The FSAI is confident that this new programme will ultimately reduce the high number of enforcement orders being served on the sector due to breaches of food safety legislation. The authority states that 25 per cent of closure orders and 41 per cent of improvement orders issued between 1st January 2003 and 31st March 2004 were served on Chinese food outlets.
It maintains that as this new training programme is rolled out to Chinese food businesses throughout the country, there should be a comparative decline in the number of breaches of food safety legislation.
Alan Reilly, FSAI acting chief executive, states that this new programme fills a vital gap in the provision of food safety training in Ireland. "Since the FSAI first started serving enforcement orders in 2001, the Chinese food sector has consistently received 1 in 6 of all closure orders. This trend cannot continue. Protection of consumer health is of the utmost importance and I look forward to seeing a strong uptake of the new training programme by Chinese food businesses."
The training programme was developed in consultation with the 11 Health Boards and is supported by environmental health officers throughout the country. Each business taking part in the programme is trained individually.
"We needed to develop a programme that would adequately and effectively address the unique needs of the Chinese food sector, and ultimately be of benefit in tackling the breaches of food safety legislation that have been occurring within the sector," said Reilly. "This training programme targets the owners, managers and head chefs of Chinese food businesses - they need to be the first to embrace the importance of food safety as ultimately the buck stops with them."
The main cooking methods used by the Chinese are stir-frying, deep-frying, boiling, steaming and blanching and the FSAI has ensured that the safety aspects associated with these cooking methods are addressed throughout the training programme and accompanying materials, so as to be of relevance to Chinese food businesses. The programme focuses on food safety hazards; food microbiology and food preservation and food safety management.
Chinese food has become increasingly popular in Ireland taking a 56 per cent share of the Irish Ethnic Foods Retail Market in 2003. On average, each Irish household eats as least one Chinese meal per week.