# Competences — food safety specialist

Source: ESCO v1.2.1 occupation-skill relations (http://data.europa.eu/esco/occupation/00ab5610-e715-428f-99f6-b1e5e469dbcd).

## Essential

- **control food safety regulations** (skill/competence)
- **develop food safety programmes** (skill/competence)
- **evaluate retail food inspection findings** (skill/competence)
- **food authentication techniques** (knowledge)
- **food fraud** (knowledge)
- **food legislation** (knowledge)
- **food preservation** (knowledge)
- **food storage** (knowledge)
- **infections in food** (knowledge)
- **investigate complaints related to consumer protection** (skill/competence)
- **keep task records** (skill/competence)
- **maintain personal hygiene standards** (skill/competence)
- **monitor packaging operations** (skill/competence)
- **plan inspections for prevention of sanitation violations** (skill/competence)
- **prepare reports on sanitation** (skill/competence)
- **take action on food safety violations** (skill/competence)
- **train employees** (skill/competence)

## Optional

- analyse samples of food and beverages (skill/competence)
- audit food safety procedures (skill/competence)
- cold chain (knowledge)
- develop food policy (skill/competence)
- ensure correct goods labelling (skill/competence)
- food homogenisation (knowledge)
- food policy (knowledge)
- general principles of food law (knowledge)
- management systems standards (knowledge)
- monitor sugar uniformity (skill/competence)
- use instruments for food measurement (skill/competence)

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## Market evidence (job-ad analysis, 33 ads, as of 2026-07-12)

Share of analyzed job ads mentioning the item (threshold ≥ 20 %). Source: JSearch/Adzuna APIs.

### Hard skills

- regulatory compliance — **48 %**
- food safety management — **39 %**
- quality assurance — **33 %**
- risk assessment — **21 %**
- root cause analysis — **21 %**
- auditing — **18 %**
- data analysis — **18 %**

### Methods

- HACCP — **36 %**
- SQF — **18 %**

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