FSA practical 1: NEA grading assignment (Isaac Wee)

NEA GRADING ON FOOD AND HYGIENE PRACTICES IN FOOD STALLS

What is NEA grading?

NEA also known as "National Environment Agency", is in charge of regulating Singapore's retail food establishments ensuring that the food from the stalls are safe for consumption.  All retail food establishments are given a grade after NEA has assessed the stall based on the overall cleanliness, hygiene and house keeping standards of a food store. All food stores are advised to show the certificate indicating their grade such that it is made aware to the public to make more informed choices when purchasing foods. The grading ranges from A to D, with A being the highest grade and D being the lowest grade.

Mayflower Food Centre's Porridge Stall

Interior 1

 Interior 2                                                                                                                           Exterior 

Hygiene aspects from the Chicken Rice, Chicken & Fish Porridge Food store 

Interior and Exterior Aspects:

Food Preparation area

- Floors and walls are dirty with pots and personal items like coffee cups and drinking cups nearby the food preparation. The food preparation areas are also very cluttered, food are left in the open and the shelves are being stacked with heavy items. 

Personal Hygiene

-Conditions of gloves or food preparation equipment, Clean clothing and personal grooming.

Food Hygiene

- Food storage and storage areas conditions. Equipment cleanliness. 

Negative aspects:

• Interior 1's picture you can see that the heavy metal pots are at the very top of the shelf and this a hazard as you shouldn't put heavy items at the top of shelves. 
• Interior 1's picture you can see that the glass display is dirty and the food are left out in the open after being chopped up.
• Interior 2's picture shows that the sink area has a hose that connects to the tap in which the condition of the hose does not seem to be in a good condition.
• Interior 2's picture shows that food is left put in the open, there is a food in a bowl that is left on top of the pot which is used to cook the porridge. In which is unhygienic as it is close to the dirty rag and personal items like the coffee cup and breads. 
• Interior 1 and 2's picture shows that the personal hygiene of the food handlers are not of a high standard as they are not wearing hair nets.
• Exterior's picture shows that food is left out and in the open on top of newspaper as well as the trays being placed on top of a dirty cooler.

Positive aspects:

• Interior 1's picture shows that the food preparation for the chicken rice is clean neat and organised. 
• Interior 1 and 2's picture shows the food handler using a glove when handling the cooked food products. This a good practice of food hygiene and personal hygiene.
• Interior 1 and 2's picture shows that the food handlers have personal hygiene as they are wearing aprons and clean clothing when handling food.
• Interior 1's picture shows that the containers on the top shelves are neat and organised as well as the crockery and utensils.
• Exterior's picture shows that the self service station is clean and organised with the area for condiments and a container for utensils. 

Potential food safety problems would include:

- Temperature abuse. As since the food is left out, it is possible that the food has been exposed to the environment for a long period of time and since it is food leaving it out for a long period of time would cause Bacteria to fest and cause food poisoning to the person who consumes it. Temperature abuse is when food is left out for 4 hours or more in the temperature danger zone in which is a range of 5°C -60°C, the danger zone is the condition in which is the most favourable for bacteria to grow.

- Due to poor personal hygiene it is possible that hair may fall into food and cause the stall to lose its reputation as consumers may find it unhygienic.

NEA GRADING OF FOOD STALL

NAME OF INSPECTIONS OFFICER : Isaac Wee
TYPE OF FOOD SHOP : Chicken & fish porridge and chicken rice hawker stall
NO.	CRITERIA		SCORE	REMARKS
	HOUSE KEEPING
1	PREPARATION AREA
	a) Floors		8	Chipped
	b) Walls		6	Walls are dirty and glass display is dirty too
	c) Utensils/Crockery		10	Neat and organised
	d) Preparation Table		7	Unorganised
	e) Exhaust Systems		10	Does not interfere with anything.
	f) Sinks/Wash Hand Basin		7	Dirty with the hose being in a bad condition
	g) Refuse Management		7	No Rubbish bin except for a small metal pot for the chicken bones and waste.
	h) Overall Tidiness of Preparation Area		8	Chopping food area is unorganised
2	OTHER ASPECTS (if any)
	a) Pest Control System		-
	HYGIENE
3	PERSONAL HYGIENE
	a) Conditions of Gloves or Tongs		10	Gloves are visibly seen being replaced after handling money.
	b) Clean Clothing		10	Aprons are worn while handling food
	c) Personal Cleanliness (Finger nails, Hair, etc)		5	No hair net increasing the risk of hair in food
4	FOOD HYGIENE
	a) Food Properly Protected		6	Food are left out in the open after being chopped.
	b) Conditions of Implements		-
	c) Cleanliness of Refrigerators/Chillers		-
	d) Proper Storage of Cooked and Uncooked Food		6	Food are left outside after being chopped up.
	e) Storage Temperature Control System		-
	f) Cleanliness of other equipment (eg. Dispensers, Ovens, Dish-Washers etc)		6	Sinks, pots etc. seems to be not clean. Other than that equipment seems rather clean.
5	FOOD TRANSPORTATION (if any)
	a) Clean Interior		-
	b) Provision of Containers / Trolleys		-
	c) Clean Delivery Equipment		-
6	AUTOMATION – BONUS (if any)
	a) Provision of Ice-making Machine		-
	b) Provision of other automated machineries (exclude Drinks Dispenser)		-
7	OTHERS – BONUS (if any)
	a) In-House training		-
	b) Incentive/Demerit System		-
	c) Central Cleaning System		-
Total			106
%			75.7
Grade			B

Ways the stall can improve to ensure that the grading can improve

1. The stall can use a heat lamp to keep the food warm and above the food temperature Danger zone, they can also use aluminium foil to ensure the food isn't exposed to the environment for too long. Aluminium foil is also a reflective material. Thus, it helps to retain the heat of food for a longer period of time.
2. Improve personal hygiene by wearing a hair net and always wear a glove when handling cooked food. This is to ensure that there is no cross contamination of raw and cooked food. Also ensuring proper personal and food hygiene. 
3. Change and replace damaged equipment from time to time to ensure that the equipment is in proper condition. For example, the kitchen sink's hose can be replaced or washed.
4. Money should not be placed near the food handling areas and should be placed far away from the food preparation areas. This is to prevent cross contamination.
5. Proper storage of food and equipment such as the trays and the spring onion on the exterior should be kept in proper places. Like the spring onion in the fridge or the trays in a proper clean shelf. This Helps to prevent cross contamination of other dirty items that it might come into contact with.