15 August 2006 : Hospital Patient Catering . . . . integrating quality and food safety

With commitment from Kowloon Hospital management, the Dietitics Department of the Hospital has managed to embark on a project for building up a Management System which copes with two management standards, namely, ISO 9001 (Quality Management) and HACCP (Food Safety). ISO 9001 is published by the International Organization for Standardization, while the HACCP standard is published by the Codex Alimentarius Commission of United Nation. Because of sufficient relevant experience and quality of service, N. Law and Associates Management Consultancy Ltd. was selected as the Consultant to help the Department to establish and implement the system. A lot of ISO 9001+HACCP training sessions have been conducted for staff and documentations are prepared to define the system. Scope of services included in the system starts from use of approved food suppliers, receiving inspection, material storage, food preparation, cooking, re-heat, hot-hold, food-portioning and dispatch of food to wards by using meal trolleys. The HACCP system involves a lot of areas where temperature and time measurements are made, which helped to assure food safety. In Summer of 2006, the Department and its patient catering operation is certified by SGS. A presentation ceremony was organized and Director, HK & South China, of SGS, Mr Ken Tsang was there to present the Certificates.