Safe service

[L-R] Antonio Bautista, Russell Impiazzi, Muhammad Qamar, Kevin Wills, Uwe Micheel, Bobby Thulasi and Loraine Hughes.

Micheel: In one way I agree with what you’re saying, but have you ever stood for half an hour in the bathroom of a five-star hotel? Because I think if you actually check how many of these people in designer suits from priveleged backgrounds come out of the toilet and do not wash their hands, you’d be surprised!

Thulasi: Exactly; everyone would agree that hand-washing is necessary after you leave the bathroom, but research shows that only 20% of people actually do it!

However secondary research shows that when you are noticed by someone else, if someone else is in the bathroom, for instance, your tendency to wash your hands increases by 60%.

This is down to an ‘organisations culture’. When you step into an organisation, whether you are trained or not, you will know and pick up what the ‘correct’ thing to do is by observing other people.

That highlights the importance of having a ‘food safety culture’. A team effort really encourages people to do things. It should start with the general manager and go down to the very last employee; that is how a business succeeds.

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Bautista: Leading from the top is vital. There has to be positive reinforcement from the highest level, otherwise people don’t buy into it.

Micheel: You’ve got to have everyone on board — and that includes financial people, who might wonder what the return on such investment is.

Thulasi: It’s not about what you spend, but what you’re going to lose if you don’t have a system in place. Some of the biggest names in the world have been destroyed by bad press as a result of food scandals.

But it’s difficult for smaller businesses. That is why we are launching a new programme, Person In Charge, where Dubai Municipality requests that every operation has a person in charge at the outlet who is linked to the license, who will liaise with us and have accountability.

So we’re hoping that programme will improve relations, then we will take it to the next level with management systems.

Micheel: Good — because it cannot be that you only have safe food if you have enough money. This is what it comes down to, at the moment: if you have enough money, you can afford to eat in a good restaurant and your food is safe; if you cannot, tough luck. This cannot happen; everyone has the right to eat safe food.