Pathways to Success Sandpiper Inn Scores with HACCP Training November 6 , 2006

HACCP Awards Presentation .

THE SANDPIPER hotel, with the financial assistance of the Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) Council, has become the first local hotel whose staff has achieved the internationally recognised Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) certification.

At a recent presentation ceremony at the hotel, Minister of Tourism Noel Lynch awarded 41 Food and Beverage staff members with Certificates in the Fundamentals of Food Hygiene and Safety from the Royal Society for the Promotion of Health (RSPH). Ten of them, including members of the kitchen staff, were also awarded Certificates in the Fundamentals of HACCP.

The RSPH, founded in 1876, promotes Health and Safety throughout the workplace and has been offering general Health and Safety and Food Safety certification courses for over ten years. HACCP was designed by Pillsbury for NASA, the United States space agency, in 1959. It was developed to guarantee that food provided for astronauts was not contaminated by germs, chemicals or bad handling.

The training for the two courses was provided by Talkabout/Earth Solutions through trainers Louise John and Suzanne Shillingford-Brooks. During the awards ceremony, John noted that the United Kingdom-based institution had paid glowing tribute to Stephanie-Ann Wedderburn who became the first person from Latin America and the Caribbean to achieve 100% in both examinations.

John said that it was important for hotels doing business with European tour operators to obtain HACCP certification, since the latter were required to observe the principles of HACCP under European Union food safety regulations. “The concept of ‘safe food’ was enshrined in the European Union Directive on Hygiene of Foodstuffs Article 3 in 1993 (and) requires each food business to apply the principles of HACCP because the safe production of food must be controlled by the business operator.”

She explained: “HACCP means Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point which in simple terms means identifying the points in food production and preparation which are critical to the food remaining safe or becoming contaminated and no longer usable. Caribbean hotels and restaurants are well advised to train and apply HACCP principles quickly (since) European operators are expected to comply with EU law, which by extension includes the hotels they sub-contract. Legal issues (can be) a potential business threat if a diner develops food poisoning, in all its guises, as a result of eating your food.”

During his address, Minister Lynch praised Sandpiper for its training initiative noting that Barbados had gotten some aspects of its tourism right but that the country still needed to emphasise continuous product improvement within the tourism industry. This included continuous improvement of the service levels, in addition to the physical tourism product.

He said that the human resource was very important since it provided the service and because of that it also needed to be constantly upgraded.

Minister Lynch congratulated Sandpiper’s staff for their success in training and thanked them on behalf of the government for their contribution to Barbados’ tourism product and by extension the economy.

He noted that Sandpiper’s achievement of reaching international, recognised standards was a fine example for the rest of Barbados to follow.

Minister Lynch also thanked the TVET Council for contributing to the raising of local standards through training.