FOOD SAFETY IN FOOD SERVICE ESTABLISHMENTS: AN URGENT NEED TODAY

Very often seen on television, heard on radio and read in newspapers today are reports on cases of food poisoning in different parts of the world. These are clear indicators that loss of food safety in food service establishments has frequently occurred. What if these cases happened in food establishments like cafeterias that serve large manufacturing firms? Do these food caterers provide assurance of safe food to hundreds of employees that avail of their servic es? Imagine the productivity loss should a sudden epidemic of food poisoning occur in a factory! Can a company afford a one-day closure when they are already on three-shifts to meet production volume requirements? Is there great urgency for food service establishments to provide assurance of food safety? Food-borne illnesses may be related either to negligence of processors or their ignorance of food safety measures. There is thus, an urgent need to promote understanding and practice of food safety approaches. This i s especially so when people’s mobility have greatly enhanced the dangers of rapidly spreading food-borne infection or toxins. If this situation occurs in food service establishments, each infected worker can become a potential contributor to cumulative loss of food safety in areas where food is served. Advanced nations have validated and shared globally some practices to ensure food safety such as: (a) good manufacturing practices (GMP); (b) implementation of sanitation standard operating procedures (SSOP); and (c) development of hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) plan. Furthermore, the need to systematize and standardize global food safety practices, led the International Organization for Standardization (ISO) to prepare and complete ISO 22000:2005 or the “food safety management system”.

کلیدواژه ها:

Contamination ، food hazards ، microbiological hazard ، infection ، critical control point