HOUSE OF FOOD

P.O. BOX 11366, ACCRA-NORTH Mobile Contact: 020 8171 965

HEALTH, SAFETY AND CATERING POLICY

1.0 INTRODUCTION
1.1 Rationale The House of Food has a legal obligation to comply with the provisions and requirements of food hygiene regulations governing food safety, including the requirement to have a Food Safety Management System (FSMS) based on Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) principles. All food handlers and House of Food premises from which food is sourced, stored, prepared, distributed or served, must comply with the regulations. This policy identifies the requirements of House of Food to achieve compliance and ensure that catering services are client focused and are delivered cost effectively to a high standard.

1.2 Scope This Policy applies to all House of Food employees involved in the provision of catering services. It has been written as an over-arching policy and will be supported by procedures in place in the various House of Food localities. 1.3 Principles This Policy is to ensure compliance of catering services with: i. Food safety and hygiene legislation/regulations. ii. House of Food standards. iii. Points of good practice to ensure food quality, cost effectiveness and high standards of service. iv. Financial controls.

2.0 CATERING POLICY

2.1 Board Level Responsibility The Board are responsible for ensuring that in-house services are managed by someone with the appropriate qualifications and experience in all matters relating to catering, nutrition and, food hygiene, cost control and budget management. The specific catering qualification requirements are set out in Appendix 1. For catering provided via Service Level Agreements

or external contracts, a senior manager who reports to the Board must oversee the catering provision to ensure risks to the organisation are minimised. 2.2 Food Premises Regulations require that all food premises/businesses be registered with the local authority. A food business is one which sells or supplies food and includes the preparation, treatment and storage. One application form is required to be completed (by the Head of the House of Food Catering Services) for each of the House of Foods premises that provide a catering service. 2.3 Food Preparation All food preparation, processing, manufacturing, distribution and transportation must be carried out in hygienic conditions: i. All satellite units receiving or preparing food must have their own individual FSMS based on HACCP principles. The Catering Manager will provide the documentation required. ii. All food premises must be kept clean and in good condition and must be designed and constructed so as to permit good hygiene practices, including the prevention of contamination. iii. There must be an adequate number of hand washing and changing facilities for staff (in the main production kitchens anti-bacterial soap must be used for hand-washing). iv. There must be facilities for cleaning and disinfection of work tools and equipment and all units must have up to date, and easily accessible, Control of Substances Hazardous to Health (COSHH) safety data sheets and risk assessments. v. All deliveries must be checked for damage and contamination, infestation, date codes and temperature control; all of which must be referred to in FSMS documents. vi. Food waste must not be allowed to accumulate in food rooms. No food waste to be put in bin bags. All food waste to be disposed of in the kitchen waste disposal unit. vii. There must be an adequate supply of potable water.

2.4 Food Storage All foods must be stored in appropriate conditions (as below) and be protected from contamination and deterioration, including protection against pests. Again, this must be shown on FSMS documentation. Food must be stored in the appropriate conditions for its type, for example, refrigerator, freezer, dry stores etc. Dry goods storage areas must be kept clean and tidy to minimize foreign body hazards and to prevent harbouring pests. Packs must be handled with care to prevent damage that

may allow contamination. All open packs must be decanted into sealed rodent proof containers. Non-food items may present a safety hazard if they contaminate food (e.g. cleaning materials). These must be stored away from food and packed in such a way that they cannot contaminate or taint the food. Chilled storage areas and refrigerators must be run at suitable temperatures between 0oC and 8oC to comply with temperature control regulations. Twice daily temperature checks must be taken and the results recorded. All records to be kept for 6 months. Unit Managers are responsible for ensuring that this happens on their Unit. Raw foods, which may be liable to contamination, must be kept away from ready to eat foods such as fruit and vegetables. Again, this must be shown on FSMS documentation. To comply with Food Labelling Regulations, food labelled with Use By dates must be used by the expiry date and must not continue to be stored past this date.

