Every year, 48 million people contract a food borne illness, hospitalizing 128,000 and killing 3,000, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. These diseases are especially deadly for the elderly, the young, pregnant women, and the immunocompromised. This does not need to happen. Learning food and sanitation practices in a food handling course should greatly reduce future instances of a food break out.
A food handling course can teach a lot about food safety, such as restaurant food safety. One may learn in a food handling course that the Centers for Disease Control and Preventiion reckons there are only eight major food pathogens to worry about. A food handling course may also teach about actual best practices. For instance, bacteria are dormant below freezing, and die at 145 degrees fahrenheit. Anything in between those temperatures means bacteria can reproduce and are harmful.
Once an organization takes a food protection course from an accredited teaching body, they recieve a food protection certificate. These food safety certificates can help a company comply with regulatory standards, and win more plum contracts. Thus, taking a food safety course not just saves lives, but can even increase food handling business. See this link for more.