FOOD POISONING

Apart from lying, the easiest thing to do for Nigerian politicians is cross carpeting. They switch or ‘port’ from one party to the other with so much fanfare and without much ado or conscience. In between registered parties, there is no much difference. Other than party logos that suffice as identity card, there are no party manifestos to define the divides in terms of ideology. So, what seemed to be the politicians’ meat is the masses’ poison. And talking about meat and poison will inadvertently lead us to food poisoning in the hospitality industry. Food poisoning is an abused word that is often misconstrued to mean deliberate lacing food with poisonous material with the intention to kill or take life.

Just like drug with expired life and any other product for that matter, food too has shelf life and therefore prone to expiration. One of the reasons we have two stores-cold and dry stores in the hotel is because food in natural state needs to be preserved either in sub zero degree environment or room temperature state. Prefer location of storage are determined by the nature of the food item to be stored. For example, frozen fish must be stored in cold store while dry fish will last longer in a room temperature environment. And groceries are stored in between the two extremes-refrigerators.

Food poisoning in hotel parlance means the unpleasant and painful consequences of eating either contaminated food, not properly cooked food (not rare steak or sushi), expired manufactured preserved food or exposed food. Eating any of this may cause stomach discomfort, dizziness, headache or similar symptoms. Generally, it is advised that you savour your meal while eating by taking your time in ensuring that all processes of food digestion from proper chewing to intake of right quantity of food are adhered to. It is the responsibility of the hotel to ensure that food items are ordered and supplied in clean environment, stored appropriately, handled and cooked by competent staffs that have been certified clean by food handlers’ test.

Though, it is the sole prerogative of the guests to determine what he wants to eat, professional advice from waiters on the health hazards of mixing some kinds of meals will still come in handy when taking orders for guests’ meals. Equally important is the question of allergies that may sometimes reflect similar symptoms of food poisoning. Guest are advised to pay more attention to their individual peculiarities rather than the fanciful menu and impeccable meal presentation while ordering. The general and safe advice is to eat what you know and when you are in doubt, ask questions. Food like marriage is meant to be enjoyed not endured.