Continued">Continued">Continued">Nutrition and Food Safety – Children Cancer Hospital Egypt 57357
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Clinical Nutrition

Nutrition and Food Safety

Healthy nutrition is one of the most important factors that assist our children during their journey against cancer. As such, the idea of establishing a department for nutrition and food safety emerged to take care of the food that children receive.

The department was established in 2007, with the beginning of the Hospital operation. It pursued the production of healthy, safe food for all its consumers. As the department’s employees constantly sought to improve performance, they started preparing for the ISO 22000:2005 certificate for food safety and management systems. The department obtained the certificate for the first time in 2009 and kept renewing it until September 2022, when the certificate issuance was updated to become ISO 220000:2018.

In December 2022, the FSSC 22000 certificate, which is an international accreditation, was obtained. The Hospital is the first institution to obtain this food and beverage certificate in the Middle East. This accreditation lasts three years until the end of 2025 and is renewable. During this period, there will be annual surprise visits to ensure the continuity of all measures that qualify us to obtain this accreditation, considered one of the highest international certificates in the field. Obtaining this certificate requires the application of strict standards in all the preparation phases, starting with terms of supply, receiving, storing up to preparation, cooking, and food allergy tests. This is in addition to the products’ follow-up system, which uses the operational number to control critical points and prevent mistakes before they happen, which protects from wasting resources.

Among the department’s distinguishing features is that all food safety specialists are internationally certified as lead auditors and external auditors in food safety, and there are 8 nutrition specialists.

Goals:

1- The department pursues the offer of safe food by following and applying the requirements, laws, and legislation in food safety.

2- Create a diet plan that meets each patient's nutritional needs by following the calculations and recommendations of the clinical nutrition physician and pharmacist.   ​

Recommendations for the Food Safety Day Celebration

  • Nitrite, E. coli, and saturated fat are behind the spread of colon cancer, and returning to a healthy diet is the most important protection.
  • Be aware of these signs when you buy grains and crackers:
  • Ensure you read the nutrition facts card associated with food products and the production date, expiration date, added items, and preservation conditions.
  • When you buy different types of grains, especially manufactured ones such as nuts, spices, and crackers (which contain grains, especially corn), you must ensure they are free of mold. If there is mold, the whole quantity must be discarded since this mold contains aflatoxin, a fungal toxin produced by certain types of fungi. It grows in hot, humid weather and accumulates in the human body, causing diseases, especially cancer. When you buy these grains, you must ensure there are no fractions, defects, or weird colors.
  • Committing to observing all safety guidelines of food production stages (from the farm to the dining table) where the crop may be infected with fungi or microbes during the stage of agriculture, harvest, manufacture, or storing. It may infect animal food; hence, the animal transmits the infection through meat or milk.
  • Ensure the validity of infant milk, especially imported ones, where they should be analyzed to ensure it is free of contamination.
  • As a result of the worldwide spread of stomach bacteria, fruits, and vegetables must be washed well, and vigilance regarding restaurants that produce fresh food that is not exposed to heat, such as different types of salads, and periodic examination of food producers to ensure food cleanliness and that it does not contain stomach bacteria which is related to stomach cancer, meanwhile, new studies proved its relation to colon cancer too.
  • Stomach bacteria is also found in raw dairy and dairy products that are not treated with heat, hence it is recommended to eat heat-treated dairy products.
  • Attention to breastfeeding since it is closely related to general immunity and gastrointestinal tract immunity, as it is the first protection and food safety method, in comparison to manufactured milk that may be exposed to poor storage whether it is inside the box before usage, during preparation or in infant’s bottle.
  • The importance of returning to a healthy diet, after new research, demonstrated that the spread of colon cancer worldwide in young ages is due to changes in food style and the spread of fast food, which is rich in saturated fat and added items such as mayonnaise and ketchup and which doesn’t contain elements that protect from diseases such as fibers and anti-oxidants.
  • Another reason to limit fast food consumption is its inclusion of E. coli strains that cause colon cancer, as demonstrated by the latest findings.
  • Limit eating processed meat since most of it includes nitrite (used as a preservative, gives the meat a red color, and improves the taste and aroma of meat). In 2017, the WHO announced the relation of this substance to colon cancer, where during the digestion of this type of meat, a cancerous substance called nitrosamines is formed inside the human body. Researches affirm the close relationship between excessive consumption of this type of processed meat and colon cancer.