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.

Space race
First conceived in 1957, HACCP’s roots in the space industry go some way to explaining why the principles might be slightly beyond the comprehension of some kitchen staff.

“HACCP first came about around 50 years ago when NASA needed food that astronauts would be able to consume at zero-gravity, but which would also be safe,” said Professor Joanne Taylor, lecturer in business operations at Salford University.

The methodology was then filtered down for use in the food manufacturing industry. “On the surface it wouldn’t seem to be that complicated; effectively it’s risk management, enforced by document keeping,” according to Taylor.

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“But when you then lift that up and put it into food service it suddenly becomes extremely difficult to maintain. Food service is a much more variable, constantly changing environment and chefs are creative people; it is far less rigid than manufacturing.”

While large hotels might have the budget and ability to send managers on long and often costly HACCP training programmes run by consultancies, this is out of the question for many smaller outlets.

In addition, passing on the training to the other members of staff can pose an insurmountable challenge to many trained managers: “A few years ago I was involved in the HACCP qualification for a large hotel in Dubai and it was an absolute mission to teach the lower level staff about Critical Control Points,” said Dan Clayton, general manager of Stars’n’Bars in Abu Dhabi’s Yas Island.

“Some of them seemed to struggle to understand far more basic concepts of even personal hygiene, let alone danger zones and traceability.”

Oakden found a similar situation when she was first charged with the responsibility of ensuring staff in every Subway franchise were fully HACCP-trained.

“The biggest hurdle we faced was ingrained staff behaviour and attitudes,” said Oakden. “We found staff were running on automatic, used to doing the same things they do everyday and not being proactive.”