Better food standards at hotels and restaurants in Amman

Amman – Efforts to improve food service at hotels and restaurants around Amman are well underway as 120 workers in this field graduated yesterday from a safe food handling course that was implemented over the past month. The graduation ceremony took place under the patronage of Professor Dr. Mohammed Rawashdeh, Director General of JFDA, who attended the event.

This initiative to improve food handling at Jordanian food-service outlets, starting with Amman, is being implemented by the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II in cooperation with the Jordan Food and Drug Administration (JFDA), Jordan Hotel Association (JHA), and the Jordan Restaurant Association (JRA).

Dr. Rawashdeh congratulated the graduates and said that the training will have a great effect on raising standards of food service and safety offered at the establishments involved. He added that this will reflect positively on the local and foreign customer, which will in turn impact the tourism product and support Jordan’s economic development. Dr. Rawashdeh also stressed on the importance of cooperation between the private and public sectors to improve food safety and develop this product.

“Sixty percent of hotel employees work in preparing, storing or serving food; therefore it is important to increase such training courses and focus them on three and four-star hotels, where bookings will increase due to the world economic situation,” said Mr. Yasar Al Majali, manager of JHA. He added, “I look forward to seeing these course being implemented on site at all hotels in order for employees to implement the practical side of the training directly and under the professional supervision of the trainers.”

Mr. Zeid Goussous, President of JRA, highlighted the need to hold these courses in Jordanian cities that attract tourists to avoid food poisoning, which negatively affects the tourist experience and reflects badly on Jordan’s tourism industry.

“It is important that you now transfer the knowledge that you gained to your colleagues at work and that you adopt the instructions and guidelines you received as common practice. This will have a positive affect on the entire sector,” said Dr. Joseph Ruddy, Component Leader at the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II, who also thanked the graduates for their efforts during the course. He also emphasized the important role of JHDA, JHA and JRA in holding these courses, preparing the material and nominating members to take part.

The series of one-day courses gave trainees an introduction to safe food regulation, food protection techniques, and good employee hygiene and facility sanitation. The participants included cooks, waiters, storekeepers, and food handlers from several hotels and restaurants that are taking part in the reformation of food handling practices in order to attain higher quality standards.

This initiative adopts a ‘train-the-trainer’ approach as the 120 workers who developed their skills through this course will in turn train employees in the kitchens and food service areas that they work in an attempt to create a ripple of food safety improvement throughout the industry. It is estimated that each participant will train 20 others between now and September, which will result in a total of 2,400 workers improving their food handling skills. This will have a positive impact on the industry, which will be passed on to visitors and tourists who eat at these hotels and restaurants as through better hygiene and improved food standards.

To plan and implement this initiative, the USAID/Jordan Tourism Development Project II established a working group to develop the syllabus and course material for safe food handling, re-design the existing restaurant safety guide and print 500 copies, and conduct four courses in Amman to train the 120 participants. The JHA and JRA promoted the course and recruited and registered their members to attend the program, and certified the program. JFDA participated in developing the syllabus and course material, and also taught part of the course as well as promoting it through food inspectors, and certifying the participants of the safe food handling course in partnership with the USAID tourism project.

This is the first step in improving food safety standards around the Kingdom and raise food service levels to meet international expectations.