Community Interaction - Food Service Management
The dieticians from Human Nutrition in Tygerberg Academic Hospital Food Service Unit render a continuous nutrition service to this essential unit. Additionally, food service dietitians from Human Nutrition are involved with training within government structures and also serve the industry and government in an advisory capacity, on request.
Consultant: Nicolette Fredericks
Chief Dietitian
Nicolette Fredericks
Dietitian
Carla Lawrence
The dietitians in the Tygerberg Academic Hospital Food Service Unit render the following continuous services:
- Planning of menus for therapeutic and normal diets (with winter and summer adaptations)
- Contributing to ensure that the quality control, acceptability and hygiene standards are adhered to
- Ensuring optimal nutrition by nutritional analyses of menus
- Recipe development and recipe standardisation
- Compiling weekly meal statistics
- Compiling and quality control of the therapeutic menus for the private ward in the hospital and providing dietary consultations to the private patients
- Handling of any dietary / food related problems that might occur within the food service unit
On request, the Food Service Management dietitians contribute to various activities coordinated by the Department of Health (Western Cape) and have provided the following input through this participation:
- Contributions to documents being compiled for a training manual, namely Food Services Guidelines 2006
- Training manual: Therapeutic Diets
- Policy: Food Services (Western Cape)
- Presentation: Food Services Audit Report
Additionally, the dietitians have provided training to Food Service Managers (Western Cape) on the following topics:
- Overview of HACCP
- Content of SABS 10049
Dietitians have also participated in the establishment of a Food Service Management Forum in the Western Cape.
As part of their Food Service Management practical training in their final year, dietetic students are placed in food service units in private hospitals in the Cape Metropole area, for 8 weeks. At these units, they are involved in all aspects of the operating unit, under appropriate supervision. They have an opportunity to experience and learn more about the practical implementation of food service management principles. They render a service by actively participating in daily activities including menu planning and therpeutic adaptations, quality control, food safety and hygiene, recipe development and standardisation, stock control and ordering, personnel management and personnel training.
The fourth year students also, in a number of provincial hospitals in the Western Cape; evaluate the implementation of the food service policy and food safety within the food service units. According to the results of the audits they focus on specific problems and present lectures to the personnel at the stepdown facilities in which they addressed the identified problems.
