
When I moved to the Middle East, almost 25 years ago, I started working for the hospitality industry and tend to provide food safety management systems, with particular application to hotels and restaurants. That time we implemented HACCP, which underlines the main system of food safety and food hygiene. This system highlights a series of steps necessary to attain food hygiene. Some people ask the difference between food hygiene and food safety. I say, the ultimate objective of food hygiene is to attain food safety. This means preventing all the hazards, whether bacterial, physical or chemical hazards. The reason why we should follow proper food hygiene processes and systems is to ensure the food we produce and serve is safe for consumption and there is a lesser risk for hazards like food poisoning.
Main components of food hygiene
- Keep clean
Cleanliness is pivotal to fast food restaurants, whether it is in terms of implementing the HACCP system or doing third party audits. What I have seen is that fast food restaurants and casual dining restaurants face a lot of challenges in terms of maintaining hygiene. And cleaning is the most important component of food hygiene which ultimately leads to food safety. This is the reason we must ensure that cleaning policies are in place and cleaners implement them without fail.
Not just cleanliness, sanitation and disinfection also play a key role in fast food hygiene. Keeping the food production and catering area clean, sanitized and disinfected is important.
- Preventing cross contamination
The basic rule of preventing cross contamination is to separate raw food from cooked food. If you have a fast food business (which happens to be a very popular business at the moment), you have to segregate different food types and incoming raw materials in a methodological way. you have to understand how to separate them from cooked products in your storage area and in your preparation area.
- Temperature and time control
Temperature and time control are the two main factors for the food being cooked. Products which contain high protein (that are mostly classified as high risk foods) are easily perishable and bacterial growth is fast on them because of their components and ingredients. These include meat products, dairy products, chicken, salads with mayonnaise and even egg products are some of the classic examples of high risk foods. One has to be cautious about the cooking temperatures of these foods. After cooking, you also have to keep food at a safe temperature. To store food, whether hot or cold, one has to be aware of the temperatures at which they will not spoil. This can differ from country to country.
One also has to be mindful of where to store the food before it is served. Generally, cooked food is kept in hot holding units, not as a temperature of less than 63 degree centigrade for not more than 2 hours before serving. This temperature can differ from one country to another.
- Use clean & sanitized utensils and equipment
This step not only includes utensils and equipment, it also includes the water that is being used to wash the different components of a fast food kitchen. This water needs to be properly filtered and sanitized, especially before being used in high risk areas.
- Personal hygiene
Contamination of food from poor hygiene practices is likely to be an offense in your food business, so it’s essential that you do everything you can to prevent it. All food handlers must have a high standard of personal cleanliness, wear protective clothing and follow food hygiene rules. Personal hygiene, from a personal standpoint, could be a simple thing, but it isn't. In a food service environment, it is non-negotiable. The pandemic has further reiterated the importance of practicing hygiene in a public facility, especially in fast food restaurants.
Below are the steps you should take to ensure your compliance with personal hygiene standards:
- Hand hygiene
Food handlers must wash their hands thoroughly when they get to work, before handling food, after handling food, after blowing their nose, after going to the toilet, after touching hair, before and after lunch break, etc. The general rule is the more frequently the better, and definitely before handling food of any kind. Washing your hands also means more than a quick rinse under the tap.
- Using protective clothing
Protective clothing helps to protect the food from any bacteria you are carrying on your hands and your clothes, as well as from any loose hairs, nails or bits of skin.
- Health assessment of food handlers
A food handler, who experiences symptoms of an illness, must be encouraged to stay home to prevent the spread of infection.
- Avoid smoking
If you are a smoker, ensure that you only do it in the designated area (far away from the food service and preparation areas). When you take a cigarette break, always take off your protective clothing first and always wash your hands before beginning to serve food again.
- Leave accessories at home
Personal accessories, when carried in a food service area,can easily harbor dirt and bacteria and may even cause physical contamination if bits of precious stone, metal or watch strap decide to make a leap into the food you are handling. The best idea is to leave your accessories at home or in your locker and then put them back on at the end of the working day.
About the author:
Alan Zering is the Managing Director of Intertek Cristal, Middle East and Africa. Alan is also a food scientist who has worked in food manufacturing for a long period of time in the UK.