Complex food safety training programmes can present barriers to learning for some staff. Complex food safety training programmes can present barriers to learning for some staff.

With new legislation putting food safety practices into focus, Caterer takes a look at the challenges it could pose for smaller outlets.

You might know of the HACCP (Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points) principles, but how much does every level of your kitchen staff really understand about the practice behind the acronyms?

“I only learnt what HACCP was through my training to be a food safety trainer,” said Shaina Oakden, UAE franchise coordinator and food safety trainer of sandwich chain Subway (for more on Subway in the Middle East see p29).

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Having worked in the food industry for many years and with Subway for eight years in the UK, HACCP can be something of a mystery even to management level staff according to Oakden.

It was only on her entrance into the GCC that she was made formally aware of it: “Although I was already implementing HACCP-style principles in the kitchen, I never actually used to know what the technical word was,” she said.

This year Abu Dhabi made it a legal requirement for all food service businesses to implement a food safety system based on HACCP principles by the end of 2011.

A systematic approach to food safety that addresses physical, chemical, and biological hazards as a means of prevention rather than finished product inspection, HACCP is a trade requirement of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) and has been a requirement for all food businesses except farmers across the European Union (EU) since 2006.

While Abu Dhabi is the first emirate to specifically require HACCP implementation in all food service businesses, awareness is widening across the whole region as food safety becomes increasingly important; Dubai’s Person In Charge (PIC) food safety initiative is required to be implemented by the end of 2011, while Sharjah has been working intensively on a four-year programme to make Sharjah a safe environment for food.

It has become such a hot topic that the UAE is considering a new federal law to harmonise food safety practice across all of the emirates, said Rashid Ahmed Bin Fahad, UAE minister of environment and water, at the sixth Dubai International Food Safety Conference.

Bin Fahad emphasised that it is the internationally recognised nature of systems such as HACCP that is central to the UAE’s new food safety legislation: “We are not simply introducing a law for the UAE, but one that is compatible and in harmony with international laws,” he said.

With rising food prices meaning food safety is even more crucial, it has never been more pressing for restaurant staff at every level to fully understand what HACCP means.