2.5 Food Handling All food handlers must maintain a high standard of personal hygiene. A food handler is a person who handles or prepares food whether open (unwrapped) or packaged. Food includes drinks and ice. All people working in a food handling area must wear suitable protective clothing. Standards of clothing may differ depending upon the duties carried out. However, the following should be considered as a minimum requirement: Personnel preparing open food must wear clean overalls, tunic, uniform or similar, plus head covering. Porters/Drivers must wear a clean uniform. People working in food handling areas must also practice good hygiene. This includes: i. Ensuring they have clean hands when handling food. ii. No smoking in food handling areas. iii. No eating or drinking whilst handling food. iv. Not wearing jewellery (a plain wedding band is acceptable), false nails or nail varnish. v. Covering wounds likely to cause risk of contamination of foods. Staff who report for duty with a dressing on should have it changed before they enter a food area. Any loss of dressings must be reported immediately. Employees with boils or septic cuts must be excluded from food handling areas e.g. production kitchen/ward kitchen. Food handlers known or suspected of suffering from, or carrying, any food transmitted disease must be prohibited from working with food if there is a risk of the food becoming contaminated with pathogenic micro-organisms. Anyone working in a main kitchen (as opposed to a unit kitchen) must have an enhanced health medical, which includes faecal sampling, prior to commencing work with the House of Food.

2.6 Purchasing Food Ingredients Suppliers must be registered with the Ghana Food and Drugs Board (GFDB). This will ensure there are written purchasing specifications for all ingredients which comply with standards based upon authoritative sources such as those set by GFDB. The quality and grade of ingredients must be professionally acceptable and the use of processed perishables must be kept to a minimum.

2.7 Temperature Control and Regulations All foods, including raw materials, ingredients, intermediate products and finished products must be kept at temperatures, which comply with regulations. This states that any person who keeps any food at or in food premises at a temperature above 8C shall be guilty of an offence. This includes any food item that requires refrigeration, whether it be in a vending machine, ward fridge or main kitchen. The House of Food is, therefore, required by law to ensure that certain foods (including those which are classified as high risk or have a use by label) are kept at a temperature, which does not result in a risk to an individuals health. The regulations incorporate the following requirements: i. Food to be kept at a temperature of between 0 and 8 oC. The temperature of the food itself is controlled rather than the storage facility. ii. Canned foods to be subject to temperature control once opened and decanted into another (sealed) container and labelled. iii. The regulations allow, where necessary, food to be outside temperature control for a defined limited period to accommodate food handling, transport, storage, display and service of food. iv. The regulations exempt certain food from the 8oC temperature requirement. This includes food, which needs to be kept hot in order to control the growth of pathogenic microorganisms or the formation of toxins (minimum 63oC). Where food is transported to external units, its temperature on arrival must be checked and recorded as per FSMS documentation (see below for more details). 2.8 Food Safety Management System (FSMS) The regulations include the following principles, which require not only identification of hazards but also control. This is known as a FSMS (also see item 2.3): (a) Identifying any hazards that must be prevented, eliminated or reduced to acceptable levels. (b) Identifying the critical control points at the step or steps at which control is essential to prevent or eliminate a hazard or to reduce it to acceptable levels. (c) Establishing critical limits at critical control points, which separate acceptability from unacceptability for the prevention, elimination or reduction of identified hazards. (d) Establishing and implementing effective monitoring procedures at critical control points.

(e) Establishing corrective actions when monitoring indicates that a critical control point is not under control. (f) Establishing procedures, which shall be carried out regularly, to verify that the measures outlined in (a) to (e) above are working effectively. AND (g) Establishing documents and records commensurate with the nature and size of the food operation to demonstrate the effective application of the measures outlined in (a) to (f) above. When any modification is made in the product, process, or any step, the Catering Manager must review the procedure and make any necessary changes to it. The Trusts Risk Management System similarly focuses on the identification and reduction of risks and requires that:

i. ii. iii.

All identified risks are documented as part of a risk register and are systematically assessed and prioritised. Risk treatment plans are developed, implemented and monitored (in order of priority). Senior management and the Board are informed of any significant risks and associated risk treatment plans.

