HACCP Awarded To ITC Hotel Maurya Sheraton And Towers, New Delhi

EH&C Staff - New Delhi

After obtaining two environmental standards that is the ISO 14001 International Standards certificate in 1996 and the IH&RA Environmental Award in 2000, in addition to the British Safety Council 'Sword of Honour' for three consecutive years from 1997-99, The ITC Hotel Maurya Sheraton and Towers, New Delhi was recently awarded the HACCP certification in February 2005.

Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points or HACCP is an evaluation system to identify, monitor, and control contamination risks in food service establishments. A recommended control system as part of the European guidelines for the hygiene of food products, it has been adopted at international levels as the basis for all discussions on food safety and prevention of chemical products, presence of foreign bodies, etc. It is a system that ensures the hygiene, safety and quality of all foods and drinks produced and served at the hotel. All food production processes in the kitchen and bars are regulated and controlled by specific procedures that HACCP system defines. Therefore these procedures are binding on all those areas of operation that involve food and drinks.

Dr KA Khan, who heads the Hotel research and development, after having successfully completed a Food Safety (HACCP) Course from Royal Institute of Public Health and Hygiene, led the Hotel HACCP committee.

To successfully implement HACCP, the following measures were adopted:

• Potential hazards biological (yeast, parasite), chemical and physical (wood, metal) present at the different stage of food handling (eggs, flour, meat, seafood, drinks etc) - from the delivery of the product by the supplier till the consumption by the customer, were identified and analysed.
• Corrective measures were established to monitor and prevent hazards
• Established procedures ensured that they worked properly and efficiently
• Temperature charts were implemented to guarantee that the products were preserved at the right temperature
• Fresh products were marked with special labels, mentioning the date of arrival and expiry
• Food samples were tested on a regular basis in the laboratory
• Selected suppliers had to comply with the strict criteria of confirming quality of their products to the committee through certifications of hygienic and professional standards used during the food process.

The successful accomplishment of HACCP at the hotel has signalled a shift in emphasis from resource-intensive product inspection and testing to prevention control of hazards at all stages of the food production.