6/08/2008

Reza Hygiene - Food Safety symposium

Experts urge raising food hygiene level.

Raising the standards of hygiene and building a culture of food safety in public and private sectors were in focus at a seminar held in Jeddah. With over 475 attendees, the one day event was an opportunity for the private sector to mix with their peers and heads of the various authorities responsible for food safety and food standards across Saudi Arabia. These authorities and international guest speakers presented and shared food safety developments, areas of best practices and standards for food control and risk control at the seminar organized by Reza Hygiene Systems (RHS) in cooperation with Saudi Arabian Standards Organization (SASO) at the Jeddah Westin Hotel.

SASO Director General Nabil Mulla said that the private sector had to realize the importance of food safety applications so that consumers got the benefit of safe food. He called on food manufacturers and users of food at restaurants and catering centers at places including hospitals and corporate establishments to assume the responsibility of providing safe and hygienic food. "Since all of such departments have food handlers, they could take precautions to prevent cases of food contamination and poisoning," he said.

Haydar Alireza, general manager of Reza Hygiene, said the seminar was an educational event for the food processing and food service industries. The objective is to provide an opportunity to the private sector in cooperation with the SASO and the Ministry of Commerce and Industry's lab section to update information on food safety and standards. "Any food product coming into the Kingdom has been passing through official channels for safety inspection, but it becomes the responsibility of food handlers to ensure its safety," he added.

Representatives from the dairy industry, bakery industry, food and beverage processing companies, meat and poultry processors, hotels and restaurants, catering companies, major retailers and supermarkets, and hospital food services departments were among those who took part in the event which also had some international companies displaying their products and services at an exhibition.

Curtis  Coleman, president of US-based Safe Foods Corporation, referred to 'Cecure,' a new anti-microbial technology as anti-bacterial for poultry, meat, vegetables and some other food applications. "This product has an active ingredient similar to the one found in mouth wash liquids," he said.

Approved by SASO as well as the Food and Drugs Administration of the United States, besides food authorities of Canada, Japan and European Community, Cecure is to be launched in the Kingdom in a couple of months, Ahmad M. Shmoury, business development manager at RHS' food processing and bio-security, told Arab News.

A world bio-security specialist, Peter Thompson of Evans Vanodine Co Ltd of the UK, spoke about bio-security applications in broiler farms and explained the related international standards and good hygienic practices that should be applied in the interest of consumer safety.

Karim Dada of US-based Neogen Corporation, dealt with a new technique to detect bacterial levels in food. "Called 'Soleris for food safety', this is a very fast technique compared to correctional microbiology methods," he added. Neogen has invented this technique as a cutting edge technology to help prevent any case of food poisoning.