In France, food hygiene regulations are extremely strict. To protect consumers and minimize the risk of food poisoning, commercial catering establishments offering meals and beverages for immediate consumption are required by law to undergo food hygiene or HACCP training.
All catering establishments, whether traditional restaurants, bistros or cafeterias, or mobile catering establishments suchas food trucks, must have at least one employee with food hygiene training. The problem is that the cost of training can be considerable, especially when you’re planning to set up a new catering establishment.
Fortunately, there are various schemes available to help finance all or part of your food hygiene training. What are these schemes? What conditions need to be met to qualify? What are the alternatives? Find the answers below.
What financing schemes are available for food hygiene training?
There are several ways to finance food hygiene training, 3 of which stand out for their size: individual training assistance (AIF), the Personal Training Account (CPF) and OPCO assistance.
Individual training assistance
The AIF is a subsidy offered by France Travail (formerly Pôle Emploi), aimed primarily at jobseekers wishing to work in the catering industry. Several conditions must be met in order to qualify:
- Proof of initial training (CAP, BEP, etc.) ;
- Or, have at least 1 year’s professional experience in catering or food production.
Apart from that, the job seeker must be in one of the following situations:
- Be registered as a jobseeker (with or without benefits): to register, you need to create a file with France Travail, providing several documents (a presentation of your professional project, a copy of your identity card, a precise presentation of the training to be taken);
- Benefit from a personalized redeployment agreement ;
- Benefit from a professional transition contract ;
- Benefit from a professional security contract.
The aid is paid in the form of an allowance directly to the training organization for a period of 1 to 3 years maximum. The amount varies according to the beneficiary, but is capped at 8,000 euros. Enrolment fees, equipment requirements and competition entries are not covered.
To apply, you need to follow several steps. First, request a quote from the training organization. Then, send the quote to France Travail and wait for a reply.
Personal training account (CPF)
In France, as soon as a person starts work, they accumulate training rights on their CPF. These rights can be used throughout a person’s professional career. This scheme was set up to help anyone maintain their employability and secure their career path. Funded since 2019 to the tune of 5,000 euros a year, the CPF enables you to finance training in food hygiene.
To take advantage of this service, go to the Mon Compte Formation website and access the catalog of organizations offering the training you want. Once this has been done, you can register for a training session directly on the site. Once booked, the training fees are deducted from your CPF.
Please note that training rights are attached to the individual. They are neither transferable nor assignable. If you make a false declaration or are unable to provide certain supporting documents, you risk being reimbursed in full.
Help from Skills Operators (OPCO)
The OPCOs, which have replaced the former OPCAs (Organismes paritaires collecteurs agréés), are organizations whose raison d’être is to finance apprenticeships and support companies in their training needs. This makes them one of the essential bodies to approach for anyone wishing to finance HACCP training.
As a reminder, in France, every working person contributes to training entitlements. These contributions are paid to collecting bodies known as “opérateurs de compétence”. The latter then allocate the funds to training applicants. Each professional branch has its own OPCO:
- OCAPIAT: for companies in the agriculture, fishing and agri-food industries;
- ATLAS: for financial and consulting services (banks, engineering firms, etc.);
- Opcommerce: for retail, mass distribution and wholesale;
- AFDAS: for companies in the culture, media and communication sectors;
- HEALTH: for retirement homes and companies offering occupational health services;
- PCO EP: for local businesses (craft trades, local commerce, liberal professions);
- AKTO: for companies in the cleaning, temporary work, security and hotel-restaurant sectors;
- OPCO 2i: for trades in the chemical, metallurgy, oil and textile industries;
- UNIFORMATION: for companies in the social economy, social housing, pensions and provident schemes;
- OPCO MOBILITÉS: for companies in the automotive, transport mobility and RATP sectors;
- CONSTRUCTYS: for companies in the building, civil engineering, timber and building materials trades.
The financial assistance offered by an OPCO can vary according to the applicant’s profile. In general, for first-time applicants, the OPCO can fund the entire training program.
How do I apply for funding from the OPCOs?
The first thing to do to obtain financing from an OPCO is to determine which OPCO to contact. To do this, simply visit the France Travail website. There you’ll find a dedicated tool that enables you to find the OPCO attached to a company by means of its SIRET number. If the company is not attached to an OPCO, check the list of OPCOs approved by the Ministry of Labor, available on the government’s Travail Emploi website.
Once the OPCO has been determined, you will need to choose the training organization. Please note that only training provided by a Qualiopi-certified training organization is financed by the OPCOs.
Once you’ve selected the training organization, you’ll need to obtain a signed quotation, together with the training program. All that’s left to do is attach it to the funding application sent to the OPCO. To maximize your chances, make sure the estimate is as precise as possible. In addition, you should highlight the link between the desired training and your professional activity.
The application file must be sent to the OPCO before the training course start date. The organization generally gives itself one month to respond. Once your application has been accepted, you will be notified and a training agreement will be issued. The course must be taken in its entirety. At the end of the course, you must send the OPCO a certificate of attendance and invoices.
Other ways to finance food hygiene training
In addition to the aforementioned grants, you should be aware that there are other solutions (aimed mainly at jobseekers) for financing food hygiene training:
- Action de Formation Préalable au Recrutement (AFPR) ;
- Preparation for Employment (POE) ;
- The Skills Development Plan (SDP);
- Le Dispositif Pro-A ;
- Le Dispositif TranCo ;
- Regional council grants, such as the Action de Formation Collective.
If you have only obtained partial financing, you should know that it is more economical to finance online training than face-to-face training. This solution enables you to take a training course at home, saving on travel and accommodation costs.
Things to remember
Food hygiene training is much more than a legal obligation: it’s a guarantee of quality and safety for your future clientele. Fortunately, there are many ways of reducing the cost of training, including CPF, AIF and OPCO grants. By taking advantage of this funding, you can concentrate on what’s most important: bringing your catering project to fruition with complete peace of mind.
If you’d like to take things a step further, Ecomag can not only help you choose and design your own custom-made food truck, we can also provide you with practical advice and expertise to help you finance and launch your business with peace of mind. Take advantage of our practical advice and expertise to finance and launch your business with peace of mind. A well-equipped and compliant food truck is a solid foundation for success!
