For the first time, a broad discussion event on food safety of personnel was held in Tengiz.
On June 7, on the basis of the Shanyrak shift camp, an event was held that stands out from a series of representative forums, conferences and seminars that Tengizchevroil annually organizes on a variety of issues. For the first time, the “Food Security Summit”, as the organizers called it, was held.
“TCO’s TB Department, the initiator of the event, invited all companies that are Tengizchevroil’s leading business partners to discuss urgent issues in one of the most important segments of the rotational service organization – the nutrition of personnel working at the field,” explained Akerke Togizova, a food safety specialist of the TCO TB department.
– We want to analyze the state of the issue in a joint large and business conversation, share experience and focus on security as much as possible. We all live and work in Tengiz in the same conditions, large human contingents are concentrated here – tens of thousands of people. The requirements for catering should be unified: extremely strict and the same for everyone, and their observance should be rigorous. Inspections and control, of course, are organized, they are very strict. But the value of joint discussion of urgent issues is very high, the benefits of them are undeniable.
The summit was held according to a proven scheme – at a general meeting in the cinema building, the most relevant aspects of ensuring healthy, diverse and, most importantly, safe food for people were identified, changes in the norms and standards of cooking and sanitary requirements and the innovations and improvements in technologies and approaches that arose in connection with this were specified.
The participants were shown a video that combined visual reports of business partners on the organization of meals for employees. Each company represented a separate stage of the process – from the purchase and delivery, storage of products to their processing and preparation of dishes. Ariadna LLP was instructed to display the most time-consuming and responsible process – the work of the hot shop. Our company solved this problem by shooting a video showing the process of cooking hot dishes from beginning to end.
“There are many nuances in this process, although it probably seems to everyone that everything is very simple,” says Lyudmila Shimanskaya, a technologist in the nutrition department, about the filming of the plot. – Cooking is a routine, daily activity. But even at home, every housewife has her own borscht! And we cook for a thousand people. And we must do it in such a way that it is not only tasty, but also absolutely safe. I’ll put it simply: so that no one gets poisoned.
This is the meaning and task of the summit: cases of food poisoning of people should be excluded at the Tengiz oil and gas complex. And last year, on the hottest days of summer, when the air temperature reached +56 degrees, such cases were recorded in two companies stationed here. Moreover, the poisonings were not isolated, dozens of people fell ill.
In other words, the relevance of the summit is indisputable.
But back to the video about the hot shop. This segment of the food block in Ariadna LLP is undoubtedly one of the best among Tengiz companies. The new canteen “Caspian” in the eponymous microdistrict of the Tengiz shift camp was put into operation in March 2018 – it is well equipped and has everything so that the meals of the company’s employees are organized at the highest level. But excellent conditions are not a guarantee of the quality of food.
“In our business, everything depends on the staff,” continues L. Shimanskaya, “how prepared people are professionally and how they relate to their work. And our love and respect for our profession is expressed not only in the ability to cook well and knowledge of recipes, but also in strict adherence to cooking technology and sanitary requirements. These requirements are very strict! When making a film for the summit, we tried to focus on this. How food ingredients are checked, how they are processed before cooking, what should be the temperature regime of cooking, etc., how sterility is ensured, what control of the cooking process exists. And how the safety of the cook brigade is ensured – after all, our people work all day in conditions of high temperature, hot steam, work standing for many hours …
After the plenary meeting, the food safety summit moved to the spacious lobby of one of the residential blocks of Shanyrak, where the participating companies organized a kind of exhibition of the achievements of their service departments.
“Ariadne” has prepared a bright and diverse exposition. It included a specially made detailed model of the hot shop of our new canteen “Caspian”, a thematic stand with a variety of visual products, including technological tables of the cooking process, a demonstration of video materials, as well as game components on the topic of the summit. How much did it attract the attention of visitors?
“The Ariadne sector has become, I think, the most visited,” Lyazzat Bukharbayeva, head of production at the Caspian canteen, shares her impressions.
– This is not self-esteem – this is a fact. There was no end to visitors for an hour and a half, while this part of the summit lasted. I think this is very important, because it was not idle spectators who came to us with questions and advice, but our colleagues, food organizers, technologists and chefs from neighboring companies. So, they were interested in our production. And we, in turn, got acquainted with their experience. This is my first time at such an event and I think it is very successful.
Indeed, our company’s booth was very popular. So much so that the set of souvenirs prepared “with a margin” and a selection of issues of the corporate newspaper dried up in just half an hour. But the point, of course, is not in souvenirs – people did not follow them, but for our experience in catering, which has long been known throughout Tengiz. “Ariadne” has something to show and tell – and this received a lively response at the exhibition.
And what about the seminar as a whole – did it meet the expectations of the organizers?
“The summit organized today, in my opinion, is very useful and will yield results,” said Aliya Bekeshova, sanitary epidemiologist of the regional department for public health protection. – Tengiz is a large production structure, and no matter what public service conducts inspections here, no matter how often, it still does not replace such a large meeting of professionals. I went through the entire chain of the technological line – starting with the incoming control of products, storage, washing, etc., now I have already reached the final stages of cooking and distribution. Very well prepared companies – “Sayan”, “Ariadna”, “Karat” and others, including TCO. Today they are unrecognizable. We are used to seeing them during inspections strained, afraid of criticism and remarks. And today they show how they work, they are sure that they can and know. And in fact: they know a lot and are good at it. Of course, in this work, as in any other, there is a human factor. Much depends on the position of the management or the manager personally – what approaches they adhere to. But there are also general strict requirements. It is imperative to increase the hygienic literacy of people, knowledge of the basic requirements of sanitary hygiene, the need for medical examinations, and cooking technology. Know the risks – where do microbes come from, what is a favorable environment for them, how to protect themselves from infection, etc. Here, with the help of such summits, people will learn more, this is the value of the event
Summing up, the organizers of the First Food Safety Summit noted the relevance of the event. The results of the summit will be analyzed and summarized, however, in hot pursuit, the usefulness of the meeting is obvious. It is also obvious that all business partners have something to share in order to develop uniform strict approaches to the organization of the most important service process, to do everything to ensure high-calorie, tasty and absolutely safe nutrition for staff. In this case, we are talking about people’s health, and there is nothing more expensive than this.
G. TRUKHIN.