Why is Digital Monitoring Necessary to Ensure Food Safety?

It is necessary for the hospitals and residential aged care to maintain food safety because there are many vulnerable customers who can develop foodborne diseases.

FREMONT, CA: In the hospitals and residential aged care, the senior management and boards of directors must provide a higher level of attention and priority to food safety. Many patients come under the vulnerable category because they are at a higher risk of obtaining foodborne diseases.

Therefore, the facilities have to maintain the suitability, adequacy, and effectiveness of the food safety program. They must also continuously pursue methods that can enhance their processes, operations, policies, and practices. However, when the healthcare facilities first introduced these requirements, it was established as the paper-based data collection and record management system. Routinely these records were audited to ensure that the facilities are following the food safety standards and giving their patients good food. However, one of the significant elements of the food safety program is the kitchen operation. They have to record the temperature of the food when it gets received from the supplier until it gets cooked. They also have to monitor the temperature of refrigeration and freezer, food, and equipment before service. It is also necessary for the kitchen department to clean and sanitize during the entire process and even monitor the dishwasher's temperature.

The people working in the kitchen have a hefty workload as they have to prepare, cook, and serve the meals. They also have to keep a constant checklist to ensure that the food the patients are eating is safe. Therefore, maintaining such paper recorded documents can be time-consuming as they have to be stored, analyzed, and prepared for the regulator at the audits.

It is necessary to replace the paperwork with digital technologies so that the employees in the facilities can utilize handheld devices to record important information. The wireless sensors can also be used for monitoring the cold-rooms and freezer units. While the technologies monitor food safety, the kitchen department more time, which they can use productively.

The digital records will also offer accuracy, which might not always be possible for an employee as humans are prone to error. Therefore, in a critical issue like food safety of the hospital, ensuring accuracy is very important. The digital technologies will also monitor data automatically and upload it, so it will make sure about the factors like consistency and efficiency.