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The purpose of this paper is to report on a number of initiatives currently being taken by the Abu Dhabi Food Control Authority to improve food safety across the food chain. It focuses on the piloting of a new photographic food safety examination for food handlers designed to meet the needs of the multi‐cultural workforce. It is the fourth paper in a themed issue of Worldwide Hospitality and Tourism Themes presenting international food safety management challenges and solutions.

The piloting of the photographic examination involved 121 candidates who undertook the examination in January 2011. The results were compared with the cumulative data from the previous three years (n=40,862) with additional analysis of the performance of each question.

The results of the pilot suggest that replacing the written multiple choice examination paper with a photograph‐based alternative, increased the pass rate by almost 20 per cent, whilst retaining the overall level of difficulty of the examination.

The paper will be of value to practitioners, trainers, education specialists, policy makers and other stakeholders involved in the food safety training initiatives.

This is a unique study providing a mechanism for food handlers with low levels of literacy to become “qualified” to international standards.