The hotel is the only five-star luxury hotel in Ghana to have the ISO 22000 certification and the first Kempinski hotel in the Middle East and Africa Region.

 The ISO International Standards give world-class specifications for products, services and systems, to ensure quality, safety and efficiency.

They are instrumental in facilitating international trade; ISO 22000 requires building a Food Safety Management System.

This means having a documented system in place and fully implementing it throughout the facility.

Mr Paul Fosu, Health, Hygiene and Sustainability Manager, Kempinski, said maintaining the standards set in place was of great importance to the hotel, and they could assure their guests to expect an intense focus on quality and custom service.

He said in Kempinski, meeting guest's expectation was important to them and getting ISO certification gives them the confidence that they were not only producing quality foods, but also safe food consistently.

He said the management of the hotel showed great commitment towards food safety by raising the bar and implementing ISO 22000, which was the international standard.

"This certification is a great achievement as it has enhanced the capacity of staff and also improved upon already existing food safety measures.

"It is not the end of the road for us. We will continuously improve the food safety measures we have in place through continuous and consistent staff training, audit to consistently ensure that our operational procedures are consistent with local and international standards."

Dr Remi El Chidiac, ISO 2200 Consultant at ISO Liban Inc, said Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City took a pioneering step towards achieving the ISO 22000 Food Safety Management system in order to enhance Quality Assurance, taking into consideration a strategic venture with ISO Liban to maintain and improve the System by continual audit & training.

He said the hotel will commence a vigorous training plan to keep their team aware of all the new updates and take into consideration the continued improvement towards acquiring the upgrade of the standards.

Mr Kofi Essel, Head of Food and Industrial Support Services, Food and Drug Authority, said food safety had become a global phenomenon, which had generated a lot of interest at several fronts in view of its impact on international and domestic trade as well as in the hospitality industry.

He said food safety affects the health and wellbeing of consumers irrespective of their social status, race or age, and can lead to sickness or hospitalization or worst death, with a resultant effect in the loss of trust of consumers and the players in the food supply chain, loss of investment in a country.

He said in spite of being a voluntary standard, the application of ISO 22000 by Kempinski Hotel Gold Coast City, was further assurance to all by the management and staff of this hotel at their commitment to go beyond the ordinary in ensuring the safety of food they served.

Mr Essel said as a preventive approach to food safety hazards, identification, evaluation and control, ISO 22000 provides a management pathway that would also support food traceability.

He assured that the FDA fully supported management of the hotel and would ensure that this did not become a nine day wonder but a working culture going forward.

"We hope as expected that your attainment of this new status will also facilitate our regulatory audit."

He congratulated them for the effort and resolve to pursue a path of achieving food service excellence through the adoption of strategies that would govern the safety of food served in the hotel.

ISO is an independent, non-govemmental international organization with a membership of 164 national standards bodies. Through its members, it brings together experts to share knowledge and develop voluntary, consensus-based, market relevant International Standards that support innovation and provide solutions to global challenges.