How Can I Convince Management to Rethink My Role in Canteen Food Testing?

Dear Seniors,

I am working with a Pharma Company in Navi Mumbai, which has a workforce of 96 employees. Recently, I have been asked by Senior Management to test the food at the canteen before other employees have breakfast, and also to taste the food before lunch as part of my role as an HR Manager. The rationale behind this request is that if there are any issues with the food, the responsibility would fall on the HR Manager, and corrective measures could be implemented.

I declined this request as I find it highly embarrassing. Instead, I proposed that we establish a Standard Operating Procedure (SOP) to assess the hygiene standards and enhance the quality of ingredients used in the food. However, the management remains unconvinced and insists that I conduct food testing by actually consuming the food, citing that it is the HR Manager's duty to ensure the well-being of the employees.

I seek your advice on how best to persuade the management to reconsider their stance.

Thank you.

Tusher, I'm Surprised :(

We would obviously care for employees' welfare but not to this extent. Actually, what if, for example, the food is unhygienic and something happens to you? Is management going to wait and see what happens to you after you break your fast or lunch? I don't think HR should be involved in food testing.

Here, the question is not that something is going to happen if we test the food, but I wonder about the attitude of the management and their concern towards HR.

What do you all say?

Regards,

Srilatha

Dear Tusher,

I can well understand your position. This is why the role of an HR Manager is challenging. I have faced the same problem and am now in the process of handling it. The main reason is the lack of management interest in café matters. Firstly, the management should be supportive and must have a menu with the canteen in charge outlining what will be served during the whole week, including prices and the total weight of food. You can seek help from employees by appointing a workers' representative who will regularly check the food taste before it is served according to the standard and report to you daily. With time, this operation will become smoother, but initially, you have to prioritize this. This is how you can receive positive feedback from employees. Don't worry, tell me, I will further assist you.

Arooj Javaid

Under the Factories Act you can form the Canteen Committe, and the committee member will bear this responsibility - Food Testing.
I thing it is directly connect with the employee satisfaction regarding the food quality. Don't worry, nothing will happened with you, if test food first of all, to avoid grievances you can shift this responsibility to committee members.
Regards

This is really unfair and not a good idea or concept. This job can be successfully handled by an Admin person. The best remedy is to hire a dietitian on a part-time basis, and it won't charge much to the company. He/she can also advise on adding some nutritional value to the food.

And do you know what? There is a chain of hospitals in Maharashtra run by the Mangeshkar family. Do you know what? They pay hardly 3000/- per month for 9 hours per day. So, I guess paying a salary for part-time work won't cost your company much, and at least you won't need to do odd jobs.

Hi Tushar,

Hello to all! I am a new member of this site and would like to comment on Tushar's problem. I agree with Mr. Arooj Javid. You should appoint a small committee of at least 4 employees to test food, but you should also be one of them. You can change the other three members occasionally so that you receive proper feedback.

By doing this, you can build a caring approach towards employees and also respect the management's decision of testing food.

Regards,
Beena

Dear Tushar,

It is basically how you view the situation. You can view it as a problem and try to refuse, suffer, or wriggle out of it, or you can view it as an opportunity that may yield unexpected returns to you.

To put it in perspective, in armed forces units, the Commanding Officer (who is the senior-most officer) tastes food on a regular basis. He also nominates a senior responsible officer to do food tasting in all messes regularly. In addition, a written record of observations is maintained, which is reviewed frequently, and action is taken on the comments entered.

If I may suggest, you can start your new task with enthusiasm and be upbeat about it. Maybe after some period of time, you could involve HODs in it with a view to improve the canteen food. However, as you have already made known your views on the issue, I suggest you go slow with the implementation of the strategy.

Best regards,
Deepak.

Dear Tushar,

I agree with what Deepak said. Give yourself a little time to plan a strategy and implement it. Many times, we are forced to do a task that we are not interested in or that is not a part of our profile. Always remember, "Jab seedhi ungli se ghee na nikle to ungli tedhi kar do," but for this, you'll have to at least put your finger in the bowl of ghee.

