Risks with tea sausage, smoked salmon and Co.
Known risks are often underestimated. Or just accepted. Otherwise nobody would smoke, go skiing or eat raw sausages. No problem, as long as you are only responsible for yourself. The situation is different with regard to mass catering: food business operators are subject to due diligence. You need to identify typical process risks and, if necessary, determine how to avoid them. With regard to catering in hospitals, nursing homes and retirement homes, this means, for example, risky foods such as Tea sausage, smoked salmon or animal cow fruit to delete from the menu. In any case, this is recommended by the Federal Institute for Risk Assessment (BfR) in a publication already published by 2011. The crux of the matter is that just 45 percent of the public catering facilities in hospitals, nursing homes and retirement homes controlled by 2017 are familiar with the BfR recommendations. Even more critical: only 10 percent of controlled farms take them into account in their food planning. Thus, in 90 percent of controlled farms are exposed to vulnerable groups of people such as the elderly and patients avoidable health risks.
15 states participated in a total of 1.880 operational controls on the program, which was one of two focal points of the Federal Monitoring Plan (BÜP) 2017 in the area of operational controls. Thereafter, the inspectors found especially frequent delicatessen salads, spreadable raw sausages and soft cheese with, for example, red smear, resin and Limburger cheese in the food offer of seniors and patients. So many foods that are known for their strong aroma and are therefore appreciated by older people also, as they still irritate their senses despite possible loss of taste. However, these foods pose risks to the health of sensitive individuals, as discussed in detail in 2011's BfR Recommendations.
According to the control findings of the federal states, 81 percent of the controlled hospitals, nursing homes and old people's homes had their own kitchen, 14 percent were supplied with food by an external provider. The other institutions lack concrete information. However, no matter how the food is organized in the institutions: the people responsible must be aware of the particular sensitivity of their target groups and should plan their food offer, taking into account the BfR recommendations, Helmut Tschiersky from the Federal Office for Consumer Protection and Food Safety at a press conference at the 6. December 2018, where further results of official monitoring 2017 were presented. Controls that optimally work beyond the case by creating a clear awareness in the minds of those responsible for ensuring food safety and protection against deception. Whether this is the case with regard to food selection in hospitals, old people's homes and nursing homes should, as the BÜp report 2017 says, be reviewed in a later program at a later date.
Dr. Christina Rempe, www.bzfe.de
