World Food Safety Day: Food Safety & Traceability in Hospitality

00:00:11:14 - 00:00:35:10

Refaya Priya

Hello and welcome to another episode of our Food Safety Week series. This week we have launched our four episode series podcast dedicated to the World Food Safety Day 2023. I'm actually very excited today as we are going to be discussing about one of the most trending topics in the hospitality industry and my personal favorite food safety and traceability at the restaurant level.

00:00:36:03 - 00:01:00:10

Refaya Priya

My name is Refaya Priya and I'm the global marketing specialist of Intertek  Business Assurance and Food. I'm even more excited today to be joined by one of our inner tech experts, Alan Zering. Alan is a Managing Director of the EMMEA of Intertek  Cristal, and he has been working for Cristal and now Intertek  Cristal for almost 26 years. Wow, that's a really long time.

00:01:01:04 - 00:01:15:06

Refaya Priya

Well, I'm very excited to have you in our podcast today, Alan. Can you tell me briefly about your experience in in this industry and what made you choose this? What makes you passionate about this?

00:01:15:06 - 00:01:46:03

Alan Zering

Hi Refaya. Hi, everyone. Thank you very much for the introduction. Obviously, I'm also very excited actually to join you and contributing to this podcast. Let me just make a small introduction to myself. I've been working actually in this industry for almost 40 years, divided between the food manufacturing industry and the hospitality industry. My background is a food science. I'm a food scientist by profession.

00:01:47:06 - 00:02:37:08

Alan Zering

The BSE degree in food science and then an MSC degree in food analysis. The experience I had when I started was in the food manufacturing industry. Then I moved to the funny enough to what we call the hospitality industry, and I include hotel restaurants, catering and leisure facilities. So moving from the food manufacturing industry into a hospitality industry, but obviously with a focus on food safety, it was quite exciting thing that happened in 1997 when I made the move and joined the Cristal Organization long before this organization was acquired by Intertek , which is now obviously part of the whole Internet group.

00:02:38:00 - 00:03:15:11

Alan Zering

The I have to say, the food safety is been something that I've dealt with since I was actually 12, 17 and 18 because I worked in restaurants, even prior to going into university of specializing in to food safety. I worked for McDonalds, I worked for Pizza Hut. When I was a teenager and I attended a lot of actually sort of food hygiene training courses, which made me interested into that particular area and that particular subject.

00:03:16:04 - 00:03:48:07

Alan Zering

And it became more interesting when you go into in-depth study of, of food science and general and then food safety in particular. And then when I actually joined a company called Gerber Foods in 1990, the Gerber Foods, a big fat food manufacturing company, the manufacturing cars, products, Baby Foods and the rest of it in England and the Somerset area of west western part of England.

00:03:49:02 - 00:04:34:06

Alan Zering

I got into into food safety through the implementation of what we call Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP). This is actually the tool that we use in order to ensure that food is being actually produced with the highest level of not only quality but safety. There is always a thin line between quality and safety. But then again, when you go into the industry, consumers in the old days used to be actually more interested in food quality, particularly in the hospitality industry, in hotels and restaurants.

00:04:34:11 - 00:05:06:14

Alan Zering

But there's been an increased consumer awareness about also food safety. So you need to combine both in order to ensure that they should just produce to the guests and the consumer. And in this actually higher standards, whether it's quality standards or safety standards and and being actually part of the hospitality industry, which I've been working in in the last 26 years, as you mentioned.

00:05:07:08 - 00:05:34:10

Alan Zering

And it was exciting because you would deal with different kind of food products. If you are in the food manufacturing industry in a factory, you have one raw material and one finished product that you can deal with. If you are dealing with the production process steps. But if you go into a restaurant and you deal with food safety and a food safety management system, you have thousands of raw materials and ingredients and thousands of finished products.

00:05:35:03 - 00:06:30:05

Alan Zering

So you apply a system, the food safety management system, which is hot up and on actually multiple ingredients and multiple products and makes life slightly complicated to ensure that every process steps is actually sort of being controlled and all the critical points are being actually self managed and monitored in an appropriate way. So the food supply chain encompasses all activities involved in the transformation and the transmission of foodstuffs, starting from the raw materials into the food, being a ready to eat food for the consumer from the source until it is being processed through handling, through the distribution, through the service.

