Lindiwe Julia Ncube

Background: Foodborne disease remains a major global public health challenge. En-suring food safety is a foundational pillar of quality healthcare delivery, particularly in institutional settings where patients are more vulnerable to infection and foodborne illnesses. Hospital management support is therefore crucial to achieve food safety. This study aims to explore Food Service Managers' Perceptions of Management Support Regarding Hospital Food Safety Systems in Selected Public Hospitals in Gauteng, South Africa Methods: A qualitative study design was used. A purposive nonprobability sampling strategy was used to select food service managers based on their qualifications and re-sponsibilities in managing the food service unit to ensure they provided information relevant to the study's aim. Twenty-one hospitals and twenty-two Food service man-agers participated in this study. Results: The most regularly reported issue among participants is the lack of visible, routine, and meaningful management engagement in food service operations. Most of the FSMs described a managerial relationship characterised by distance, indifference, and reactive rather than proactive oversight. Conclusion: The findings of this study highlight critical areas for hospital administrators, provincial health de-partments, and national policymakers to address. First, food service must be reconceptualised as a clinical function with direct implications for patient safety, rather than an operational support service left with residual resourcing after clinical priorities are met.

Background: The food safety management system (FSMS) emphasizes rigorous supplier vetting, temperature monitoring and first-in-first-out inventory systems; however, structural inefficiencies and resource limitations often compromise food safety outcomes in public hospitals’ food services. Aim: The study aimed to explore the food service managers’ views regarding FSMS utilised in procurement systems in Gauteng public hospitals. Setting: Gauteng’s public hospitals are a mix of district, regional and specialised hospitals, with a growing focus on expanding healthcare infrastructure and addressing challenges like personnel shortages and infrastructure issues. Methods: A qualitative approach was utilised to explore the views of hospital food service regarding the food procurement in FSMS used in Gauteng public hospitals. Results: The findings indicate that food service managers view the receiving stage as pivotal for ensuring food safety. The emphasis on temperature checks, labelling, traceability and transportation conditions reflects a commitment to mitigating risks before raw materials enter the hospital’s inventory. Conclusion: The study highlights the need for targeted interventions, including supplier training, standardised protocols, infrastructure investment and policy reforms, to align procurement practices with food safety standards. By addressing these gaps, Gauteng public hospitals can strengthen FSMS implementation, mitigate foodborne risks and safeguard vulnerable patient populations. Contribution: This research contributes to the broader discourse on food safety in healthcare by underscoring the interplay between policy, practice and resource allocation in low-resource settings.

The quality of food service in public hospitals is a critical yet often neglected component of healthcare delivery. In South Africa, where the public health system is under considerable strain, the urgent need to address the issue of hospital food services to support patient recovery, promote satisfaction, and enhance institutional performance is undeniable. Despite its importance, food service quality remains underexplored in the literature, and the robust frameworks for its evaluation are lacking. This chapter presents a conceptual framework to assess the quality of food service outputs in South African public hospitals. The framework, designed with practicality in mind, addresses the multifaceted nature of food service by integrating nutritional adequacy, cultural relevance, safety, efficiency, and patient perceptions. Its development is guided by systems theory and service quality models to deliver actionable insights to hospital administrators and policymakers. Through this lens, food service is positioned not as a peripheral function but as an essential contributor to patient outcomes and healthcare quality, providing a practical and applicable solution to the issue at hand.

Food safety ensures that food is prepared and consumed for its intended purpose without causing harm to consumers. In addition, food security ensures that all individuals have consistent access to a safe and nutritious food supply, enabling them to maintain good health and an active lifestyle. The farm-to-table food chain involves various processes to ensure that the food on consumers’ plates is safe and nutritious. This process is multifaceted, beginning with the seed and ending with the final meal. It involves numerous stakeholders, including farmers, processors, transporters, retailers, and consumers, each playing a critical role in maintaining food safety. The consumption of unsafe food contributes to foodborne diseases, causing millions of cases and deaths worldwide each year. Contaminants can enter the food supply chain at any point, leading to foodborne illnesses that affect millions of people annually. Therefore, it is essential to recognize the impact of supply chain management on food safety. This chapter discusses the strategies applied at each stage of the food chain to ensure food safety from farm to fork.

Background: A high-quality meal is essential to patients’ food enjoyment and nutritional value. Patients’ health and nutritional status depend on the quality of meals provided by the hospital food service providers. Equally, patients are largely inactive and could experience energy imbalances if the ‘energy in’ exceeds the ‘energy out’, increasing the chances of the inception of obesity and obesity-related illnesses. Aim: This study assessed the nutrient content of meals served in selected public hospitals in the North West province, South Africa. Setting: The normal diet meals of four district hospitals and one regional hospital in the North West province were collected for this study. Methods: Regular adult meals for breakfast, lunch and supper including all snacks for the day were collected from five hospitals. Each edible food item was weighed and recorded on the weighed food records for later nutrient analysis using the South African-based Food Finder 3 software. Results: Meals in one hospital met Recommended Dietary Intake (RDI) (6829KJ) requirements for total energy, while in three hospitals, the requirements were exceeded, and in one hospital, meals were below RDI (5734KJ) requirements. Conclusion: Strict adherence to nutritionally adequate meals for hospitalised patients could positively influence and encourage patients to sustain healthy eating habits after discharge to prevent malnutrition. Contribution: This study provides relevant information that hospital managers can use to improve processes and procedures for dietary planning and ensure that hospital meals are nutritionally adequate.

