A long and systematic process has brought the Maurya hotel in New Delhi to the very forefront of the world’s luxury hotels when it comes to food safety.
When heads of state, global business leaders and other high profile people visit New Delhi in India, they often prefer to stay at the ITC Maurya hotel; a 5 Star hotel renowned not only for its luxury and beauty but also for its food safety standards. Situated in the heart of the city with a view of New Delhi’s green belt, the hotel is a tribute to the age of the Great Mauryan Dynasty, which created the golden era of Indian history.
The hotel lobby is as grand and luxurious as one would expect, but being invited backstage is also an interesting experience. Although not as luxurious and colourful as the front of the hotel, the hallways are very clean and tidy and everything seems calm and systematic. The hotel is the workplace of 545 employees, one of whom is Dr M Khurshed Alam Khan.
In 2003 he was appointed R&D manager of the ITC Hotels with a special focus on food safety. A dedicated and highly skilled food safety scientist, he immediately started methodical work to raise the food safety bar to the highest level.
Tremendous results
"This hotel chain has made huge investments in food safety. They have done a great job and hired the best people and the results have been tremendous," explains Dr Khan, and continues: "It has been a pleasure to work on food safety here, maybe most of all thanks to our CEO Mr Nakul Anand, who is the most committed food safety person I have ever met. He has been a driving force and exceptionally supportive all the way."
The Maurya hotel in New Delhi belongs to the ITC Limited, which operates more than 100 hotels, 15 of which are ranked as top class hotels. The Starwood Food Safety Audit in the region (a preliminary self check) revealed that eight ITC hotels of the ten hotels audited scored above 85%, whereas the average region score was 76.5%. The Maurya scored 93.5% – the region’s highest score.
"These are very good results. In Singapore, no hotel has ever scored more than 83% and in Japan only four hotels have scored 85%," Dr Khan proudly points out.
Hotels are complex systems:
Hotels are complex systems, with thousands of semi-raw materials, ingredients, people and processes and a continuous need for training and testing. In 2004 Dr Khan took the challenge of getting the Maurya hotel certified according to the HACCP (Hazard Analysis & Critical Control Points) food safety standard, which is the internationally recognised operating method that helps companies in the food and beverage industry identify their food safety risks, prevent food safety hazards and address legal compliance.
"I contacted DNV, which I considered to be the only company in India that could handle this," he says.
He wanted a chain-wide focus and one common certified management system. Maurya became the first hotel in the chain to be certified in 2005, and six other hotels followed shortly. At this point the ISO 22,000 food safety management system had been established. In 2008 the Maurya hotel became the first hotel in the chain to be certified according to this standard as well. Today another five hotels in the chain are also certified according to ISO 22,000.
Today Dr Khan can claim that in the luxury chain there is only one hotel left uncertified, but he aims to have all 15 hotels certified by 2010.
"Then we’ll take it to the next level," he says with a smile.
Labs at all the luxury hotels
For 15 years, the ITC Hotel chain has had small labs at the hotels, and in 2000 it invested in high quality labs. Today the chain has eight high quality labs with highly educated employees. On our tour backstage, we also visited the Maurya lab. Here Dr Khan works with two microbiologists full-time, testing bacteria, water quality and air quality. In addition they search for chemical contaminants, legionnaires’ bacteria etc.
"We perform continuous testing to ensure our position at the forefront of food safety," says Dr Khan.
The room next door is a classroom where a team of eight employees learn about HACCP, and the stairs leading up to the kitchen have "Are you carrying any bacteria into the kitchen?" painted between the steps.
Systematic work
"During the past few years, I have been in contact with DNV staff all over India and have received valuable help and guidance. It has been a difficult job, but through systematic work we have managed to enhance our hotels’ food safety standards," Dr Khan concludes.
We ended our visit with a memorable meal at the Maurya hotel’s famous restaurant; the Bukhara. The open display kitchen allowed us to watch as our meals were prepared, and we were fully convinced that this food was not only exquisite – it was also absolutely safe.