City and Guilds of London Institute · RQF Level 3
City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma for Proficiency in Fresh Produce Industry Skills
You don’t just earn this. You learn to use it, one-to-one, on your own real work.
- LevelRQF Level 3
- Total credits37
- Guided learning174 hours
- Units in this qualification71
Awarded by City and Guilds of London Institute · on the Ofqual register
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See how this course maps onto your role
Ten quick questions, one per Future Fluency, asked against this qualification rather than a generic one.
About 5 minutes · No card · Nothing to commit to
What you’ll learn
What each unit actually teaches you to do
These are the units City and Guilds of London Institute registers against this qualification. It is a catalogue, not a syllabus. Which of them you take depends on the combination the qualification requires, and that is set by the awarding body rather than by us. Every unit here is regulated, and every one you earn is yours to keep.
Analyse and report dataReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to organise and evaluate data that has been researched
- Understand how to report data that has been researched
- Analyse and evaluate data
- Report data
Buy fresh produce on the wholesale marketReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare to purchase fresh produce
- Purchase produce stock
Carry out quality audits in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare for quality audits
- Audit compliance against quality systems
- Complete post quality audit actions
Carry out sampling for quality control in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Sample food products to meet sampling requirements
- Maintain integrity of sample
Carry out testing for quality control in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare for quality testing
- Carry out testing for quality
Control energy efficiency in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Maintain measures that support sustainable energy usage
- Promote measures that support sustainable energy usage
- Promote the development of sustainable energy usage
Control transport efficiency in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Maintain measures that support sustainable transport usage
- Promote measures that support sustainable transport usage
- Promote the development of sustainable transport
Control waste minimisation in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Maintain measures that support waste minimisation
- Promote measures that support waste minimisation
- Promote the development of sustainability through waste minimisation
Control water usage in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Maintain measures that support sustainable water usage
- Promote measures that support sustainable water usage
- Promote the development of sustainable water usage
Design and develop fresh produce productsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Research designs, techniques and materials
- Test and evaluate designs, techniques and materials
- Prepare product specification
Diagnose problems in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Identify problems
- Diagnose problems
- Report problems
Maintain, promote and improve environmental good practice in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Maintain environmental good practice
- Promote and improve environmental good practice
Manage organisational change for achieving excellence in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare for managing organisational change
- Manage organisational change
- Communicate plans for organisational change
- Monitor plans for organisational change
Manage the fresh produce ripening processReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Manage the forecasted ripening of fresh produce
- Manage the fresh produce ripening process
- Manage the storage and waste control of fresh produce ripening
Manage the long term storage of fresh produceReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Manage the establishment of fresh produce in long term storage, Manage the long term storage of fresh produce
Monitor and control quality of work activities in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Carry out activities to ensure quality results are achieved
- Report on quality of work activities against specifications
Monitor and control throughput to achieve targets in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Monitor and control throughput to achieve targets
- Take action to resolve problems affecting volume of throughput
Monitor and control waste disposal in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Organise and control the storage and handling of waste
- Organise and control the disposal of waste and despatch of by-products
Monitor food safety at critical control points in operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Identify and monitor critical control points
- Take corrective action when control measures fail
Monitor health, safety and environmental systems in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Implement compliance systems
- Undertake operational audits
- Make recommendations for improvements to systems
Monitor product quality in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Monitor product quality
- Contribute to resolving quality problems
Plan production schedules in food manufactureReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Manage work in teams
- Allocate resources to meet production plans
- Ensure availability of resources to meet production plans
- Avoid production problems
- Maintain accurate and clear records
Principles of achieving excellence in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand food manufacturing excellence (FME)
- Understand how food manufacturing excellence (FME) can be achieved
- Understand the business outputs and benefits of food manufacturing excellence (FME)
Principles of appearance and texture in food technologyReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the role of appearance and texture in food and drink products
- Understand the importance of quality in the appearance and texture of food and drink products
Principles of aseptic packaging in food technologyReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the definition and hermetic sealing of aseptic packaging
- Understand the UHT milk processing as an example of aseptic packaging technology
- Understand the factors influencing support for transport efficiency
Principles of bar coding in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the form and data capture of bar codes
- Understand the infrastructure required to implement and maintain bar coding
- Understand the organisation and control of bar coding
Principles of canning in food technologyReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the preparation for canning and the importance of canning
- Understand how canning is carried out and the acceptable standards of sterility required
- Understand heat penetration, cooling and labelling during canning
