12/02/12, 12:03:49 EST

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Cleanliness, organization, attention to detail keep a cruise ship's food service afloat

santacruzsentinel.com

The cavernous galley on board Holland America's MS Oosterdam is so immaculate that you could perform surgery on any surface — including the grease trap. At least, that's the impression we had after completing our personal tour.

If you've ever been inside a restaurant kitchen, you know that things aren't always perfect. But on board a ship, with thousands of people living in a confined space, the No. 1 mission is to be certain that nobody — not guest or crew — will get a food-borne illness.

What's more, each time we entered a dining room, stood in a buffet line or even came on board after a shore visit, someone was squirting our hands with sanitizing gel. Before we could step foot on the ship, everyone had to complete a questionnaire about any recent illnesses. "We know with almost 95 percent certainty that if there's an outbreak, it was brought on board by a guest," said Bert van Mackelenbergh, the ship's culinary operations manager. "That's how indoctrinated our staff is about cleanliness"

Training obviously is very intensive because galley prep areas are free from trimmings and waste even as produce is peeled and scraped. Grills are still shiny, without any evidence of greasy build-up. Nearly all surfaces are stainless steel — for easier sanitation — and polished to a mirror gloss. Nobody touches any food without wearing gloves. And cross-contamination is avoided at all costs.

Even the Centers for Disease Control gets into the act. The CDC schedules two surprise inspections each year, and the ship far exceeds all requirements.

But still, how do they manage so many details? Even with all that attention to cleanliness, the Oosterdam's 125-person galley crew must prepare 11,000 meals each day. A large part of their success is in the planning.

"On shorter U.S. cruises, it's easy to stock up on what you need," said van Mackelenbergh. "We load up at the beginning of each trip, and at the end, we bring on the next load. We can trust the on-shore storage and handling at American ports, so if we ever do run out of something, we can pick it up during one of our stops. But in some foreign ports, you can't depend on the way they handle fresh produce, for example, so we just don't buy it. Instead, we'll improvise with what we already have on board. In other ports, we may have supplies waiting, but it's a challenge to find people to load them into the ship"

In July, van Mackelenbergh already ordered all the provisions for an upcoming 119-day world cruise in January. "Many of those items will leave the U.S. in mid-December and get shipped to various ports along the route. The first replacements will be picked up in Australia, then the next pick-up is in Hong Kong. At 90 days, there's a pick-up in Italy. So last July we were planning what people would be eating next April"

Organization is also essential. When supplies are loaded, everything is inventoried and neatly stored with military precision in temperature-controlled spaces according to product requirements. Seafood, poultry, beef, dairy and fresh produce are kept separately. Thawing rooms hold frozen foods at about 40 degrees until they're needed.

Food preparation areas are also divided according to function. "Our galley is much larger than that of a hotel, but we still have to be very organized," said Josef Nurnberg, second executive chef, who is a native of Austria. "We have separate areas for making hot and cold foods, we create all our own pastries and breads, and then there's a separate area for room service. The entire galley is set up that way because it's all designed for efficiency and food safety"

In the bakery, the staff makes 20 kinds of bread each day — including 4,000 dinner rolls, 800 croissants, 120 loaves and 800 Danish pastries. Most dishes are prepared in small quantities to maintain prime freshness and quality. To ensure consistency, a wall chart includes photographs of each day's meals and how they should look when properly presented on the plate.

Dishwashing is an industry in itself, with a separate team to scrub pots and to wash 12,000 plates and 5,000 glasses each day, plus assorted trays, ramekins, flatware, cutlery and plate covers.

The crew, primarily Indonesian and Filipino, are chosen for their upbeat personalities as much as for their kitchen skills. That combination comes in handy when employment contracts keep workers on board for many months at a time, away from families and friends. However, the work allows them to send money home to pay for houses, their children's education, and other things they could not otherwise afford. Some will work this way for a few years, giving their families a good start, while others turn it into a lifelong career.

"The cruise lines build approximately one new ship a week, so this offers good employment security," said assistant culinary operations manager Jonathan Lewis, an engaging gentleman from the U.K. who guided our tour. "We even have a 'cruise line university' for advanced training. After working with us, the food service crew comes away with great qualifications"

There's certainly no question about that. Anyone who can work on a rocking ship while carrying bowls of soup, decorating a cake or grilling lobster is someone who can manage any culinary challenge on dry land. One young chef was even sculpting a bouquet of flowers from fresh vegetables. "He's so talented that, if he lost his knife, he could do the same thing with a fork," Lewis laughed.

Menu preferences vary according to the cruise itinerary and the nationality of the guests. Seafood is in great demand on Alaskan cruises, for instance, while tropical dishes are preferred in the Caribbean. American guests generally choose an earlier seating for dinner — around 7 p.m. But Europeans are accustomed to dining at 10 p.m. or later. They also enjoy spicier dishes than do Americans.

In years past, people didn't pay too much attention to the healthfulness of their meal choices, according to Chef Nurnberg. Today, the salad bars are much more popular, as are the low-carb and low-fat dishes.

Even waste management is changing as the world becomes more conscious of ocean health. There was a time when garbage was routinely dumped overboard and forgotten. Now strict international regulations are in place to ensure proper disposal, and all crew related to waste management must be certified. That's critical when a ship like the Oosterdam generates 60,000 gallons of sewage and 25,000 pounds of solid waste.

A variety of methods are employed, including a $40 million on-board water purification system that can turn waste water into something clean enough to drink. Food waste is ground into a pulp, mixed with waste paper, dried and burned for energy. Within strict environmental regulations, some of it can be turned into pellets and discharged into the ocean, where it becomes fish food.

All recyclable food containers are collected, compacted and sent for processing. Aluminum cans are sold, with the cash going into the crew's recreation fund. To help control waste, the cruise line also requests that its suppliers use minimal packaging whenever possible.

"From start to finish, it's a very complex operation because our guests expect their food service to be a highlight of the cruise," said Lewis. "If they're unhappy, they can't just go off to another restaurant. So we do pay attention to an incredible amount of detail"

Weekly food consumption on the high seas:

In a typical cruise week, the Oosterdam galley crew prepares and manages several tons of food, including:


20,000 lbs. meat, chicken, fish, seafood.
145,000 lb.s fresh vegetables and potatoes.
2,300 lbs. watermelon.
23,000 eggs.
4,000 lbs. sugar.
3,200 lbs. flour.
5,500 qts. dairy.
1,700 lbs. butter.
300 gallons ice cream.
700 cases beer, soda.
2,000 bottles wine, champagne.
20 lbs. caviar.

 Printable Version  | published Oct 17, 2007