Study Of Status Of Food Safety And Relevant Countermeasures Of Catering Central Kitchen In Shanghai

[OBJECTIVE] Through food safety status quo investigation in central kitchens of catering service industry in Shanghai (hereinafter referred to as the "central kitchens"), and combined with central kitchen laws and standards at home and abroad, this paper objectively analyzed the risk characteristics and main problems of central kitchens, and provides countermeasures and certain theoretical basis for supervising and rule making.[METHODS] To carry out complete coverage investigation on55central kitchens which comply with Food Safety Operation Specification on Catering Service Industry. This paper uses questionnaire survey, questions cover location and setting, layout and flow, products and varieties, process and technology, facilities and equipments, food safety control in process, detection, management of hygiene, employees and so on. Meanwhile, the paper collects and analyses relative technology specifications and standards on central kitchens, concludes main problems of central kitchens in food safety supervision. This paper studies status, risk characteristics and impact factors of central kitchens with concludes from status quo investigation.[RESULTS] Food safety status of central kitchens in Shanghai.①Objects and scope of delivery:Main delivery objects of55central kitchens are catering service industry.89.1%of central kitchens only deliver catering,10.9%of them deliver both catering and food circulation. Central kitchens in Shanghai have preliminarily been build chain delivery mode,64%of them deliver more than10stores,16.4%of them deliver more than30stores.②Products and varieties:Central kitchens cover12types and over60sub-types of food,95%of them deliver foods with potential hazards,92.7%of them make raw semi-finished products,67.3%of them make heated semi-finished products,36.4%of them make ready to eat foods.③Production site:All the central kitchens in Shanghai have mass production level,40%of them own areas over1500m2, but the mass production level is unequal;15%of them own areas under300m2, and they can not conform to the entry conditions.④Facilities and equipments:95%of central kitchens are manual or semi-automatic processing, coincidence rates of key production site, facilities and equipments are low, coincidence rate of cooling equipment is21%, only20%of central kitchens equipped with packaging room for ready to eat foods.⑤Process control:The control system for processing in central kitchens are imperfection,37%of them control center temperatures,46%of them monitor time for cooling and temperature,40%of them monitor concentration of disinfectant,21%of them inspect Environmental cleanliness,32.8%of the vehicles for easy to decay foods do not have temperature control devices.⑥Package and label:54.5%of central kitchens use simple package and deliver containers, like turnover boxes, stainless pails, salvers, labels in part of the products do not conform to regulations, those central kitchens do not have relevant enterprise standards and best before dates either.⑦Inspection:56.4%of central kitchens equipped with inspection rooms,80%of central kitchens do not inspect or monitor in process.⑧Employees:Education backgrounds and levels of the employees work in central kitchens are low.13.5%of them graduated from colleges,52.6%of them graduated from junior high school, cognitive levels on food safety are low, the accuracy of5types of tests for employees are lower than average level.[CONCLUSIONS] Central kitchens are the trends in chain catering service industry. In2years, the number has developed from80to151since year2010; the number of stores has reached over3000. Its large scale, standardized, mechanized production can reduce cost, improve quality, control source, promote standardized operation. Supervision departments have brought central kitchens into catering service industry; they issue licenses and supervise according to laws. The main problems in central kitchens are that relevant laws and standards are imperfect. Risks in part of food types are not effectively controlled. The processing and delivery steps are complicated, the hygiene, time and temperature controls in process are not strict, the key hardware facilities in production site are imperfect, the supervision boundary among departments is not clear. A further step should be taken to standardize the development of central kitchens.[SUGGESTIONS]①To complete relevant laws and standards for central kitchens, draft national standards like Hygiene Regulation on Central Kitchens.②To restrict high risk foods processed in central kitchens, establish catalogs of forbidden foods, and reduce finished product level.③To standardize the entry requirements for central kitchens, reform and update the hardware facilities in central kitchens.④To bring out supervisions and law enforcement in central kitchens and its supply chains, establish linkage supervision mechanism, strengthen supervisions on key steps of supply chains, intensify supervision and law enforcement.⑤To strengthen the enterprise internal management, improve their own management organization, make perfect its management system, and educate the employees.⑥To clarify the regulatory responsibilities among supervision departments, use unified standards, accelerate reform of food safety regulatory system, and strengthen the merge on supervision responsibilities.