the College of Tourism & Hotel Management (COTHM) Pakistan, is launching with a training model that focuses precisely on this point.

According to a statement from Worldchefs dated August 14, 2026, the center will conduct studies aimed at students and industry professionals in the fields of food safety training, hygiene standards, professional competency, and regulatory compliance. The programs aim to reach professionals working in hotels and restaurants, as well as bakeries, catering businesses, commercial kitchens, and food production facilities.

The significance of the new center does not only stem from the opening of another educational institution in Pakistan. The initiative points to a broader discussion on how food safety should be managed in professional kitchens: Should training be a one-time certification, or should it be a continuous part of the business's daily operations?

Training will start in the classroom, with a focus on real operations

Within the framework announced by Worldchefs, the center plans to provide training in areas such as safe food processing, sanitation, hygiene, quality assurance, risk management, and compliance with food safety regulations. Specialized programs, workshops, certification opportunities, and practical training are among the core components of the model.

The targeted competencies for students include hygiene management, contamination prevention, safe food processing, cleaning and sanitation procedures, and risk awareness. For industry workers, the real value lies in the ability to transfer this knowledge to decision-making processes in real work environments.

The opening of the center is actually a continuation of a broader effort that began in July. According to a news report from Worldchefs dated July 15, during the visit of Richard Sprenger, President of Highfield Group UK, to Pakistan, over 150 professionals received training. The program also involved interactions with regulatory bodies, academia, and industry representatives.

During the same visit, discussions were held with the Pakistan Council of Scientific and Industrial Research regarding laboratory systems, research, and education-certification collaborations; and risk-based inspection models were addressed with the Punjab Agriculture, Food and Drug Authority, as reported by Worldchefs. These details indicate that the new center is positioned not merely as a classroom providing basic hygiene training but as a platform aimed at integrating education, research, and industry collaboration.

However, to evaluate the long-term success of the center's programs, it will be necessary to see the training calendar, certification structure, participant numbers, and measurable results obtained in businesses.

Training is already part of the food safety system in Pakistan

In the context where the new center has emerged, professional food safety training is already an important component of the official system in some regions of Pakistan. The Punjab Food Authority conducts Food Safety Training Level-I and Level-II for food workers, as well as training for managers and responsible personnel under the Person in Charge/Hygiene Manager programs. According to the information provided by the institution, Level-I and Level-II programs last two days, while the Person in Charge/Hygiene Manager training lasts five days. The trainings are differentiated according to various employee levels; at the basic level, food workers are targeted, while at the second level, professionals with more responsibilities such as chefs, supervisors, and quality control personnel are aimed at.

This structure points to an important operational detail. Instead of providing the same content of food safety training to all personnel, designing it according to task and responsibility levels can facilitate the use of the learned knowledge within operations.

Indeed, in the field training conducted by the Punjab Food Authority in 2026, topics directly related to daily operations were covered, ranging from personal hygiene and handwashing to preventing cross-contamination, temperature control, storage, equipment cleaning, and allergens. In a training program dated February 2026, FIFO practices, temperature control in cooking and storage, cross-contamination, waste management, and kitchen discipline were also among the training topics.

Therefore, the new center established by CAP and COTHM can be interpreted not as a food safety movement starting from scratch, but as an initiative to expand the existing educational infrastructure in the country through private sector, vocational training, and international expertise connections.

There is also an economic dimension to food safety

Food safety is often evaluated under the headings of inspection and regulation in most businesses. However, the consequences are broader than that. According to global estimates from the World Health Organization, approximately 600 million people fall ill each year due to contaminated food, and 420,000 people die. WHO also emphasizes that safe food is linked to public health, trade, tourism, and economic sustainability.

For HORECA businesses, the risk emerges in a much more tangible operational chain. Improper temperature storage, inadequate hand hygiene, failure to separate raw and cooked products appropriately, incorrect cleaning procedures, or failure to communicate allergen information to the service team may seem like the fault of a single employee, but they are often related to deficiencies in system design.

Therefore, the success of the training program should be measured not by how many people received certification, but by how much behavior has changed within the business.

The main question for restaurants and hotels: Is training translating into behavior?

The gap between training and application in professional kitchens is one of the most challenging areas of food safety management.

An employee may theoretically know what cross-contamination is; however, the failure to use color-coded equipment during busy service, improper planning of preparation areas, or a manager creating pressure for speed can render that knowledge ineffective. Similarly, even if the correct cold chain procedures have been explained, if temperature records are not kept, training alone will not be sufficient.

Therefore, a stronger model for businesses is one where onboarding training, task-based training, regular refresher programs, field observation, and record-keeping systems work together.

The role of managers and chefs is also changing here. Instead of leaving food safety solely to the quality department, it needs to be integrated into shift management, mise en place, product acceptance, storage, service, and closing procedures.

What lessons can be drawn for Turkey?

The value of the initiative in Pakistan for Turkey lies not in directly copying the same model but in rethinking the connection between training and operations.

In Turkey, the food safety system is implemented through Law No. 5996 and related regulations. The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's training programs also address Food Hygiene Regulation, official control, risk assessment, Turkish Food Codex, and HACCP principles together. In the training for control officers organized by the Ministry in Istanbul in 2025, HACCP, risk assessment, and food safety legislation were among the main topics of the program.

This framework shows that legislation and professional competency cannot be considered separately.

One of the future development areas for restaurants and hotels could be to complement mandatory or basic hygiene training with business-specific micro-training. For example, different training layers could be created focusing on cross-contamination and temperature control for the kitchen team, allergen communication for service staff, cold chain for purchasing and receiving teams, and HACCP verification and record discipline for managers.

Such an approach matches the right information with the right task rather than merely increasing training hours.

Stafflink’s perspective

The striking aspect of the center established in Pakistan is not a new building or certification program, but its elevation of food safety to the title of professional competency.

In HORECA businesses, food safety can sometimes be reduced to documents and procedures checked before inspections. However, the real risk emerges during service. If employee turnover is high, the orientation of new personnel is inadequate, or the manager does not consistently apply standards between shifts, the mere existence of written procedures does not ensure safe operations.

In our view, a more meaningful performance indicator for businesses should go beyond the question of "how many employees received training?" The number of repeated hygiene violations, deficiencies in temperature records, cross-contamination incidents, internal audit results, employee participation in refresher training, and the closure time of corrective actions can all be monitored together.

The real impact of the new center in Pakistan can similarly be evaluated not by the number of certificates issued but by how much the training reflects in daily behaviors in hotels, restaurants, and professional kitchens.