In my view, take this as a challenge, put in a strategy, and handle the situation. Start doing this task for a couple of days and then slowly involve other people, and then you can easily get rid of this task.

Regards,
Kanupriya

Dear Tushar,

I too agree with our citehr member. First, start a committee with a group of 3 or 4 members. Let everyone join the committee on a term basis so that they can give some suggestions. As you are an HR person, you should go ahead with the committee. Be the first person to start the process so that employees will be satisfied that HR is with us. Also, make sure to be part of the committee.

All the best,

Regards,
Naveen.v

Food testing is not merely testing food for poison; it means checking the quality of food, etc., and it does not mean eating a full meal. :P :P :P

So, don't worry about food testing.

In my earlier company, I was an HR trainee, and my manager was the HR manager. We had a canteen committee that checked the hygiene of food, cleanliness of the canteen, etc. The canteen committee included workers, a canteen representative, and one person from the HR department, my HR manager. Sometimes, my HR manager used to ask me to go to the canteen and check the food and the environment there. In our company, before every shift, the workers would go and test the food. If it was nice, hygienic, and okay, it would be approved and served as lunch, breakfast, or dinner. So, whenever I went with the workers to the canteen, they would ask me to test the food, just eat a little, and approve it because we don't know much about taste and other things.

Even ice cream and wine tasters are there. That does not necessarily mean that management is using you as a guinea pig, so don't stress, and do the work that the management has assigned to you.

It seems you like to work only in an AC office. Check out the air outside; you will learn some things.

Dear Tusher,

I agree that testing food before serving it to a large number of guests is a common practice followed by all of us, even during weddings. Here, testing does not refer to taste. In most establishments with canteen facilities, various methods are adopted to ensure the proper quality of food, as outlined below:

1. To appoint a small committee of 3-4 employees, with the Manager of HR as the Chairman, to determine the daily menu for the week, ensure the hygiene of canteen workers, maintain the cleanliness of the premises, manage the upkeep of furniture, ensure the quality of crockery and utensils cleaning, etc.

2. To appoint a Canteen Manager who can conduct food testing and oversee other functions. This individual should be the canteen contractor.

3. If the management is health-conscious, such as the RBI, which has a Dietician to plan the menu for the week and conduct periodic food testing.

It is crucial for the HR Manager to assume this responsibility gracefully. Additionally, suggest the aforementioned methods to the management. It is always preferable to present the problem and potential solutions to the management, lest we inadvertently contribute to the problem.

Anil Mulye

Hi,

It is all a question of 'attitude' and the way you look at things. I think you have not liked the way your boss has ordered you to taste the food before it is served to others. The boss should have only asked you to taste the food yourself so that you could decide if it was meeting the required standard. Then, it was left to you whether you taste it 'before' or 'along' with others.

Since you can't educate your boss, it is best to accept it in the right spirit. Once in a while, taste the food before it is served to others, sometimes have a committee to do this, and sometimes have your meal along with others and get feedback from them. Finally, adopt a policy that everyone, from the top boss to the lowest level, has the same food. This way, you will make everyone taste the same food, and based on general feedback, decide the future course of action.

Remember, it is always wise to think first and react in a positive manner.

Cyril

Hi,

I have gone through your statement regarding food testing in the canteen. Generally, these tasks are managed by admin personnel. However, I believe that it is not a significant issue for HR professionals. What you have to do is plan the weekly menu with the help of your employees, send this menu to the food vendor, and gather employee feedback after their lunch or dinner.

Thanks,
Abhishek

Dear All,

Thank you for your valuable guidance. I feel that forming a committee would have been the best possible situation. Anyhow, the HR team had a meeting recently, and we have decided that we will approach our senior management with two proposals.

Firstly, we propose forming a committee consisting of one member from each department. Secondly, considering our company is a Pharma R&D company, we will collect food samples from the canteen at regular intervals and hand them over to our analytical department for analysis to check for any contamination.

Thanks to all for the necessary guidance.

Regards,
Tusher

Dear Tushar,

As per Indian law, you need to follow the IS: 22000 concepts. It is a Food Regulatory Law, with many checks that have to be done right from raw material until we consume the food. A separate SOP has to be prepared.