00:06:30:12 - 00:07:23:05

Alan Zering

And with that, there's a lot of external factors that affect or actually sort of compromises the integrity of the food being produced in terms of safety. There are, you know, the introduction of water and detection of human element toward interaction of environmental factors that affect the food safety apart from the process steps. So it's an exciting thing that I've been doing not only as a job and make a living out of it, but it's actually to make a difference to ensure that the food is produced to the consumers at a different level, whether it is antibiotics actually in industry and now in the hospitality industry, which is a very volatile industry, food is being produced

00:07:23:05 - 00:07:26:12

Alan Zering

at the highest quality and safety standards.

00:07:27:05 - 00:08:00:13

Refaya Priya

That's awesome. That's awesome. These were some really great insights on your experience and the role you play in this trending topic at the moment in the hospitality industry. Being a travel lover myself, honestly, and also a foodie, I always prefer restaurants or buy foods or food from places that has like a certain level of certifications. Because I feel like when I when I see that this particular restaurant has this certification, I feel like, okay, so the food they have is secure.

00:08:01:05 - 00:08:33:15

Refaya Priya

They're following all the rules and regulations. And, you know, to get that piece of the mind, I feel like this is very important and especially in this time, like at this era. A lot of people, they also feel the same way. So thank you so much for all the work you do, actually. And I would I'm very curious to know if you could talk a little bit more about the relationship between the food safety in hospitality and in the supply chain, and also the role that Intertek  Cristal plays on this.

00:08:35:03 - 00:09:13:05

Alan Zering

Sure. When you talk about of our food supply chain and it's not rocket science, to be honest, but it has and involves a lot of process steps. And as I said yesterday, it starts from farm to fork or farm to table, whoever you are or whatever way you can describe it. So when it comes to food traders and customer demand, maintaining food security become a given nowadays.

00:09:14:04 - 00:09:38:10

Alan Zering

You said going to a restaurant and you looked at certificates and that gives you some security. I personally actually am a frequent traveler, especially in the Middle East and Africa, and I go to a lot of hotels and restaurants. And when I actually I'm with my wife or person, I sometimes like my wife doesn't like going out with me to a restaurant.

00:09:39:00 - 00:10:10:14

Alan Zering

I'm very fussy. I don't even look at security certificates, but I look actually at the whole thing and I think of what I do as a profession when I eat. So I look at the environment. I love the conditions, the cleanness, the even the people handle the food, the temperature, the food, the appearance, the taste. A lot of things that you look at and supply chain encompasses actually everything of food.

00:10:10:14 - 00:10:51:11

Alan Zering

It just starts right from the beginning. So if you actually sort of monitor every process steps and of your food production from the trucks that are actually sort of transporting this food into the delivery, into the handling, into the cooking service, etc., and then you control every process steps in terms of the critical points that needs to be controlled, then you would actually ensure food safety.

00:10:52:02 - 00:11:45:12

Alan Zering

So there is obviously a very strong tie between food safety and the supply chain because everything you do into until the end of the food being served to the consumer prior to that, it needs to be controlled and that is actually the is the is the chain of the food being supplied. And if you don't actually control it and if you don't monitor it properly and if you don't eliminate or reduce the hazards associated with every process steps of the supply chain, then you would actually have a loss of risks associated with the production of food, and that is the relationship and that's a strong tie between the supply chain and food safety, especially in

00:11:45:12 - 00:12:15:10

Alan Zering

the hospitality. So when I say especially in this quality, because in the hospitality industry, as I said earlier, you would actually sort of have multiple numbers of ingredients, raw materials before it became a consumer ready food product. So controlling every ingredient and controlling every raw material right from the beginning until the end is, I have to say. So one hell of a job.

