Preventing food safety risks from communal kitchens

Difficult to control "input"

BATT at the Central Law College (Bac Ly Ward, Dong Hoi City) serves students 2 meals a day, an average of 200 meals/day. Ms. Pham Thi Chien, owner of BATT business here said: “Students are mainly ethnic minorities, supported by the State. I believe that they are like my children, so I should try to ensure safety and quality. But with large volumes, the kitchen will be more difficult to control. Sometimes there are mistakes, when importing raw materials, there are packaged products but without packaging and labels as prescribed, I immediately return them to the supplier...”.

The interdisciplinary team inspected the food safety conditions of the collective kitchen of DS FOOD Food Supply Company Limited.

DS FOOD Food Supply Company Limited operates BATT at the Quang Trach I Thermal Power Plant project (Quang Dong commune, Quang Trach). Ms. Le Thi Thuy, head chef and manager, said: “This business location maintains 2 canteens, serving more than 200 meals a day for foreign experts and office staff working here. The kitchen's customers have very high requirements, the goods must be fresh and delicious. In the southern provinces, there are usually professional suppliers who provide all the input materials for the kitchen and they are responsible. But here, the unit has to go to the market to buy from each small household, so it is a bit difficult to control. We have to overcome this by finding reputable sources among the people…”.

Management and monitoring efforts

To overcome the difficulties in ensuring food safety at BATTs, many units have focused on daily management and supervision. BATT Construction Team No. 3 of LiLaMa 18 Construction Company (Quang Dong Commune, Quang Trach) was established in October 2023, serving more than 400 meals per day to officers and workers who are constructing and installing boilers, turbines and sulfur treatment areas of Quang Trach I Thermal Power Plant.

Traceability of raw food ingredients - one of the important factors to ensure food safety in collective kitchens.

Mr. Pham The Thao, Deputy Head of Construction Team No. 3, LiLaMa 18 Construction Company, said: Food safety at BATT is always a concern and closely directed by the company's leaders, because it is directly related to the health of workers. Therefore, management and supervision must be strict. We require the kitchen to have complete and legal documents; must take samples and keep them for 24 hours for input food sources; when the kitchen serves meals to the brothers, the team assigns a person in charge of supervising and checking the quality of meals according to the contract and reporting daily to the team's management zalo group.

The processing procedure is considered the key to ensuring food safety at BATT. According to Ms. Trinh Thi Lan, Deputy Director of Quang Binh General Hospital, the unit has issued internal procedures and regulations on standards, manners, and appearance for staff and employees directly serving the kitchen and the Nutrition Department to comply with. That procedure is checked and monitored periodically on a weekly and monthly basis. The unit has sent staff and employees working at BATT to attend training courses, equipping them with knowledge about food safety; and organized periodic health check-ups for all hospital staff and employees.

Many employers have paid attention to the issue of ensuring food safety in collective kitchens.

Correct shortcomings, prevent risks

The province currently has more than 400 food safety establishments in schools, factories, hospitals, companies, etc. Of which, 144 are managed by the provincial Food Safety and Hygiene Department. Implementing the plan of the provincial Food Safety Steering Committee, from April 17, the interdisciplinary team chaired by the Department of Health has deployed an inspection of compliance with food safety regulations, focusing on food safety establishments and restaurants.

The interdisciplinary delegation inspected key issues, such as: Traceability of food ingredients; food safety conditions in accordance with regulations for food processing and display positions; participation in training, updating knowledge on food safety and health conditions according to regulations of those directly working at food processing establishments;...

Interdisciplinary delegation inspects the implementation of three-step food inspection records in collective kitchens.

“A very important issue is the storage of food samples and three-step food inspection records. These records record the time from purchasing, selling, importing raw materials, preliminary processing, food preparation until it is served on the table. This is considered one of the bases for the authorities to inspect and control, but at the same time it also helps food handlers in case of an incident. A food handler who truly values ​​food safety must pay close attention to this step,” emphasized the Head of the provincial Food Safety Sub-Department and Head of the interdisciplinary inspection team, Le Minh Tien.

According to the preliminary assessment of the interdisciplinary delegation, most of the establishments inspected by the delegation have implemented food safety regulations well. However, there are still shortcomings and limitations, such as: Not being proactive in controlling and checking archived records; food preservation issues still have limitations; waste collection and storage tools are not in accordance with requirements; participation in food safety training courses is not timely; the three-step verification records are not recorded closely;... The delegation has reminded and corrected the above shortcomings and instructed the units to strictly follow the regulations to prevent risks.

“Food poisoning is likely to occur at BATT and the consequences are very serious, affecting the health and lives of many people. In recent times, food poisoning incidents nationwide are often concentrated at BATT. In Quang Binh, although there have been no food poisoning incidents in recent years, in order to proactively prevent the risk of food safety loss from BATT, the unit has advised the Department of Health, coordinated with relevant departments and branches to strengthen inspections; propagate and guide businesses..., to ensure the rights of consumers", Mr. Le Minh Tien affirmed.

Huong Le

Source: https://baoquangbinh.vn/suc-khoe/202504/phong-ngua-nguy-co-mat-an-toan-thuc-pham-tu-bep-an-tap-the-2225820/