Rethinking Food Service in the COVID-19 Era

Everything is different now in healthcare facilities, and food service is no different. Just as facilities management, housekeeping and IT have had to rethink their traditional operations in the wake of COVID-19 pandemic, so does food service. No longer can managers in these operations use their tried-and-true ways of working.

So whether it be a hospital or long-term care facility, the way these facilities will be designed and built has changed forever, says Total Construction’s Tony Tate and Rob Blythman. Both know that the pandemic has altered the way processes are carried out in order to make sure customers and patients stay healthy, according to Food & Beverage. The good news is that the food and beverage industry is leading the way because it already has stringent controls in place when it comes to health and safety.

There are three important aspects that will have to be taken into consideration when new facilities are being erected – segregation, hygiene and traceability. People will have to be segregated when they are preparing the food into different zones to avoid having low-care workers mixing with medium-care workers, or medium-care mixing with high care and vice versa. 

When building aged care facilities or other buildings where food service is necessary, architects will have to look at putting areas where changeovers can happen, so the chances of contamination can be reduced. While there is a lot of care in such industries, having purpose built zones that limit such issues, might soon become the norm.

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