- Understand spoilage and the competition canning faces from other preservation technologies
Principles of cleaning raw food materialsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the rationale for cleaning and separation technology
- Understand the processes for cleaning raw food materials without using water
- Understand the processes for cleaning raw food materials using water
Principles of continuous improvement techniques _Kaizen_ in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the features, importance of Kaizen activity
- Understand the criteria and requirements for Kaizen and problem solving
- Understand how to interact with Kaizen activity
Principles of energy efficiency in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of energy efficiency
- Understand the factors influencing the setting of energy efficiency targets
- Understand the factors influencing support for energy efficiency
- Understand the factors influencing the achievement of energy efficiency
- Understand the factors necessary to assess the effectiveness of energy efficiency initiatives
Principles of flavours in food technologyReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of taste flavours
- Understand the principles of odour flavours
- Understand the chemical structure and characteristics of flavours
Principles of food labelling in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the purpose and regulation of labelling
- Understand how labelling contributes to nutritional awareness and product quality
- Understand the business use of food labelling
Principles of fresh produce handling and qualityReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand produce contamination, spoilage and handling
- Understand the quality measurement and assessment methods for produce
- Understand the quality parametres of produce
- Understand the control of quality and food safety of produce
Principles of fresh produce packaging and preservationReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand packaging types and their application
- Understand packaging quality characteristics and storage requirements
- Understand produce preservation methods
- Understand legislative and voluntary impacts of packaging and the business implications
Principles of fresh produce ripeningReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the features of ripe and un-ripe produce, and their assessment
- Understand the natural ripening process
- Understand the produce ripening process in the supply chain
- Understand the planning, handling and storage of ripening produce
Principles of fresh produce wholesalingReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the produce market operators, facilities and financial system
- Understand the source of produce and the impact of seasonality
- Understand the transport, distribution and pricing of produce
- Understand produce quality and environmental factors
Principles of improving organisational performance in achieving excellence in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to improve organisational performance and how it contributes to food manufacturing excellence (FME)
- Understand the principles of improving organisational performance of food processing/supply capability
- Understand the application of improving organisational performance to support food manufacturing excellence (FME)
Principles of monitoring and assessing risks in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand health and safety legislation and workplace policies and procedures for food operations
- Understand risks and hazards in food operations
- Understand how to conduct risk assessments in the workplace
Principles of paper and board packaging in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the sources and business uses of paper and board packaging
- Understand paper processing and its suitability as a packaging material
- Understand board processing and its suitability as a packaging material
- Understand the promotional role and disposal arrangements for paper and board packaging
Principles of plastic and cellulose films in food and drinkReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the sources and business use of plastic and cellulose films
- Understand cellulose processing and its suitability as a packaging film
- Understand polythene based processing and suitability as packaging film
- Understand polycarbonate based processing and suitability as packaging material
- Understand the promotional role and disposal arrangements for plastic and cellulose based packaging
Principles of quality in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the importance of controlling product quality in food operations
- Understand how to monitor quality
- Understand how to conduct quality audits
Principles of quality sampling and testing in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the requirements of sampling for quality control
- Understand how to prepare for sampling
- Understand the procedures for sampling for quality control
- Understand how to feedback test outcomes
Principles of raw food materials in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand sources and functional role of raw materials used in food operations
- Understand supply and production of raw food materials
- Understand the use of additives in raw food materials
Principles of sensory assessment in food technologyReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the physiological and psychological factors influencing sensory assessments
- Understand the importance of flavour in the sensory assessment of food and drink products
Principles of sorting and grading produce and food materialsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the definitions and rationale for sorting and grading food materials
- Understand equipment and methods used for sorting food materials
- Understand the quality factors used in grading food materials
Principles of sustainability in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles of sustainability
- Understand factors affecting sustainability targets
- Understand factors affecting support for sustainability targets
- Understand the factors influencing the achievement of sustainability
Principles of the fresh produce handling systemsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the characteristics of handling systems
- Understand produce quality during handling, and the use of additives in fluid transfer
- Understand produce quality during packing and storage
Principles of the fresh produce supply chainReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the produce supply chain and how growers and co-operatives impact on this
- Understand import/export standards and the role of markets and pre-packers
- Understand the importance of organisations and factors across the produce supply chain
Resolve problems in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Establish what the problems are
- Implement solutions
- Report on further action to be taken
The Principles of Food Safety Supervision for ManufacturingReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how food business operators can ensure compliance with food safety legislation.
