NORAD aid to strengthen food hygiene

by Sapumali GALAGODA

NORAD - a program of the Royal Norwegian Government has contributed 570,000 euros to develop a project to strengthen food hygiene in the country.

The technical support for the project 'Strengthening International Certification capability in Sri Lanka with particular reference to food standards' is provided by United Nations Industrial Development Organisation (UNIDO) while it is implemented in association with The Ceylon National Chamber of Industries (CNCI), National Chamber of Exporters of Sri Lanka (NCE) and Colombo Muncipil Council (CMC).

Under the project a national scheme has been designed to upgrade the Good Hygienic Practices(GHP) of the restaurant and catering sector in the country named 'Crowns for Food Hygiene'. The scheme was designed following the principles of the highly-successful 'UK scores on the Doors' scheme which has been shown to increase the levels of food hygiene and increase the appeal of good performing businesses to both the local population and tourists.

A voluntary scheme for the restaurant and catering sector, 'Crowns for Food Hygiene' objectives are to encourage food catering establishments to practice safe food hygienic practices with continuous enhancement of hygienic conditions in their establishments when offering food to their patrons, to provide training for food handlers, and to grade food businesses according to their hygienic levels. This will also benefit the establishments with more patrons to their outlets.

Food hygienic practicioners in each of the food catering establishments who voluntarily apply to obtain crowns under the 'Crowns for Food Hygiene' scheme will be assessed by a team of auditors from CMC and Ind-Expo Certification (Pvt) Ltd. Based on the assessment an expert panel will determine the number of crowns to be awarded to the applicant.

A maximum of 5 Crowns will be awarded to the establishments which comply with the high level of food hygienic practices as set in the criteria of the scheme. The broad areas of assessment under the scheme are, Management Systems, Structure and Cleaning, Training and Supervision of Food Handlers and Hygienic Practices.

A pilot project was carried out in 17 food establishments to assess the scheme.These 17 establishments were selected by UNIDO jointly with CMC and CNCI considering the geographical distribution within the city of Colombo, the commitment to improve food safety standards,complying with the legal requirements for food establishments, the type of their catering business and their willingness to participate on optional bases.

The scheme will strengthen standards, and also create awareness for food safety and good health practices in the establishments in particular and in the CMC area in general, said a spokesman for the project.

The establishments will be able to follow internationally accepted best practices and they will also benefited from the assistance provided, technical support and world class training on food safety and hygiene.

The compliance of Food Safety standards will create awareness for the customers and increase the reputation of the establishments while the customers will also benefit from this scheme.

Under the scheme, customer access to information has been enhanced to let them make an informed choice.

Customers can easily recognise food establishments who serve hygienically prepared food as 'crown' awarded food outlets will be given a sticker.

Dining from a crown awarded hotel, restaurant or eating house will ensure that the customers are served with safe food and value for money.

Chief Medical Officer of Health, CMC Dr Pradeep Kariyawasam said that during the last 10 years we have tried to improve food hygiene standards.

He said that in the early days there was not even a cake of soap in the kitchens of five star hotels but awareness has helped.

At present there are more than 1000 eating places in the city of Colombo but only 150 can be classified as safe eating places. "I don't mind even if 3-4 hotels get 'crowning' for a start", said Dr Kariyawasam.