Background: Meal planning is crucial for households to improve food choices and promote healthier eating habits. Aim: The study aims to assess meal planning practices in households in Tshwane area, Gauteng province. Setting: The study was conducted in households, north of Tshwane, Gauteng province. Methods: A survey questionnaire was administered to 368 households. Descriptive statistics were analysed, and Pearson’s chi-square test was used to assess the relationship between categorical variables. The Spearman-Rho correlation coefficient was used to determine the relationship between variables. A p ≤ 0.05 was considered statistically significant and a Spearman Rho correlation coefficient (r) ≥ 0.25 signified a positive relationship. Results: Sixty-one per cent of the participants regarded meal planning as important. A total of 137 participants (37%) reported that they planned their meals before cooking and 64% (n = 235) never used recipes. There was statistical significance (p <0.05) between the options considered when buying food and the age of the participants. A positive association (p < 0.05) between the options considered when planning meals and employment status were obtained. The Spearman’s Rho correlation coefficient showed a positive relationship between the options considered when planning meals and buying groceries (r = 0.377, p < 0.001). Conclusion: Meal planning was considered important by participants but was not fully practised in households. Therefore, interventions through practical sessions are recommended to improve household’s meal planning and meal preparation practices, including household’s cooking skills. Contribution: Community-based nutrition education intervention strategies will empower households to opt for healthier meals through meal planning.

Health SA Gesondheid promotes communication, collaboration and teamwork between professions and disciplines within the health sciences to address problems that cross and affect disciplinary boundaries.

Background: The perceptions of mothers and caregivers of children attending early childhood development (ECD) centres play a very critical role in promoting healthy eating habits in children and impact long-term health consequences. Food preferences that are developed during childhood continue into adolescence and adulthood and are difficult to change.Aim: The aim of the study was to assess the perception of mothers and caregivers of children attending ECD centres regarding healthy eating practices.Setting: The study was conducted in ECD centres in Gauteng, North West and Limpopo.Methods: A quantitative descriptive design was used to collect data among 290 respondents using a structured, researcher-administered questionnaire.Results: The findings indicated that the majority (77%) of respondents did not believe that choosing a healthy diet is a matter of knowing foods that are good and bad for health. The majority (59%) of respondents believed that the food they eat and drinks are healthy and see no need to make changes.Conclusion: The study findings showed that the majority of respondents lack awareness about choosing healthy diets. Furthermore, the current dietary patterns of respondents and their children will remain the same as long as the mothers and caregivers feel that the food they eat is healthy.Contribution: The findings of the study contribute to the appropriate measures of educating mothers and caregivers in offering healthy diets to children at home and in early childhood centres.

Quality has become a value that enables businesses to survive and continue existing. Henceforth, food industries need to entrench quality into their business performance. Foodservice quality is characterized as a service that bears on its ability to satisfy stated or implied needs and service free of defects. Foodservice businesses are an integral part of social life, both biologically and socially, biologically as satisfying the nutrition requirements of the society and socially in terms of addressing socialization and esthetics-pleasure values. Therefore, by adopting quality approaches, food industry businesses may encourage customers’ preferences for those businesses that diligently offer these services. Managing food service quality is a complex and challenging task requiring commitment, discipline, and emergent effort from everyone involved in food production processes. The task also requires the necessary management and administration techniques to continuously improve all processes (including quality control from raw material to finished product). Food industries need to be organizationally structured, establish policies and quality programs, measure customer satisfaction, use more quality tools and methodologies, embrace knowledge, apply techniques, and food safety programs to manage food quality. This chapter aims to describe the ISO 22000 system—widely used for quality management in the food industry.

Purpose: This paper presents an interpretive data analysis from a superordinate study that aimed to determine foodservice satisfaction. The purpose of this paper is to determine inpatient hospital foodservice experiences. Design/methodology/approach: The authors used secondary data obtained from 419 respondents: (225 (53.70 per cent) males, 178 (42.48 per cent) females and 16 (3.82 per cent) undisclosed) participants. A comparative, quantitative and cross-sectional approach was applied to provide insight into hospital foodservice experiences. The Wilcoxon–Mann–Whitney test, interpreted at 0.05 error rate, was used to compare male and female patient experiences. Findings: Male patients had significantly higher rank-sum scores than female patients in almost all items (p<0.0001). The study revealed that hospital personnel, especially foodservice staff, had an unsatisfactory communication approach. Originality/value: This is the first South African study that compares female and male inpatient foodservice perceptions. Hospital managers and stakeholders may need to consider patient’s gender, as a significant factor that is associated with patient experiences, when embarking on improving foodservice systems.