Regards,
prkumar

In our company, we have a tasting committee. They taste the food and give feedback immediately in a specified format. Based on the feedback, the canteen staff will make proper changes. This process also fulfills the statutory requirements.

Our approach to convincing people will lead to success in this case.

Thanks,
Thiru

Tushar,

Don't mind, but this is not the correct attitude towards HR, either by management or by seniors. Go ahead straightforwardly and say that you will not do it, because it's a clear-cut humiliation to HR professionals. It's your duty to check the hygienic condition, but not at the cost of humiliation.

With Best Regards,
Om Prakash

Dear Friends,

We conduct microbiological tests periodically for canteen food items and air through expert laboratories. These results help us to know the hygiene level and to initiate necessary actions for further improvement. You can conduct health and hygiene audits through these external consultants to initiate necessary actions.

Regards, Srinivas

Dear Tushar,

The solution which the management has found is not the solution, but there are ways to communicate this back to the management:

If you are angry and show your frustration, all your efforts till date may go in vain. So, calm down, and perhaps you could try these possible solutions based on the condition and work environment.

1. Suggest that we should form a canteen community involving people from the higher management, yourself, and members from across all levels of the organization:

A. Who would be tasting food. Note testing and tasting food are two different words.

B. Who would conduct surprise audits of the kitchen in terms of cleanliness, hygienic methods of cooking, use of less oil and spices, no use of cooking soda (which is very common among canteen vendors as it leads people who eat to seem full even with a small portion of food), and use of fresh food, salad, and fruits.

C. Appoint a nutritionist to conduct surprise visits to the factory (believe me, it will cost much less than what you will spend if you are caught by a food or factory inspector or health department) and send you monthly reviews. This will lead the third party vendors or people in the kitchen to be highly alert and have less scope for manipulation.

D. Display the audit results and always make a point to mail them out to your management and employees (sometimes publicity works wonders!). Also, send them to the person in charge of your Food and Beverages. Appreciate where needed and be stern too.

E. An extra initiative by each committee member can also work wonders like health talks or suggesting nutritive food at the same cost. Ask for further suggestions from members to improve and lead the cause of change. It can do wonders for your career as well.

You would still be leading the cause but not alone at stake. If you would like to discuss more ideas, feel free to email me at swapinky@yahoo.co.in.

Do let me know if you found the topic useful.

Regards,

Swapneel

Dear friends,

I agree with you. You must involve employees in your committee to look at the quality of the food served in your organization's canteen. This will give you more effective results in keeping the interests of employees who are going to consume the food in the canteen.

Sometimes you may check the food with a dietitian to evaluate the quality of the food according to health standards. You can also take suggestions from the dietitian and members to maintain food quality and quantity.

Thank you.

Food Testing Responsibility as an HR Manager

I am an HR Manager in the hospitality industry. I read about your concern, and it's nothing major. As an HR Manager, it is your responsibility to taste the food before it is served in the cafeteria. I do the same. There is nothing shameful about it; rather, it is about being the authorized person to check the quality and taste of the food to ensure it is maintained.

In my organization, I have established a food committee, which includes one employee from every department. These members change every month. On the 26th day of each month, we hold a meeting where everyone shares their views and recommendations. We also plan the menu for the upcoming month. If there are any complaints, they are addressed with the Executive Chef to prevent the same issues from recurring. You can adopt a similar approach to resolve your concerns.

Please let me know if you need further assistance.

Best regards,

Food Safety Guidelines for School Canteens

This is Amit Pednekar from National Collateral Management Services Ltd in Mumbai, which is NABL accredited and FSSAI approved for food and water testing. I would like to inform you that the Food Safety Standards Authority of India (FSSAI) is a government regulatory body that has laid down several guidelines related to food safety and quality for hotels, restaurants, and canteens.

I am attaching the order guidelines for school canteens related to food and water testing recently released by FSSAI. Hopefully, this will help you ensure food safety and quality at your workplace. For any queries, feel free to contact me at [Email Removed For Privacy Reasons].