HACCP and Social Hygiene are two different counters

Job ads for front-of-house staff in the Netherlands often name them in one breath: Social Hygiene and HACCP. As if they were a set, like knife and fork. Someone with only the alcohol certificate can neatly ask for ID and still use a chopping board that had mince on it. Someone with only HACCP knows when the soup must go back into the fridge, but not how the Alcohol Act deals with a drunk guest.

What HACCP is about

Food. Receiving, storing, preparing, cleaning, allergens, personal hygiene. The basis is European; for hospitality it is worked out in the hygiene code. The NVWA is the authority that visits when the food is not right. The meaning of the acronym is a hazard analysis with critical points, not a bar licence course.

What Social Hygiene is about

Serving alcohol. Age limits, over-serving, the responsibility of whoever stands behind the bar. That certificate belongs to the Dutch Alcohol Act and the requirements municipalities and the sector attach to it. It is also called SVH, after the foundation that organised the exams for a long time. The content is drinks, not the temperature of a tub of fry sauce.

For a front-of-house role in a café-restaurant, employers usually ask for both. For a sports canteen that only sells fries and soft drinks, the food part applies regardless; alcohol comes in the moment you pour beer. For a production kitchen without guests, Social Hygiene is often not relevant, while HACCP is.

We provide the HACCP course. Social Hygiene you get elsewhere. If you are looking for both certificates in one shop, you only buy half from us, and that is exactly the half about food.