Flying the food safety flag
F&B equipment supplier Mobile Gastro Konzepte is raising food safety awareness among the region’s hotels with its latest solutions.
Food safety has come under scrutiny recently with reports of mishaps in various F&B outlets across the region, but suppliers such as Mobile Gastro Konzepte are working to promote best practice in hotels with their tailored product ranges.
Mobile Gastro Konzepte is the main supplier of temperature monitoring equipment for HACCP compliance in the MEA region; from simple gadgets such as its pocket test Digital Chef’s Thermometers to its fully-automated, wireless TempTrak temperature monitoring system.
Furthermore, the company is on the core committee for the food-safety campaign recently launched by Dubai Municipality.
“Our aim is to educate the public and to raise awareness of how food should be stored safely, what temperatures are important, appropriate hygiene standards and so forth.
Our focus will involve working with industry experts such as hygiene directors and consultants for food safety,” says Mobile Gastro Konzepte general manager Mirco Beutler.
And the hotels’ response to the company’s efforts to promote increased food-safety awareness has been positive, with Beutler acknowledging a surge in popularity of high-quality, food-safety technology, such as pocket test thermometers, and warehouse and food transit equipment dataloggers.
“Most of the region’s suppliers are now being audited by hotels on things such as cold storage and HACCP certification, for example, before they will even be considered. Dubai has the toughest food-safety standards that are continuously enforced from the Dubai municipality.
“Everyone’s talking about the crisis, but we’re confident in the vision of HH Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum, vice president and prime minister of UAE and ruler of Dubai, to lead Dubai to compete with established worldwide tourist destinations.
We see projects on hold, but business has increased and we feel food safety has increased as well — thanks to Dubai Municipality and their inspectors,” adds Beutler.
While business has been good for Mobile Gastro Konzepte, Beutler claims the company has offered better value for money, additional value-add services for loyal customers and has demonstrated a willingness to go the extra mile to satisfy clients.
“Suppliers who can adapt to market requirements and adjust their product range to meet the requirements of hotels have the best chance of survival,” he says.
For more information about food safety in the UAE contact Dubai Municipality’s senior food studies officer & co-oordinator for the Food Control Department Bobby Krishna at foodsafetyinfo_dubai@googlegroups.com
About Mobile Gastro Konzepte’s general manager
Mirco Beutler joined the hospitality industry in Germany as a management trainee at the Kempinski Hotel Airport, Munich before moving to Hotel Vier Jahreszeiten Kempinski Munich.
Beutler spent the next five years working across Hilton and Sheraton hotels in London. He then moved to Dubai to join Jumeirah Emirates Towers’ F&B team and left in 2004 to set up Mobile Gastro Konzepte.