KENYA – The Kenya Bureau of Standards (KEBS) has urged hotels to raise their production standards for food and beverages as well as hygiene in order to provide customers and visitors with meals that are fit for consumption.
According to the Bureau, this is crucial to the hospitality industry’s sustainable growth as well as the safety of consumers.
The Director of Quality Assurance & Inspection, Geoffrey Muriira, remarked that the event was one of their outreach operations to the industry to spread Kenyan standards and best global practices during a sensitization workshop held at the Mombasa Beach Hotel.
Developing, putting into practice, and maintaining excellent hygiene practices, according to him, create the circumstances and activities required to promote the creation of safe and suitable nutrition at all points in the food chain.
The hotel business is in a post-Covid period, according to Muriira, and in order to ensure proper reclamation, the interested parties should be made aware of the numerous standards and procedures that are enforced globally to ensure that their operations match the necessary criteria.
“In this workshop, we are looking at various standards including KS2573 on hygiene requirements for the hotel and catering industry and Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP),” said Muriira.
He continued by saying that the workshop’s main objective was to ensure that no additional foodborne infections resulted from food that had been handled improperly throughout the preparation process.
Sam Ikwaye, Executive Officer of Kenya Association of Hotel Keepers and Caterers (KAHC), spoke on behalf of industry stakeholders when he said that, despite the perception of high operating costs and compliance with some expected standards, it was important to remember that it would be more expensive to cater for food poisoning cases or injuries associated with them.
Every year, it is estimated that 1.8 million people die from diarrheal infections; the majority of these deaths are related to contaminated food or water, as reported by Kenya News Agency.
By conducting routine factory and market surveillance checks, KEBS keeps an eye on approved items.
In accordance with Section 10 of the Standards Act, Cap. 496 of the Laws of Kenya, it also runs a program for product certification.
