World Health Day at Mount Lavinia Hotel

 Conducts health check for all food handlers along the theme of ‘food safety’ as decreed for 2015 by WHO

A routine health check for all food handling staff at Mount Lavinia Hotel was conducted in par with World Health Day which was celebrated on 7th April.

Food is one of the main avenues through which communicable diseases are passed. In the hospitality industry, food is a focal entity provided by the host to the guest. Mount Lavinia Hotel caters to hundreds of guests a day including in-house guests and patrons who arrive at their restaurants. The routine food handlers’ health check is conducted with the sole aim of providing the best quality service.

The entire staff of the departments that handle food beginning from raw produce to the finished dish, ranging from the Purchasing department, Receiving section, Stores, Kitchen, Service staff in all restaurants to Stewarding staff attended the health camp which was held from 7th to 9th April.

Organized by the Hygiene team of Mount Lavinia Hotel and conducted by Medicheks Cololmbo (Pvt.) Ltd. the health check focused on preventing communicable diseases being passed through food handlers to consumers since a food handler’s personal hygiene and health is a vital part of food safety. Routine checks such as these also contribute to minimizing food poisoning and food spoilage. In addition, food handlers’ medical check-ups is an important requirement in ISO 22000:2005 standard, with which Mount Lavinia Hotel has been certified.

“In a society where healthy lifestyles are becoming an increasing concern among the young and old it is also a known fact that many health issues are related to unhealthy food consumption as well as unhygienic handling of food. As a responsible organization, we believe it is our duty to ensure our guests receive the best. Healthy food and safe food handling is an integral part in our business,” commented Chef Bernard Wijesena, Group Hygiene Manager, Mount Lavinia Hotel Group.

The World Health Day is a global health awareness day celebrated every year on 7 April, under the sponsorship of the World Health Organization (WHO). April 7th was suggested to be named World Health Day at the first World Health Assembly held in 1948. It is held to mark WHO's founding, and is seen as an opportunity by the organization to draw worldwide attention to a subject of major importance to global health each year. The WHO organizes international, regional and local events on the Day related to a particular theme with the year 2015 being dedicated to Food Safety.