Lotte Department Store Ensures Food Safety in Summer... Strict Hygiene Management

[Asia Economy Reporter Lim Hye-sun] Lotte Department Store will launch full-scale food hygiene management until the end of September to ensure food safety during the summer season.

Following the 'Summer Food Management Manual' from the Lotte Central Research Institute, Lotte Department Store has established its own hygiene management system at a level stricter than the standards required by the Food Sanitation Act. Preparations have also been completed to prevent potential food hygiene accidents such as food poisoning in advance. This year, with the rapid temperature rise since early May increasing the risk of food poisoning and the importance of food hygiene, the store has shortened sales hours and suspended sales of fresh foods and ready-to-eat foods, while also focusing on cleaning and managing main equipment used during the summer season.

For example, refrigerated smoked salmon is not used in sushi, sashimi rice bowls, and salads; seasoned crab and steamed cockles at the side dish corner are banned from sale until the end of August; and simple wrap packaging for cut watermelon has been completely discontinued, replaced by plastic cases and antibacterial zipper bags. Cleaning and disinfection cycles for main summer equipment such as ice makers, blenders, ice bins, shaved ice machines, ice cream makers, and aquariums have been shortened, and hygiene status will be verified through microbial analysis.

Currently, Lotte Department Store operates 'Quality Evaluators' at each store to manage food safety independently, using the Lotte Central Research Institute's hygiene management application (Hi-genie) to manage on-site hygiene in real time interactively. The Safety Center of the Lotte Central Research Institute conducted unannounced inspections of department store food sections in June to evaluate and ensure food safety. In addition to hygiene cleanliness of food sections, product testing was conducted on customer lounge beverages and ice. Due to difficulties in group training caused by the novel coronavirus infection (COVID-19), additional non-face-to-face (untact) online training is planned for the second half of the year.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.