Yacht chefs now have to be licensed

Welcome to the new World my friend....Government, MCA, etc. are going to regulate everything and everyone until they bleed. It's a sad state of affairs. I suppose that the Yacht owner will have to pony up in Salary, because they have a "certified" Chef onboard. And just in case you haven't noticed, crap doesn't roll up hill! Next thing you know....we'll have MCA compliant line handlers at Marinas to catch the lines that are thrown to them!

Here is what I have heard regarding this. First, as to who is required to comply. All chefs on a commercial vessel cooking for 10 or more crew. This was actually a part of the Maritime Labour Convention of 2006 and goes into effect in February 2015. Now while MCA is jumping on the course platform, there is a wide group of certificates acceptable including many for land based cooks. One source even said a certificate from McDonalds would qualify but I haven't seen the list confirmed. But the way that would happen is MCA has agreed to accept any Ship's Cooks Certificate from any MLC compliant flag. So much like flags of convenience you may have chef's of convenience as Isle of Man has apparently set a standard grandfathering heavily and accepting a wide group of certificates including one from McDonalds.

Here is an earlier article from the Crew Report:

MLC 2006 | Chefs | Ships cook certificate | PYA | Features | The Crew Report

And one just published:

MLC | Maritime Labour Convention | Ship Cook's certificate | Superyacht | Chef | PYA | Professional Yacht Association | Features | The Crew Report

I think there is obviously a lot of uncertainty.

The lack of a single simple authority continues to make things confusing. What is also a bit sad is that there has been over 8 years notice on this and yet just now is the industry noticing.

Personally, I find the part requiring certain culinary experience unnecessary but would approve on a commercial vessel that size a Food Manager Certification similar to what most states require. This doesn't focus on cooking good food, just on sanitary and safe food preparation.

I see nothing regarding this applying to non-commercial yachts or to boats with crews of less than 10. If anyone knows of any requirement there please reference it for us.

This has been thoroughly discussed at groups that deal with the yachts this will have an effect on.

It seems if you have a verifiable background and some time onboard you can be grandfathered in.

This is off a Crew Group on FB, originally posted by a well known and respected Chef then re posted by a crew agency.

Ships cooks certification, as you all know all chefs working on yachts with 10 or more crew and operating more than 10 miles of the coast are now required to have a "ships cooks certificate" There is a lot of confusion about this! I will try and make it simple with a the following points:
1, Currently only chefs and any crew member that works with food, working on a UK flagged vessels fulfilling the criteria above are required to have the certificate. However we all know that in the end all flags will follow suit, so I would suggest all chefs working on yachts gain the certification.
2, It also states that "any crew member" that works with food is required to have the certification! That to me would suggest any stewardess or steward who prepares food or smoothies etc would require the certification. But who knows how far that will go!
3, If you are a formally trained chef and you have at least one months sea time and you hold a "SUPERVISED" health and hygiene certificate, then you can be "assessed" and currently only Bluewater is providing this assessment opportunity. Hopefully there will be more maritime schools offering this "Assessment" in the near future.
4, If you don't have a "SUPERVISED" Health and hygiene certificate (When I say supervised it means that you have to take the exam under supervision by an accredited body recognised by the MLC/MCA) then you will have to gain one as soon as possible. However this is really quite simple to do! I done mine yesterday at the civic centre in Newcastle upon Tyne. I contacted Newcastle college and found the appropriate department, I was then redirected to the Environmental health department at Newcastle council. I explained my situation to the lady dealing with it and she informed me that I could do a simple "refresher" exam and that she would supervise me. She also gave me a booklet 2 days earlier for me to study. I sat the exam, it took all of 9 minutes! She checked it and pretty much said that it was 100%. So I will get my certificate in a week or so. Job done! It does cost around £50! but I am sure anyone working on a yacht will have this reimbursed. If your not from the UK there is no reason why you can't do it here in the UK also. If you are at home in your own country then I would contact your local Environmental health officer an do as I did above. Only take this course of action if you have done your health and hygiene several times and you are totally confident, otherwise you can do a 6 hour course with the same people. The down side to this is that they only run a few courses per month. They cost the same as doing a refresher course!
5, If you hold a health and hygiene certificate that you gained online you may as well bin it!
6, Follow this link for hygiene certificates that are accepted by the MLC: https://www.gov.uk/.../MIN_479_Recgonised_qualifications.pdf
7, There is no getting away from this so we should all just accept it!
(It pains me to say that!) lol!
8, One last point, I understand that the deadline has now been moved to February 14.