With the care industry’s ever-changing landscape of nutritional requirements and health considerations, care home staff and caterers must adhere to the highest standards of hygiene and food safety to safeguard residents’ well-being. Clare Grantham, Operations Manager at The Safer Food Group, discusses the key hygiene factors to consider when preparing and handling food in care homes.
When the world came to a standstill and businesses closed down during the COVID-19 pandemic, care homes continued operating as an essential service, despite difficulties such as supply chain disruption, social distancing, shortages of staff, and catering challenges.
Now, in a post-COVID world, in which there are currently 17,600 care facilities operating in the UK, it’s more crucial than ever that all staff members have the training and knowledge necessary, to guarantee that all residents and employees have access to safe and healthy food, produced to highest possible standards.
Handy HACCP
Care facilities in the UK fall under legislation set out in the Food Safety Act 1990, which requires food-based businesses to ensure that operations are carried out hygienically and all food served is safe to eat.
Care home staff need to have the required knowledge and confidence to handle and supply food in a safe manner. To provide a safe and workable set of processes for food handlers to follow, a food safety management system should be in place using the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles.
Steve Broadbelt, Principal Environmental Health Consultant for The Safer Food Group shares his support, commenting: “A well-implemented food safety management system based on the principles of HACCP that are tailored to the care setting provides the basis for a good food safety culture and compliance with the law.” These key principles are:
- Identify potential hazards
- Identify critical control points
- Establish critical limits
- Establish monitoring procedures
- Establish corrective actions
- Establish a verification system
- Establish record-keeping
Implementing a HACCP-based food management system in care homes will ensure that staff produce safe-to-eat food. There are several resourcesavailable to those looking to implement HACCP principles into their food management, as well as certified training courses to ensure all staff are confident with the process.
Handling hygiene
To help prevent hazardous bacteria from spreading and to ensure safe and healthy food is being served, staff need to store, handle, prepare, and present food in an organised and hygienic environment. Food hygiene practices aim to minimise or remove food hazards through safe food processes. These practices consist of:
- Preventing Cross-Contamination
- Great personal Hygiene
- Implementing Cleaning Procedures
- Following Temperature Guidelines
- Cleaning procedures/schedules
- Following Handwashing Procedures
- Safe Food Storage
To ensure a safe and hygienic food process is in place, all food handlers must obtain an appropriate level of food hygiene certification before they begin working with food. Level 2 training is typically required for food handlers, while Level 3 training is beneficial for managers, supervisors, and chefs.
Allergy awareness
Today’s care homes are well-versed in dietary requirements and allergens, and many offer vegan, vegetarian, halal, and diabetic diets, as well as textured modified diets to reduce the risk of choking or aspiration for those who have difficulty swallowing. To avoid allergic reactions or illnesses, it is critical that staff and caterers feel comfortable discussing all allergens and dietary needs.
The first step to effective allergy awareness is to understand the basics of allergies and how they affect the human body. Food allergies and intolerances cause different types of reactions within the body, and many different foods can cause allergic reactions.
To ensure that care home staff and caterers feel supported in making these decisions, allergen and nutrition training courses must be made available to those handling and preparing food. All food handlers are required by law to understand food hygiene principles and work safely, to safeguard the food they serve from contamination and allergy hazards.
Risk and responsibility
“Providing safe food to residents in the care home setting is vitally important as they are particularly vulnerable to food poisoning due to issues with age, poor immune system response and personal hygiene issues (the at-risk group).” confirms Steve. And according to a report by the Food Standards Agency (FSA), approximately 2.4 million cases of foodborne illness occur in the UK each year.
Therefore, it is critical to maintain excellent food hygiene and safety in a care facility as the residents are often elderly or vulnerable individuals.
In the UK, it is a legal requirement for every food business to implement a written food safety management system based on HACCP principles, to ensure that its products are safe to consume and have not been altered in any way that would make food harmful. If food hygiene and safety standards are not met in care homes across the UK, The Care Quality Commission, an independent regulator in the UK that was established by the Health and Social Care Act 2008, can levy a fine.
Therefore, if a registered person fails to comply with the terms of a warning notice issued for failing to meet quality and safety standards, this may result in a fine of up to £50,000 or an order for the home to cease operating. By implementing the correct food hygiene and safety procedures as well as providing training for staff and caterers, this can be easily avoided.
A safe solution
Steve continues, stating that: “Care setting staff responsible for food handling must ensure that they have completed appropriate food safety training and The Safer Food Group provides excellent tailored online food safety training courses.”
Ranging from food safety courses (Food Hygiene, Allergy, Nutrition, and HACCP) to workplace health and safety courses (COSHH & Safeguarding), each course at The Safer Food Group is offered at different levels to cater to all qualifications.
With over 850,000 people currently using our convenient online video-based training, we believe that taking this step will have a positive impact on food safety and those who oversee it.
Food safety and hygiene awareness is a must not only for the well-being of care home residents but also for those who handle and prepare food. Being self-assured and knowledgeable at work will result in a happy and productive team, who provides dependable hygienic and safe services – thereby future-proofing food preparation and hygiene in the care industry.
For more information on The Safer Food Group’s training courses, please visit: https://www.thesaferfoodgroup.com/