Food safety tips to welcome the Chinese new year

CEBU, Philippines - Chinese New Year is just around the corner, and as we celebrate this annual feast of Filipino-Chinese tradition, the practice of giving food to friends and relatives also continues. However this festive season usually means that more food will also flood our households, and if not handled properly these perishable goods could serve as a high risk for food poisoning.

There is a company that specializes in ensuring food makers adhere to food safety. Mantek Philippines is a service-oriented company and a division of NCH, a leading global corporation with offices in 55 countries worldwide.

Established in 1919 and with its headquarters  in Dallas, Texas, NCH has been in the production  of a broad range of  quality products like  water treatment, lubrication, drain maintenance, industrial and commercial cleaning. In relation to this, food safety has become one of the priority concerns of NCH.

Food safety is a scientific discipline in handling, preparing and storing of food in ways that prevent food borne illness. This includes a practice that should be followed to avoid potentially severe health hazards. Food can transmit disease from person to person as well as serve as a growth medium for bacteria that can cause food poisoning.

According to Mantek Food Safety Manager Randz Umali, their company is offering a training seminar to companies and individuals who would like to learn more about food safety. “A company or an individual that invests in food safety practices will get a lot of benefits including reduced risks of food hazards or contaminants; low or no incidence of food poisoning and increased confidence in food handling,” Umali said.

One of the satisfied customers of Mantek Phil. on food safety is Eng Bee Tin Bakery, a leading producer and manufacturer of quality breads and better known for their delicious hopia and tikoy. “Food Safety procedures are very vital to our company’s core values. We want to make sure that all food products of Eng Bee Tin are safe to eat by our valued customers and Mantek Phil. helps us on this matter,” said Eng Bee Tin president Gerry Chua, as orders increase for their tikoys as Chinese New Year nears.

Chua added that they are coming up with several variations of their best selling tikoys for this coming Chinese New Year celebration, that come in different flavors and colors. “Aside from using premium raw materials for our products, we improved and modified the traditional hopia and tikoy,” Chua added.

The entrepreneurial mind of the top honcho of Eng Bee Tin has been proven time again with his creative and innovative streak. For the ube hopia and tikoy, his idea was to creatively work out a fusion of respective Pinoy and Chinese cultures. He succeeded in blending the traditionally Chinese hopia and tikoy delicacy with the Pinoy ube halaya, thus was born the ube tikoy and ube hopia. They also have pandan, pinya, and other fruit flavors for the Pinoy’s discriminating taste. Today, Eng Bee Tin has a throng of regular consumers not only in the Chinese community in Binondo but anywhere else in the Philippines.

Mantek Phils. offers GMP ( good manufacturing practices) equipment and food safe products that complies with strict government regulations and offers training that can raise the level of competency on Food Safety. For inquiries please call Mantek Phils. at (632) 687-4839 local 103 or e-mail to [email protected]. You can also visit their website at www.nch.com. (FREEMAN)