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How Cruise Ship Chefs Maintain Food Hygiene

How Cruise Ship Chefs Maintain Food Hygiene
In today’s world, personal hygiene and public health are very closely related. Food handling is one of the ways in which microbes – and communicable diseases such as coronavirus – are transferred. Cruise ship chefs jobs have some of the strictest practices when it comes to food safety.

All major cruise line companies include the HACCP approach to food safety. This Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points system helps keep food safe from biological, chemical, physical and even radiological threats during the production process.

This is in addition to the personal hygiene standards all crew members are expected to follow, particularly those handling food. Cruise line chefs follow proper hygiene protocol including showering every day, sometimes adding an extra shower after work. They are also expected to be properly groomed every day. This includes ensuring their nails are short and clean, their uniforms are clean and their shoes are shined.

Proper handwashing procedures are strictly followed with special sinks dedicated to washing hands only located in all the galleys. They also use the three bucket or three sink system in the galley to clean dishes and utensils – one for washing, one for rinsing and the last for sanitising.

Within the context of the coronavirus crisis, cruise ship chefs are at a distinct advantage regarding measures to stop cross-contamination. One of the main personal hygiene rules followed on a cruise ship is not touching food contact surfaces such as knives, stockpots and cutting boards, with bare hands. Combined with frequent hand washing and not being permitted to touch their face during food preparation, cruise ship chefs present an extremely low risk particularly during this pandemic.

Different cruise ship companies also have their own sanitation inspections from organisations such as the USPH for the US, Ship Sanitation for the European Union, Health Canada, Anvisa for Brazil and Australian Ship Sanitation. Typically, ships that fail to score a minimum of 86 in the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Vessel Sanitation Program are considered unsatisfactory on the hygiene scale.

Sanitation inspections look for minute details – from stray coffee grounds under the machine to a single fruit fly at a breakfast station and even leftovers without labels. So cruise ship chefs need to be extremely careful when it comes to hygiene in food handling.

Every step from procuring produce and ingredients to storage, processing, handling and service follows strict hygiene guidelines on board. Cruise ship chefs learn to stick to these rules unwaveringly to help their vessel pass sanitation inspections. The procedures are ingrained from the time they start their courses, refreshed when they join their first contract and revisited during orientation programmes.

According to the World Health Organisation, there is no evidence to date that viruses that cause respiratory illnesses can be transmitted through food or food packaging. Coronaviruses also need an animal or human host to multiply – they cannot do so in food. So as long as all people involved in the food processing chain maintain simple but effective methods of hygiene, everyone can be protected.

These measures include using personal protective equipment such as masks and gloves, frequent washing of hands and cleaning or disinfecting of work surfaces and touch points such as door handles, good respiratory hygiene such as covering the nose and mouth when sneezing or coughing, maintaining appropriate physical distancing at all stages of food processing, and being aware of symptoms so they can remove themselves from the workplace immediately. Staff involved in delivery of food must also follow hygiene and phyical distancing rules.

COVID-19 need not bring the food service industry to a grinding halt. With stringent processes in place – many already followed by cruise ship chefs, delicious meals can be served to consumers at their homes, bringing joy even during these testing times.

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How Cruise Ship Jobs put Hygiene on top priority

How cruise ship jobs put hygiene on top priority

Thousands of people need to be fed on a regular basis each day on a typical cruise line, and with the volume of food being prepared, cooked and served, the number of dirty dishes also piles up. The danger of dirty dishes and raw food stems from the buildup of dangerous bacteria and viruses which can make people very sick.

One of the most contagious illnesses that strike cruise ships in particular is from the Norovirus bug, which causes symptoms like nausea, vomiting, diarrhea and abdominal pain. It is easily transmitted through person-to-person contact, through food, water and sometimes even via air-borne particles of vomit. With so many people on a cruise ship in close proximity to each other – both guests and staff – this virus can travel extremely fast and cause an epidemic. The main method of prevention of food-borne illnesses on cruise ships is cleanliness and hygiene.

All cruise ship kitchens maintain a high standard of hygiene and cleanliness to prevent food-borne illnesses from being spread. All staff working in the galley, including cruise ship chefs, must wash their hands thoroughly as often as required, particularly before and after working with different types of foods, and after using the toilet. They are also expected to use single-use gloves when handling items like raw meat, poultry and seafood.

They also have high-standard personal hygiene rules, including having short, neatly cut nails at all times, hair tied away from the face and beards trimmed, and clean uniforms. Staffs involved in preparation and cooking of food are even prohibited from wearing jewellery, including wrist-watches.

Shipments of food go through a thorough check on delivery for standards of cleanliness before being stored in areas that are sanitised on a regular basis. Before preparation, raw food, particularly salad leaves and fruit, are washed thoroughly. Some cruise ships have their own industrial-size salad washing machines that allow them to efficiently wash large quantities of leaves in a shorter period of time without compromising on cleanliness.

Restaurants, cafés and other food service areas are constantly kept clean by staff specially assigned to the job. Self-serve stalls, such as beverage or ice cream machines, pasta or dessert counters and sandwich bars, are areas that need constant attention and regular cleaning.

Cruise ship galleys have strict guidelines for dealing with dirty dishes and utensils. Most follow the process of rinse, clean and sanitise, in which remaining dried bits of food are first scraped off the dish or utensil, which is then rinsed in potable water, then cleaned with a food-grade detergent and finally sanitised with a food-grade chemical solution or hot water before being left to air-dry.

Regulatory authorities, such as the United States Public Health department and Centre for Disease Control and Prevention, require that galleys are in order before closing for the day, so staff are often working late into the night to ensure every last fork is cleaned, every piece of equipment and service area is wiped down with sanitising solution, the store rooms are in order and food is labelled appropriately.

Even though the lowest level of kitchen staff – the utility assistants and cleaners – may not require prior training to land cruise ship jobs, they receive thorough training on board and are constantly supervised to ensure they follow the correct procedures. Spot checks by management are common as are frequent unannounced inspections by health authorities.

Cruise companies can be fined heavily or lose licences if they fail government health checks. This means that all levels of kitchen staff must comply with high-quality strict health and safety standards at all times.

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