- Understand the application and monitoring of good hygiene practice
- Understand how to implement food safety management procedures
- Understand the role of supervision in food safety management procedures
The Principles of HACCP for Food ManufacturingReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the importance of HACCP based food safety management procedures
- Understand the preliminary processes for HACCP based procedures
- Understand how to develop HACCP based food safety management procedures
- Understand how to implement HACCP based food safety management procedures
- Understand how to evaluate HACCP based procedures
Understand how to buy fresh produce on the wholesale marketReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to identify produce and the factors influencing price
- Understand how to assess organisation’s produce needs when buying on the market
- Understand how to communicate and negotiate when buying produce on the market
Understand how to carry out quality audits in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know about quality auditing best practice
- Communicate audit results and recommendations
- Interpret and action an auditor’s report
Understand how to carry out sampling for quality control in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know about the principles of sampling
- Know about maintaining sample integrity
- Know about factors that influence samples
Understand how to carry out tests for quality control in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know about the importance of accurate quality testing
- Know about testing protocol for quality
- Know about equipment used in quality testing
- Understand how to interpret and communicate test results
Understand how to control product quality in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know about good manufacturing practices (GMPs)
- Evaluate quality issues in own area of work
- Know about requirements for good communications
Understand how to control transport efficiency in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know what the requirements are for controlling transport efficiency in food operations
- Control transport efficient within the organisation
- Promote transport efficiency within the organisation
- Maintain transport efficiency within the organisation
Understand how to control waste minimisation in a food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know what the requirements are for minimising waste in a food environment
- Minimise waste produced by the organisation
- Promote waste minimisation by the organisation
- Maintain waste minimisation within the organisation
Understand how to control water usage in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know what the requirements are for controlling water usage in food operations
- Control the use of water within the organisation
- Promote the efficient use of water within the organisation
- Maintain efficient water usage measures within the organisation
Understand how to design and develop fresh produce productsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the product design and research considerations
- Understand the product development and testing considerations
- Understand how to record, test and specify products
Understand how to diagnose problems in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Identify problems
- Diagnose problems
- Communicate problems
Understand how to manage organisational change for achieving excellence in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Prepare for managing organisational change
- Manage organisational change
- Review and communicate organisational change
Understand how to manage the fresh produce ripening processReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand how to plan and deal with the ripening process
- Understand the capabilities and resources to monitor ripening of produce
- Understand how to identify and investigate ripening of produce
Understand how to manage the long term storage of fresh produceReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand long term storage specifications and quality arrangements
- Understand the capabilities and resources required to store produce
- Understand how to solve problems, despatch and record storage of produce
Understand how to monitor and control throughput to achieve targets in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know about the best advice and guidance surrounding monitoring quality
- Know about monitoring procedures for quality of work
- Know about monitoring procedures for throughput
- Record quality of work issues
- Know about solving problems affecting throughput
Understand how to monitor and control waste disposal in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Monitor and control waste disposal in food operations
- Control and organise waste separation
- Control and organise the storage and handling of waste
Understand how to monitor and improve environmental good practice in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Follow organisational procedures for environmental good practice
- Recognise environmental good practice
- Improve environmental good practice
Understand how to monitor health, safety and environmental management systems in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Know current relevant legislation
- Understand communication and recording methods
- Understand organisational procedures and policies
- Understand organisational compliance
Understand how to plan production schedules in food manufactureReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Assess production requirements and capabilities
- Plan production schedules
- Maintain production schedules
Understand how to resolve problems in food operationsReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Establish what the problems are
- Implement solutions
- Report on further action to be taken
Understanding the principles and practices of assessmentReal unit · City and Guilds of London Institute
What you'll be able to do
- Understand the principles and requirements of assessment
- Understand different types of assessment method
- Understand how to plan assessment
- Understand how to involve learners and others in assessment
- Understand how to make assessment decisions
- Understand quality assurance of the assessment process
- Understand how to manage information relating to assessment
- Understand the legal and good practice requirements in relation to assessment
The honest bit
You’ve started things before
Most courses were built for a room full of people who aren’t you. A cohort moves on whether or not your week allowed it, and by the third week the thing you’re behind on becomes the reason you stop opening it.
There’s no cohort here, and no timetable to fall behind. Before anything starts, Zavmo asks when you’re sharpest and how long you can realistically sit down for, then builds the sessions around those answers. A bad fortnight changes your pace. It doesn’t put you behind.