00:12:16:04 - 00:12:55:13

Alan Zering

And there is actually obviously procedures and policies as well as technology being involved in order to ensure that every process step of the production of the supply chain is being controlled. And that is what we call food safety science. And it becomes a science. And as a result, we need to ensure that food safety and quality is achieved and it has become a global concern and it also has become a duty not only for the food traders and food producers, but for the governments.

00:12:56:06 - 00:13:53:02

Alan Zering

So food items pass through all steps of the supply chain during the processes, and we have to actually sort of put in place a procedures and policies for the food traders and the restaurant industry in particular. So to find how food being moved from the source and to to the consumer table in the restaurant and that is actually sort of you know, it's an old obviously trend that the goal is to have this farm to table concept is to accomplish a comprehensive food safety oversight in the modern world, because the journey from food production to consumer is time and space demanding.

00:13:53:12 - 00:14:32:13

Alan Zering

And there are several, several risks associated that could contaminate the food through the supply chain. And it could be a microbiological risk or chemical risk or physical risk. And anything actually could get into the food as a foreign body. And the foreign study description would be a physical thing. You know, if you got a nail inside it or a anything foreign as a physical contaminant or you could actually have a chemical risk when chemicals are being used in cleaning and mixed up with food, then it would actually contaminate the food.

00:14:32:13 - 00:15:31:04

Alan Zering

And there are microbiological contaminants, which is actually as a result of bacterial growth. If the food is not being handled or processed at the correct temperature conditions or the correct conditions in general. So whether during production, transportation, food storage, meal preparation companies and especially actually people in the hospitality industry, particularly the restaurants, actually self-management must follow not only the regulations and the rules which are done by the authority, but must follow actually a appropriate food safety management system and at every level of the supply chain to ensure food safety and sanitation sanitization safety is achieved in the old days when I was actually in the food industry, there was something called quality control.

00:15:31:04 - 00:16:08:15

Alan Zering

And quality control means you are testing the finished product to ensure that the finished product is actually safe or of good quality. Nowadays. Hot up or no nowadays has been for a long while. Hassan ensures that there is a system checking, not just a finished product. Checking a systems checking means you check everything from farm to fork, and that means you are implementing a quality assurance program rather than a quality control program.

00:16:09:05 - 00:16:34:14

Alan Zering

So if you actually sort of ensure that the quality assurance of your operation and in any food industry, particularly in the restaurant industry where there's a lot of high risk activities and lots of finished products are being served to consumers, not only one each product, then it becomes a paramount importance to every food producer and that industry.

00:16:36:13 - 00:16:39:12

Refaya Priya

System that's actually pretty.

00:16:41:11 - 00:16:42:08

Alan Zering

Comprehensive.

00:16:42:15 - 00:17:17:14

Refaya Priya

Yeah, it is. Yeah, I forgot the word, but yeah, that's the exact word I was looking for. And it's actually pretty great. Great that I mean, the amount of work that goes on to I mean, you know, like until this kind of certifications and the audits and stuff that your team does, I'm actually very intrigued and I would like to know what are some key areas that the hospitality organizations need to keep in mind when they when looking at the food supply chain and then how do they tie back to establishing a traceable supply chain?

00:17:18:12 - 00:18:16:08

Alan Zering

Okay, that's our role as Intertek  Cristal auditors and consultants to check the key areas of production and the key areas of supply chain and food. We have obviously a long experience in the restaurant industry as Intertek  Cristal, since we actually sort of apply food safety management system, hospitality restaurants is one of the major areas that we are, I have to say, you know, was a confidence that we are the pioneering companies that have created a mini hazard system in the restaurant industry long ago, a few years back, because Hassan and food safety management system was always applicable to food manufacture.

00:18:16:08 - 00:19:11:02

Alan Zering

But then Cristal and Cristal have pioneered a program to apply Hassan in a restaurant industry or a catering environment rather than a food manufacturing. And there's a big difference, as I described a short while ago. So even prior to the pandemic of the COVID 19, we're obviously the, you know, the the world food supply chain was turned inside out because of the shortage of actually transportation, the restrictions of traveling and all that has actually obviously made a lot of restaurants and even retail markets and others with empty shelves and empty tables.

