Every food business in Ireland must have a food safety management system based on the HACCP principles, and the person who develops and maintains it must be trained in applying them. That is a legal requirement, not guidance. This guide explains who it covers, what the Food Safety Authority of Ireland expects, what HACCP training actually teaches, and where an online course such as Lift College's HACCP Training (Ireland) fits.
The law
Article 5 of Regulation (EC) No 852/2004 requires food business operators to put in place, implement and maintain a permanent procedure or procedures based on the HACCP principles. Annex II, Chapter XII adds the training duty: those responsible for the development and maintenance of the HACCP-based procedures, or for the operation of relevant guides to good practice, must have received adequate training in the application of the HACCP principles. The European Union (Food and Feed Hygiene) Regulations 2020 (S.I. No. 22 of 2020) make breaches offences in Irish law.
The FSAI's training page, read on 9 November 2026, repeats the point in plain words: if you are responsible for your business's HACCP system, you must undertake adequate training in the application of HACCP principles.
Who needs it
- The owner or manager who is responsible for the food safety management system, in a cafe, restaurant, takeaway, shop, creche kitchen, care home kitchen or food production unit.
- A head chef or kitchen manager who maintains the records and reviews the plan.
- Anyone who writes or changes the HACCP plan when the menu, process or premises change.
- Supervisors who monitor critical control points and need to understand why.
Front-line food handlers need food hygiene training commensurate with their work, which is the separate Food Safety Training (Ireland) course; they do not each need HACCP training.
What HACCP training covers
The seven principles: hazard analysis; identifying critical control points; setting critical limits; monitoring; corrective action; verification; and documentation and records. A good course also covers the prerequisite programmes that sit under the plan (cleaning, pest control, supplier control, personal hygiene, temperature control), how to build a flow diagram for your own process, and how to use the FSAI's Safe Catering pack and sector guides to good practice, which small businesses are allowed to rely on in a proportionate way.
What the FSAI's Level 3 skills add
The FSAI Guide to Food Safety Skills describes Level 3 as the skills managers and supervisors should be able to demonstrate. HACCP sits at the centre of them, alongside training staff, managing records and dealing with an inspection. A manager who has done HACCP training and uses the Level 3 guide as a checklist is in a strong position.
What an online course can do
Lift College's HACCP Training (Ireland) is 2 hours in 6 modules, written for Ireland with Regulation 852/2004, the 2020 Regulations, the FSAI and EHOs. It teaches the seven principles, the prerequisites and how to apply them to your own business, with a knowledge check after each module and a dated, verifiable certificate. It is priced in euros. It costs €22.99, pay once, with 14-day money back.
What it cannot do
- Write your HACCP plan. The plan has to be built around your own process; the course shows you how.
- Replace the records. An EHO checks the plan, the monitoring records and the practices, not only the certificate.
- Stand in for food hygiene training for the rest of the team.
Where to go next
- See the course: HACCP Training (Ireland).
- Train the team: Food Safety Training (Ireland).
- Browse all Ireland courses, priced in euros.
- In the UK, the equivalent is HACCP Training, which covers UK law.