Ships Cook Certificate, Marine Cookery Assessment

Depending on the yacht flag and how many crew you cook for you might need this.

Usually Commerical Vessels with more than 10 crew that operate more than 60 miles from shore need a qualified ships cook.

This means charter yachts but could be interpreted to also include Private yachts as they are also technically a commercial vessel.

Each flag state has its own rules on this and some like the UK MCA require yacht chefs to have passed the Assessment in Marine Cookery from an approved MCA centre. See the website for more info on who offers this in the UK.

Other flag states like the Cayman Registry will issue a Recognition as a Ships Cook letter if the yacht chef can provide a copy of their chef qualification or certificate showing that they have studied and based level 2 of basic cookery skills and they also require the chef to have level 3 food hygiene.

This is because under Martime Labour Law which sets the guidelines for the ILO related to maritime workers (seafarers) and The Martime Labour Convention (MLC) a ships cook needs to be able to cater for the religious and dietary requirements of the ship's crew.

They also need to have food hygiene and food safety certification as do all crew on yachts who go near food or the galley.

As any crew on a yacht will open a fridge or eat in a crew mess they all should have at least level 2 food hygiene certification to show they know how to handle food onboard.

We think that all super yacht chefs as they are a head of department whether a sole chef on a 25m or a head chef on a 75m should posses a level 3 or supervisor level food safety certificate. But thats just our thoughts!

Ship's cook certificate – see free info site we built at www.shipscookcertificate.com