00:19:11:07 - 00:19:41:01

Alan Zering

But then again, even prior to that, there was a emphasis, especially in the Middle East area, on restaurants, which is a growing industry in this in this region. And, you know, the international chain of restaurants like McDonald's or KFC and others, they're actually sort of building restaurants in large numbers. So the scale of the number of restaurants has increased.

00:19:41:03 - 00:20:17:08

Alan Zering

Hence the risk of actually sort of producing food in restaurants has increased. So the volume has increased. So the since the volume is enlarging, the risk associated are enlarging. And there is a great demand from consumer or restaurants. People actually don't like to cook at home much nowadays. They go to restaurants. So that where our role as Cristalhas come into because with the increased risks associated with that, there's been a lot of incidents and accidents in terms of food related illnesses.

00:20:17:14 - 00:20:47:04

Alan Zering

So the implementation of many such system was essential. So we looked at the key areas and the key areas, as I said from beginning, we look at the transportation of food in the appropriate temperature conditions in the appropriate tracks and appropriate cleaning conditions. So we look at conditions of transportations in terms of temperature and cleanness and structure. These are the three areas.

00:20:47:08 - 00:21:09:03

Alan Zering

And then you go into a delivery area. That's another key areas, no critical control point, but it's a it's a it's a point that you need to control in terms of how you receive food, how the food is being defrosted, how was the temperature of the food, how is the food being handled and what cleaning conditions you are actually enforcing it?

00:21:09:03 - 00:21:42:04

Alan Zering

And then goes into another area which is storage and storage. There are three types of storage. There's a dry store, there is a chilled store and there's a frozen storage. And in restaurants, these are the main storage. And they have in some sort of dining, a fine dining restaurant. There's a walk in fridges where you actually store large amount of food and temperature conditions, again, cleaning conditions and store age, height, appropriate food grade containers.

00:21:43:06 - 00:22:13:12

Alan Zering

All these are the factors that we look at and check. And more critically, as we go along to into the environment of preparation and cooking, we're obviously a lot of food being processed. They go into activity of preparing food, react, reconstituting the food from being raw or a incoming material into another type of food which is being actually consumed by the consumer.

00:22:14:01 - 00:22:49:01

Alan Zering

So that's where the bottle starts and that's where the the process of cooking preparation and chilling reheating into serving become a critical control point. That means you must control temperature, you must control cleaning, you must control food hygiene, you must control personal hygiene. There's no way that you can actually sort of during the storage or delivery, you can actually sort of skip some of the food safety requirements.

00:22:49:04 - 00:23:27:06

Alan Zering

But in those steps, you cannot because it goes into the final destination, which serving the food to the customer. So these are becoming critical control points that must be controlled. Our Intertek  Cristal auditors will look into this in depth analysis. They would actually form a a a flowchart on how the food is being produced and that flowchart which constitutes actually the conditions of that food being controlled and processed in terms of temperature, in terms of time, in terms of conditions, of cleaning, etc..

00:23:27:12 - 00:23:47:05

Alan Zering

And and then those controls that we actually sort of enforce ensures if everybody actually follows it strictly and adhere to it ensures that the food served to the consumer at the restaurants table is safe and of a good quality.

00:23:48:10 - 00:24:08:06

Refaya Priya

Thank you so much. Actually enjoyed all the expert insights that you have provided throughout the podcast. Is there anything else you would like to add on before we wrap up or anything you would like to tell our listeners regarding the food safety and supply chain at the restaurant level topic?

00:24:08:14 - 00:24:41:01

Alan Zering

Okay. I just wanted to say, actually, all the things that we've talked about are the principles of food safety, but are too much detail. So the devil's in the details. I mean, when you go to a restaurant as a consumer, not as a professional, there are certain things you look at. And the first thing you look at, obviously, is quality of things as you sense the environment and you see the people and you taste the food.

00:24:41:01 - 00:25:08:08

Alan Zering

You look at the utensils, the table, clothing, the carpet, the ceiling, the wall unit. You have actually sort of a good look at these. You go to the toilet. I personally when I go to the bathroom, the bathroom is clean as an indication that restaurant is clean. Yes. Certificate that you see on the walls of some of the restaurants, they're being audited actually.