2.9 Dietary Needs and Preferences All dietary needs and preferences will be met through meals which provide the key elements of a balanced diet and which provide clients with a choice of dishes presented in a written menu. Clients will also be offered a choice of size of portions. Menus will assist patient choice e.g. by providing menus in large print or in other languages on request or access to an interpreter. If clients have special dietary needs for medical reasons the advice of the Catering Department and/or a State Registered Dietician should be sought. However, where special diet choices are indicated on the usual menus, the dietician's advice should only need to be sought if a client's dietary needs cannot be met by those options. Menus will be reviewed every 6 months and Dieticians will be asked to confirm they will deliver nutritional requirements sufficient to meet the needs of all patient types. For example, patients who are: i. Eating normally. ii. From different ethnic groups. iii. Too ill to eat normal food. iv. Prescribed therapeutic diets. 2.10 Meal Availability & Service Delivery Meal availability and service delivery must comply with the requirements laid out in the House of Food catering delivering a quality service. Meal numbers/food and drinks supplies should match the number of clients being catered for and not exceed the number of clients on the Unit.

Meals and refreshments for patients will be available at customary times, with snacks available if required during this period (usually provided by the Unit)

2.11 Hospitality, Meals and Refreshments for staff All hospitality orders must be authorised at Head of Service level or above and the appropriate Cost Centre provided for budget re-charging purposes. To order refreshments for meetings, external visitors must be expected to attend. Food can only be ordered for a meeting if external visitors have confirmed their attendance and the meeting will span across a meal time. Where hot drinks supplies, funded from service budgets, are held within departments they are for meetings with external visitors or for patients and are not for personal use. Meals and/or refreshments may be provided for all attendees at special events arranged by the House of Food. However, there must be a sound business reason documented to justify the expenditure and it must be authorised at a senior level (Director or above). Employees are not entitled to receive meals and/or refreshments, funded by the House of Food, on any other occasions. With the above exceptions, House of Food catering budgets must be used for their intended purpose of providing food and drinks for patients. The pricing policy for all House of Food catering services will be agreed with the Finance Department to ensure they do not operate at a loss. Where sponsored events are held on Trust premises, outside caterers must not be used. For hygiene and governance reasons, food and refreshments should be ordered via the Catering Department instead. 2.12 Food Incidents & Complaints Food incidents and complaints must be managed in accordance with the House of Foods Complaints and Risk Management Policies and be reported as below: The Catering Manager must: i. Ensure that incidents/complaints relating to all food are reviewed, and complete the NHS Purchasing and Supply Agency Food Complaint Form. ii. Ensure the Control of Infection Team is aware of incidents/complaints (they will liaise with the Consultant in Communicable Disease Control where microbiological or chemical contamination is suspected). iii. Contact the Environmental Health Officer who will decide on what further action needs to be taken The House of Food has a responsibility to ensure that prompt action is taken on receiving notification of a problem associated with foods. This is communicated by the Food Hazard Warning System, directly from the local Environmental Health Officer to the Catering Manager and/or Infection Control Officer. 2.13 Contingency Arrangements

Contingency arrangements must be in place to ensure the delivery of safe and nutritious food in the event of total or partial failure of normal arrangements. The Catering Manager for in-house services must produce FSMS documentation in readiness for this possibility, and the arrangements for services provided by contractors must also be documented. A risk analysis must be carried out, and arrangements put in place to ensure that adequate supplies of safe and nutritious food can be maintained in the event of partial or total loss of supply from the normal route(s).

The analysis must take account of: i. Range of food used, stock levels and food suppliers. ii. Reliability of plant and equipment and energy supply systems. iii. Equipment maintenance routines. iv. Staffing arrangements and the flexibility of rosters and working hours. v. Quality control measures, particularly in relation to health and hygiene. 2.14 Training of Staff The House of Food must ensure that all food handlers are supervised, instructed and/or trained in food hygiene matters commensurate with their work activities (see Appendix 1). As a minimum, employees are required to have a basic knowledge of hygiene principles and required practices prior to handling food. Training/instruction must be seen as a continuous requirement and will therefore require the organisation to provide refresher courses for employees. Training records will be kept and maintained by the Trusts Education Centre. 2.15 Access to Legislation Trust staff must have access to up-to-date legislation and guidance relating to food hygiene, nutrition and catering services. Access to legislation and guidance is essential for the organisation to carry out the statutory duties imposed upon it by law and any mandatory duties imposed from time to time by the Department of Health. As a minimum, the House of Foods Catering Department must have access to the key reference documents listed in Reference Documents (section 4). 2.16 Key Indicators for Monitoring Food Safety and Service Delivery There must be a system in place to ensure food safety is monitored. The Trusts Catering Manager, in agreement with the Risk Manager as appropriate, must develop indicators, which demonstrate that all stages of the food process are being properly managed and risks are minimised. Ideally, the indicators must be designed to demonstrate improvement in the performance of catering services over time and risk minimisation or reduction. The number of indicators devised must be sufficient to monitor all aspects of the process, including risk management and Controls Assurance.

