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Launch of new SA food service food safety model (corporate feature) |
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November 2007 |
The importance of catering businesses as a location for outbreaks of
food poisoning is well known, with one estimate implicating them in 75%
of reported cases. This problem may be particularly acute at large
sporting events, such as the football World Cup in 2010, where large
numbers need to be catered for often with limited facilities.
/~This was classically illustrated by the salmonella food poisoning outbreak at the 2007 Hungarian Grand Prix in September, which resulted in 20 people being hospitalised and involved the transport of food to the racing circuit.
There is evidence that food produced using a HACCP food safety management system is of better microbiological quality. The problem is that HACCP was originally developed for the food manufacturing industry which is organised very differently from most catering operations. This has led to the development, in Europe, the US and elsewhere, of simplified models based on HACCP Codex principles.
Over the past two years, under the auspices of Von Holy Consulting, work has been in progress on the evaluation of these models including Safe Catering, Safer Food Better Business, Cook Safe, etc, for use in SA.
Three workshops involving focus groups, seminars and qualitative research methods, attended by over 120 delegates, assessed the strengths and weaknesses of each of the models. The findings clearly indicated that in their existing forms no one model was ideal for all businesses and no one model met South African catering requirements.
In the past nine months a South African simplified model for catering HACCP - called Safe Food for Food Service (SAFFFS) - has been developed. Using leading national HACCP experts, with some international input, SAFFFS was validated at a workshop organised by Von Holy Consulting in Johannesburg on 8-9 October 2007.
Opened by Andries Pretorius, Director of Food Control, National Department of Health, the two-day event was attended by representatives from government, large and small catering businesses, and other industry stakeholders. The course covered basic hygiene/food safety requirements, how to use their own recipes to construct a catering HACCP plan, and how to compile a simple but effective food safety management document.
The workshop ended with the delegates tackling a case study based on the Hungarian Grand Prix outbreak. The workshop was well received and enthusiastic feedback was received from attending delegates.
Arthur Rogers of Emperors Palace Hotel commented: "Just as I thought what there is to be known about HACCP is known, Von Holy Consulting brings us another event, packed with information and something new! The light bulb went on - HACCP can be conquered. HACCP is simplified in this new version drawn up by the Von Holy group for the SA food industry.''
"The visualisation of the colourful Generic Flow Diagram for Catering Operations and all its checklists makes it easier to follow, understand, and is simplified for implementation of the HACCP documentation.
"After five years of collecting countless documents on HACCP, this is by far the most understandable documentation of why it is of vital importance to implement a system that will ultimately ensure the safety of both your food product and that of the consumer."
Based on the success of the first event, future workshops will be offered in a one- or two-day format. Successful completion of the course will enable delegates to devise their own simple but effective food safety management systems in a format easily identifiable as HACCP-based. If required, additional visits involving a catering HACCP specialist can be organised, culminating in the "signing off" of their business's HACCP plan.
This, if applied correctly, will provide the business, consumers and Environmental Health Practitioners with the confidence to purvey safe food. Sometimes taken for granted, safe food is a basic human right and will save both the country and individual businesses money. - by Corene Von Holy of Von Holy Consulting
The next Safe Food for Food Service two-day workshop is being held on 11-12 March 2008 in Johannesburg.
Contact Sue Paterson: Tel 082-927-3695;
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
; or visit the Von Holy Consulting website:
www.vonholyconsulting.com.
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