00:25:08:08 - 00:25:42:14

Alan Zering

So indicate that the restaurant has followed a food safety management system and ensure that food is being obviously produced in the safest possible way. Then sometimes certificates could gives you a false sense of security. We, as in Cristal, if you see our certificates or you see actually the system is in place, we make sure that all these actually sort of restaurants are following a very solid, validated system of food safety.

00:25:43:00 - 00:26:16:04

Alan Zering

But then again, from your consumer point of view, you really need to actually look at, uh, you know, things that you can see, you can taste and you can have an analytic actually. So analysis of what you see is not only the food itself, it's not the taste of it, it's what is surrounding the food. Because all the things that are surrounding the food are the people who serving it or handling it or the utensils being used, as I said, at the table for anything else, these are sources of contamination to the food.

00:26:16:09 - 00:26:42:00

Alan Zering

So ensure that these are actually sort of, you know, are clean, at least visibly clean, even though sometimes you need to do some tests yourself in order to ensure that things are actually. But it's very difficult from a consumer point of view to see things that you cannot see with the naked eye. So but then again, I think the consumers have an increased awareness.

00:26:42:15 - 00:27:08:15

Alan Zering

They actually sort of even, you know, some of the guests in restaurants would look at the temperature of the food, the temperature of the food, for instance, of a cooked food if it's not, you know, hot enough, 63 centigrade above, they would say, oh, that's that's food, which is not hot enough and needs to be returned. They have that sense of food safety more than us as professionals.

00:27:09:09 - 00:27:11:12

Alan Zering

Yeah, that's all I can say. Thank you very much.

00:27:12:02 - 00:27:34:06

Refaya Priya

No problem. Those are actually pretty great advices. Like I'll make sure to look on those stoves that you that you pointed out next time I go to a restaurant and I'll make sure to also inform my friends and family, you know, let them know that these are things that we should be keeping an eye on whenever we go to a restaurant.

00:27:34:14 - 00:28:03:07

Refaya Priya

Because I'm like all the all the hard work are being done by professionals like you, but at least this is the least we can do from a consumer part. So thank you so much for all the great insights you have provided us today. And I'm sure our listeners will definitely love it. All the information you provided and it will definitely help them to look at things from a different point of view.

00:28:03:08 - 00:28:05:05

Refaya Priya

Thank you so much. Once again.

00:28:05:05 - 00:28:31:11

Alan Zering

I just want to thank again, thank you again for this opportunity to talk about food safety. Just one last word. Obviously, this is something that I've been doing for the last 40 years as a food safety consultant. So don't get put off by some of the things we talk about. And I could go to a restaurant, I could be an awkward guest looking at things in more depth and with analysis.

00:28:31:11 - 00:28:59:08

Alan Zering

So but you should enjoy the food. I'm actually a great food restaurant goer, so I love food and you need to enjoy it, but make sure that you are going into a restaurant which is, you know, safe from your point of view, because food safety is very important, even sometimes more important than the food quality itself.

00:29:01:06 - 00:29:34:09

Refaya Priya

Yes, absolutely. Yeah, no problem. Thank you once again for all the insights you have provided and all the advices and stuffs. Thank you everyone for listening to our second episode of the Food Safety Week podcast. Stay tuned to our Intertek  Agri and Food LinkedIn social page to be notified when the other two episodes are launched. In case you missed our first episode on the importance of Food Standards and Ensuring Food Safety from our Intertek  Assuris team, please visit the link in the description box down below.

00:29:35:13 - 00:29:59:10

Refaya Priya

If and if you have any questions or would like to speak to one of our one off Intertek  Cristal expert for your business. Please do not hesitate to reach out at business.assurance@intertek.com or follow our social media- Intertek  Cristal and Intertek  Agri and Food LinkedIn and Twitter Pages. Thank you, Alan, once again for joining us.

00:29:59:11 - 00:30:10:10

Refaya Priya

And thank you everyone for listening. Stay tuned.