Advanced_Food_Hygiene

Assignment A- Food safety management procedures Introduction The author of this assignment is currently working at the University of East Anglia where they hold the position of Catering Operations manager. They have worked for the department for nine years, though have been in the current post, for three years. Their role is to assist the Head of Catering in all aspects of front of house operations. The UEA Catering department is rapidly growing business for which turnover has increased by 33% in the last year. There are many different facets to the catering department, ranging from fine dining dinners and canapé receptions to hot beverages and sandwiches being delivered to all different departments around campus. Task one: A description of how a food safety management procedure ensures effective compliance with current legislation and codes of practice at the University of East Anglia catering Department. Richard A. Sprenger (2008, p270) writes “A food safety management system includes the policies, procedures, practices, controls and documentation that ensures the food sold by a food business is safe to eat and free from contaminants”. It is understood that the best method to fulfil these requirements is A Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP). The EU Regulation (EC) no 852/2004 on the hygiene of foodstuffs Article 5, requires businesses to put in place a documented food safety management system or procedure based on HACCP principles. At the UEA a HACCP system is in operation, together with Safer Food Better Business (SFBB), which is another management system used for small businesses. This works very well for the UEA as we have eight different outlets which we have found have benefitted by being treated separately. Our HACCP system is a working document which is updated via an annual review or when a change to the business occurs. The key areas HACCP covers are: Training- UEA Catering has a Training Matrix (see appendix 1) this enables managers to monitor all employees training needs. It is particularly helpful as all training is recorded by date. This way, managers can easily see when training has expired. UEA catering has a policy of training all permanent staff on the CIEH Level 2 Award in Food Safety in Catering within three months of them joining the department then every three years to keep the information up to date. Casual staff must also complete an in house food hygiene training course which is run by managers which have already gained Level 4 Managing Food Safety in Catering. It follows all units as in the accredited level 2 course but is shorter. As part of the training, staff will learn about the need to record temperatures of both food and chilling units (see appendix 2) and documenting any relevant findings in SFBB. The importance of training given for this area can’t be under estimated. All staff are shown how the UEA uses lemons situated in the chillers/fridges to probe twice a day at different but consistent intervals to ensure that the products are fit for sale, if they are not then how to take corrective action.