And you only pay once you start learning. Searching and planning are free, and you can cancel any time — so the cost of finding out is an afternoon, not a year.
Your passport
Every credit is a stamp you keep
Level 3 credits are regulated. They don’t vanish when a subscription ends or a website closes. They travel to any employer, and Zavmo keeps the map of what you’ve earned and what’s next.
Each stamp is a real unit registered against this qualification.
Who’d teach you this
The Evidence Evaluator
Assessor
Helps you show what you can actually do, gathering the evidence that proves it as you learn.
Meet all twelve tutorsWhere this connects
Where these credits take you
A qualification is never a dead end here. See the jobs its credits open, the national occupational standards its units map to, and the future skills they quietly build.
- Buy fresh produce on the wholesale market
- Carry out fresh produce handling and quality
- Carry out fresh produce packaging and preservation
- Carry out organoleptic testing in a food and drink business
- Carry out sampling of incoming raw material for milling
- Design and develop fresh produce products
- Develop a strategy to achieve sustainability in a food environment
- Diagnose production problems in food and drink operations
Where this can lead
Perishables Operations Manager
Your career path here is really what you make it. We're a growing company, and we're always looking for people who want to step up and take on more. If you're driven, curious, and genuinely passionate about keeping things fresh, there's a huge amount of opportunity to grow with us.
See the whole journey →Showing 1 roles, drawn from 2 job records mapped to this qualification.
Skills it covers
What the job actually needs. These are the standards the units are built against, in the words employers and awarding bodies already use for the work itself.
How you’ll actually learn this
One-to-one, on your own real work
A qualification is usually something done to you: sit the class, sit the exam, hope it sticks. Here it’s the opposite. You learn it one-to-one with a companion, on your own real work, and you keep going until you can use it, not just recall it.
Applied to your work in any of these jobs
- Remember
- Understand
- Apply
- Analyse
- Evaluate
- Create
Built for City & Guilds Level 3 Diploma for Proficiency in Fresh Produce Industry Skills
71 units in this credential, in the order it lists them, awarded by City and Guilds of London Institute.
- Analyse and report data
- Buy fresh produce on the wholesale market
- Carry out quality audits in food operations
- Carry out sampling for quality control in food operations
- Carry out testing for quality control in food operations
- Control energy efficiency in food operations
and 65 more in the full unit list below.
One to one, not one to many
No two people run this the same way
A course is written once and handed to everyone. This is assembled around you, and keeps changing as it learns you. Five things it reads, and what each one changes.
- Your actual work Every unit is taught against a live piece of your own work, not a worked example from a textbook.
- What you already know The first conversation finds your starting point, so you skip what you can already do and spend the time on what you cannot.
- The conditions you learn under Not a learning-styles quiz. The evidence does not support those. The dimensions the research does back, read once and used to shape the plan.
- How far you got last time It picks up mid-thought. The tutor knows what you said, what you struggled with, and what it asked you to try.
- Which tutor suits the moment Twelve of them, each for a different kind of thinking. The one who walks you through a first idea is not the one who stress-tests it.
See how you learn, free. Eight questions, no sign-up. A directional taster; the diagnostic inside Zavmo goes deeper and keeps adapting.
Why it sticks
Most courses stop at remembering
There’s a well-known ladder of how deeply you learn something, called Bloom’s Taxonomy. Most courses get you up the first two rungs: you remember some facts, you pass a test, you forget it. Real skill lives at the top. Judging, deciding, creating. And this isn’t a generic ladder: every rung has a named Zavmo tutor who walks you up it.
- 6CreateThe Creative Catalyst
- 5EvaluateThe Evidence Evaluator
- 4AnalyseThe Analyst
- 3ApplyThe Coach
- 2UnderstandThe Connector
- 1RememberThe Builder
Where most courses leave you Where Zavmo takes you
The value
Why the companion is worth £70 a month
You’re not paying for the units. They’re regulated, and the same wherever you earn them. You’re paying for the one thing that decides whether you actually get there: a companion that makes them stick, on your real work.
That is one-to-one on this qualification, every day, on the work you already do, for £70 a month. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it. Billed monthly, cancel any time and billing stops.
Earned on your own work, taught to the top.
Everything you just read, learned one-to-one on the job you already do. Your first module is free, so you can see the teaching before you pay for any of it.
Build my plan, freeNo card. See how this qualification maps onto your role and meet the tutors who’d teach it, free. The learning begins when you subscribe. It’s £70 a month, billed monthly. Cancel any time and billing stops.