Zoe Powell of NHS Supply Chain: Food explains how her organisation has worked with the British Sandwich and Food To Go Association (BSA) and NHS England to roll out new, safer regulations on the supply of sandwiches and chilled ready-to-eat foods for hospital patients.
"The risk facing vulnerable groups from Listeria Monocytogenes (LM) is ever-present in hospitals. It is not possible to totally eliminate listeria from chilled foods, even in hospital kitchen environments, as it is present naturally in the environment.
And while reputable sandwich and chilled food suppliers go to considerable lengths to eliminate listeria from their products, it is still impossible to completely eradicate it, particularly where specific ingredients are known to be carriers.
Low levels of listeria are not considered a risk to most consumers. However, the high temperatures in many healthcare environments, and the time that products may be out of chill during distribution within a hospital before reaching patients, means that even very low levels can grow to become more challenging.
Restricting shelf-life to two days, maintaining temperatures at or below 5C (five degrees Celsius) during distribution, and removing higher risk ingredients are key factors in controlling the risks.
And so on October 6th new guidelines for patient safety in this food category, meaning a safer supply of sandwiches, salads and other chilled ready-to-eat foods, were rolled out to patients
To achieve these new standards NHS Supply Chain: Food worked with the BSA, which represents businesses in the manufacture, retailing and supply of ingredients and equipment for the sandwich and food to go markets, and includes food-to-go suppliers."
Date: 6 January