[Standardization of hospital feeding].
BACKGROUND
Normalization can be understood as the establishing measures against repetitive situations through the development, dissemination, and application of technical design documents called standards. In Andalusia there are 45 public hospitals with 14,606 beds, and in which 11,700 full pensions / day are served. The Working Group on Hospital Food Standardization of the Andalusian Society for Clinical Nutrition and Dietetics, started in 2010, working on the certification of suppliers, product specifications, and meals technical card.


OBJECTIVE
- Develop a specific tool to help improving food safety through the certification of their suppliers. - Develop a standardized technical specifications of foodstuffs necessary for the development of menus established codes diets Andalusian hospitals document. - Develop a catalog of data sheets plates of hospital meals, to homogenize menus, respecting local and unifying criteria for qualitative and quantitative ingredients.


METHODS
- Providing documentation and studying of several public hospitals in Andalusia: • Product specifications and certification of suppliers. • International standards certification and distribution companies. • Legislation. • Data sheets for the menu items. • Specifications of different product procurement procedures. - Development of the draft standard HOSPIFOOD®, and approval of the version “0.0”. - Training course for auditors to this standard. - Development of a raw materials catalog as technical cards. - Meals Technical cards review and election of the ones which will be part of the document.


RESULTS
After nearly three years of work, we have achieved the following products: - Standardized database of technical specifications for the production of food dietary codes for: fish, seafood, meat and meat products, meats and pates, ready meals, bread and pastries, preserves, milk and dairy products, oils, cereals, legumes , vegetables, fruits, fresh and frozen vegetables, condiments and spices. - Standardized database of technical cards for meals containing the following data: SAS Code, Province, Hospital, name plate, ingredients (g), edible ingredients (g) kcal, Proteins, HC, Fat and Fiber. - HOSPIFOOD® standard certification for food providers in hospitals, school cafeterias and other institutions of social restoration.


CONCLUSIONS
Patients expect food that is offered during the stay in the hospital, meet basic standards of quality and safety, and therefore it is necessary to design and develop control systems from the award and / or acquisition of food (raw materials and finished) products which subsequently become part of the menu that is offered as part of their treatment. To avoid the effect of fraudulent practice in public health, it’s needed to ensure the quality and safety of the food from the origin and establish the standards for acquisition and subsequent use of it.
Unidad de Gestión Clínica Intercentros de Endocrinología y Nutrición. Hospital Universitario Regional de Málaga. Servicio Andaluz de Salud, Junta de Andalucía. Cocina Central. Málaga. España.. angelm.caracuel.sspa@juntadeandalucia.es.
Ángel Manuel
ÁM
Caracuel García
D005502:Food / Q000592:standards; D005521:Food Service, Hospital / Q000592:standards*; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards*; D006801:Humans; D007883:Legislation, Medical; D018529:Nutritional Support / Q000592:standards*; D013030:Spain