The implementation of a customized food safety system in community kitchens in rural Lebanon

Abstract

Batal et al. (2007) linked the increased rate of chronic diseases in Lebanon to the lack of dietary diversity. Authors claimed that supporting traditional practices and promoting dietary diversity will help in overcoming the nutritional problems in the areas. Thus, community kitchens were established in three rural areas in Lebanon; Batloun Aarsal and Kwakh (Batal et al., 2007) to promote traditional foods. Traditional foods are often snubbed because of the perception that these foods are not manufactured following rigid standards and are thus unsafe for consumption. The implementation of a food safety system is essential to ensure and assure the safety of the manufactured foodstuffs. The main objective of this study is to implement a food safety system customized to meet the needs of these community kitchens and cooperatives in rural Lebanon. The developed program aims at ensuring safety of the artisanal foods for home consumption and improving their marketability by increasing consumer confidence. Finally this work serves as a pilot for future work with such communities and ecotourism settings. The customized training that covered the basic levels for good manufacturing practices (GMPs) was divided to four stages; pre-assessment and studying the traditional habits of the community, basic training, hands on training and finally the audit. This educated and empowered the women by increasing their knowledge in food safety; thus improving the standards of their products. Personnel of the cooperatives were assessed and trained following a workshop that included customized lectures and hands on training program that was developed based on the women’s educational level, socioeconomic status and cultural background. Additionally, the kitchen layout was assessed and modified according to standards, and a customized HACCP system was implemented where hazards, critical control points and control measures were explained. The implementation of such a system, not only affect the cooperative from the food safety aspec