Dr. Ahmed Khedr: we manufacture all of our food products, including bread, according to strict safety procedures through all manufacturing stages.
A new challenge that Hospital 57357 added to its international standard achievements, where the Hospital’s food safety department obtained the food safety management system certification, to become the first Hospital in Egypt obtaining this certification, and its kitchen becomes internationally certified to prepare and manufacture food according to highest food safety measures.
Strict measures:
Dr. Khedr, head of the food safety department, revealed that this certification is one of the highest international certifications, and obtaining it requires applying strict procedures during all food manufacturing stages, starting with supplying and receiving conditions, to storing, to preparation and cooking, and up to food allergy tests. This is in addition to having a follow up system on products according to an operational number, to control critical points and prevent mistakes before they happen, which avoids waste of resources.
Employees’ safety:
Among the important measures are employees’ strict safety provisions and cleanliness and sanitation procedures, such as a reminder system every 20 minutes for the employees to wash and sanitize their hands, and change gloves, holders and head caps.
Among the department’s distinguishing features is that all food safety specialists are internationally certified as observers and external investigators in food safety.
Manufacturing all the products:
Obtaining this certification required the institution to manufacture all of its products. We, in 57357 manufacture all food products in the Hospital including bread, which enables us to prepare meals and export them to other hospitals as a source of income.
Surprise visits:
Dr. Khedr stated that, safe healthy nutrition is one of the most important factors of protecting the health of children with cancer, especially with the lack of immunity that those children suffer from.
Since its establishment, the Hospital administration was committed to maintaining the safety of food provided to its sick children, which qualified us to obtain ISO 22000 certification in food safety system. Meanwhile, the FSSC certification procedures are more complicated and strict, which pushed us to work hard to obtain it throughout an entire year, with strong support and motivation from the management . At the end of the year, the certification program personnel made a surprising visit to the Hospital, to evaluate all the manufacturing procedures. As Hospital 57357 is accustomed to, the evaluation resulted in granting the certification to the Hospital.
The accreditation lasts for three years, i.e. by the end of 2025, after which it is renewable. During this period, there will be annual surprise visits to insure the application of all of these measures that qualified us to obtain the certification.
It is noteworthy that FSSC (also known as FSSC 22000) is a comprehensivefood safety management system certification scheme established upon three existing certifications: ISO 22000, ISO 22002- 1 (a prerequisite food manufacturing standard), and ISO 22002-4 (a prerequisite packaging manufacturing standard).