It is not necessarily the case that the Board will use all the indicators. The Board must select those which are useful for ensuring that the internal controls are working satisfactorily and catering services are being managed efficiently and effectively. 2.17 Food Safety, Monitoring and Management It is the responsibility of the Chief Executive and the Board to monitor and review all aspects of food safety and management, including: i. Accountability arrangements. ii. Processes. iii. Capability. iv. Audit findings. At operational level, the Catering Manager, Modern Matrons and Unit Managers all have a role to routinely monitor compliance with relevant aspects of the system, including nutrition, meal ordering, selection, service and quality, food wastage, staff responsibilities and training standards. Where appropriate, monitoring must be carried out at different periods, including weekends and bank holidays. As appropriate, routine continuous monitoring and/or periodic audit reviews must be used to ensure compliance through: i. Internal audits. ii. Nutritional assessments by the dietician. iii. Unannounced checks. The Trust must ensure client satisfaction surveys involving service users and any relevant external assessors are carried out on a regular basis. Unit Managers are responsible for ensuring that their staff regularly check clients are satisfied with the meal service provided and alert the Catering Department the same day if any problems arise or are reported.

3.0 IMPLEMENTATION AND COMPLIANCE

3.1 Responsibility of the Trust Catering Manager The Catering Manager will be responsible for the day-to-day management of in-house catering services and have professional responsibility for catering services provided throughout the House of Food, either by its own staff, via Service Level Agreements or contracted arrangements. The Catering Manager will comply with this Policy and act as a source of professional knowledge/leader on catering matters, to ensure that the House of Food meets its legal obligations and provides services to a high standard that are patient focused and are delivered cost effectively. 3.2 Responsibilities of Staff and Managers Involved in the Provision of Food All staff involved in the provision of food are obliged to adhere to this policy. Line Managers: i. Are responsible for identifying the training requirements of their staff and arranging the appropriate training. The level of training that is required will vary

ii.

iii.

dependent on the role staff have in relation to food. Managers of staff involved in the preparation of food, supervision of food preparation or serving food from bulk containers/food trolleys must ensure their staff comply with the House of Foods Good Housekeeping Code and keep supervision/performance review/personal development planning records, as appropriate. The list at Appendix 1 has been produced in conjunction with Environmental Health Specialists and shows the House of Food Wide agreed training requirements for the different groups of staff. Are responsible for keeping a signed record for each member of their food handling staff confirming they have read and understood this Policy and the Good Housekeeping Code. Must ensure their staff comply with the above Policy and Code, are informed of any changes to them and update their records accordingly.

Staff i.

Must have received the appropriate food handling instruction and/or training commensurate with their duties.

Failure to adhere to this Policy may result in disciplinary action.

4.0 DISTRIBUTION
This Policy will be available at all the House of Foods designated locations. Copies will also available from the Policy Unit.

5.0 REVIEW
This Policy will be reviewed every 3 years.

Appendix 1 Training Requirements for House of Food Staff

Training Level Food Safety Awareness (Based on the House of Foods Good Housekeeping Code) Staff Type All staff and managers of staff involved in the preparation of food, supervision of food preparation or serving food from bulk containers/food trolleys Qualification No formal qualification Frequency Delivered in house on House of Food Induction programme and Organisational Critical Learning programme. Through documented supervision/ performance reviews and personal development

Level 2 (Replaced Level 1 Foundation Certificate in Food Hygiene) Level 3 (Replaced Level 2 Intermediate Certificate in Food Safety) Level 4 (Replaced Level 3 Advanced Certificate in Food Safety)

Catering assistants/ Chefs

Award in Food Safety in Catering or equivalent

planning Managers must ensure their staff understand and comply with the Good Housekeeping Code. Refresher training every 3 years

Catering Supervisors/Chefs/ Head Chefs

Award in Supervising Food Safety in Catering or equivalent In receipt of or working towards Award in Managing Food Safety in Catering or equivalent

No requirement for refresher training

Catering Managers

No requirement for refresher training

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