Last month hundreds of delegates attended the eighth Dubai International Food Safety Conference (DIFSC) 2013. Organised by the Food Control Department of the Dubai Municipality and supported by the International Association for Food Protection (IAFP) DIFSC ran from the 17-19th November at the Dubai World Trade Centre.
This year Santia sponsored and exhibited at DIFSC for the first time, showcasing a new Management of Allergens course designed specifically for food handlers. The event was a huge success and lots of people visited the stand to find out more about this new online course.
More than 200 presenters from across the world took part in workshops, technical sessions and poster presentations. Peter Littleton was one of these key speakers presenting on managing food allergens and the implications for your business.
Peter is a Technical Services Manager for Holchem who was invited to speak at DIFSC on behalf of Santia. During his career, Peter has worked in the canning, poultry and ready to eat salads industries in a variety of technical, hygiene and production based roles as well as serving as Senior Food Safety Officer for an environmental health food safety department where he was involved in drafting some of the food legislation in force today.
The focus of Peter’s presentation was based around the fact that between 2 – 3% of adults and between 5 – 8% of children are known to suffer from true allergic reactions and how the Dubai Food Code addresses this, in particular how it states companies “….should have at least one competent person on every shift available to deal with customers who are allergic to certain types of food”.
Peter highlighted the importance of staff training and how cross-contamination can be prevented. Allergic reactions can occur in minutes and prove extremely serious without intervention, which is why it is vital companies implement appropriate procedures to manage food allergens.
Santia’s new online course addresses the allergen control requirements detailed in Section 3.4.3 of the Dubai Municipality Food Code including:
• Common ingredients known to cause allergic reactions
• Allergen labelling requirements
• Preparation and storage controls required to prevent cross contamination
Kirn Chahil, Head of Finance and Operations UAE, Santia Consulting Services (pictured below) said:
“It was great for Santia to be involved in DIFSC 2013, where we launched our new management of allergens online course.
Delegates who visited our stand were able to see a live demonstration of the course and can still benefit from the special promotional price of 150 AED per course.”
Don Meredith, Director of Food, Santia Consulting Ltd commented:
“Santia is really excited to be working with the Dubai Municipality and have developed a Management of Allergens online course to specifically address the requirements of the Dubai Municipality Food Code.”
For more information on Santia’s Management of Allergens online course call +971 (0) 4 441 7861 or email Santia.
Photos courtesy of Judy Sebastian – The Eighth Dubai International Food Safety Conference album.