A.

Characteristics of the dishes provided

i. List of dishes provided during lunch hours
1. Fried flat noodles with sliced beef (Pic. 1) (Simple Recipes, 2009)
2. Steamed rice with stir-fired egg and shrimp (Pic. 2) (Down Kitchen, n.d.)
3. Baked pork chop with rice (Pic. 3) (Cookeryfamily, n.d.)
The nutrient content of above recipes is come from Recipe Analyzer of eaTracker in 2012.
ii. Define/describe nutritionally balanced meal
According to student health service (2011), a balanced meal should include suitable portion of
different kind of food to provide sufficient amount of nutrients and energy for growth and normal
body functions. The Food Pyramid (Pic. 4) is the representation of a right portion. From the
bottom to the top, food should service in a descending portion. From bottom are grains, fruits and
vegetable, meat and dairy product. For lunch, we assume that should just provide one-third of
daily energy and nutrient need. A balance meal can provide just adequate carbohydrate, protein,
fat, fiber, wide range of vitamins and minerals. (British Liver Trust, 2011)
iii. Assess the nutrition quality of the dishes
The assessment is based on the US FDA Reference Values for Nutrient Labeling for a 2000 Kcal
intake. It is suitable for adult and children above 4 years old. (USFDA, 2001)
For dish (1), it can provide wide range of vitamins and minerals. For example, beef provides
sufficient amount of iron. However, the amount of calcium is two-third less than normal and the
dietary fiber intake is little less than the normal. The dish outweighs the macronutrient intake for a
meal which making the dish is more than half of daily calories intake, because the process in
production of flat noodle including a lot of oil. The amount of protein nearly outweigh 4 times due
to large amount of beef in dish. The heavy seasoning makes the amount of sodium is also
extremely high, almost outweigh 5 times.
For dish (2), it can provide wide range of vitamins and minerals. However, some nutrient is still
too little, such as potassium, fiber and calcium. Dietary fiber is the most insufficient due to nearly
no vegetable inside the recipe. The shrimp and egg provide too much protein and cholesterol,
nearly 3 times and 5.5 times of normal respectively. It making the dish is high in calories, fat and
protein.
For(3), despite it also can provide wide range of vitamins and minerals, some of them nearly less
than half of normal intake, such as fiber, calcium and iron. This dish provides too much energy,
double of normal intake. The supply of carbohydrate, fat and protein are at least half more than the
normal because of the pork chop and fried rice. The pork and egg also makes the cholesterol three
times more than normal. Moreover, the seasoning and tomato sauce make double intake of
sodium.
B. Hygienic condition of the canteen
Although the canteen looks clean and tidy, the risk of getting cross contamination among the food
and tools is high.
Canteen has a trolley for storage of tableware. (Pic. 5) Every student can get them with bare hands
which allow bacteria transfer from students hands to the rest of tableware. And the staff will not
replace the tableware with a whole new packet. They just add the clean tableware above the old
one. Therefore the clean one is contaminated by the old one.
After you have finished your meal, the tray will be retrieved in a corner. (Pic. 6) Staff cleans the
tray with the same wet towel without washing and tray is put next to the rubbish bin. Then they
put tray back to origin for the students to occupy. The bacteria can be transfer from the bin to tray.
During the preparation of food, the staff uses the same tong to garb different foods. (Pic. 7) If one
of the foods is getting problem, it is easy to spread to other foods.
The last thing is about the personal hygiene of the staff, they are not always wear mask and
gloves. Even they do wear a mask but they wear in a wrong way, like on their jaw or discover
their nose.
C. Suggested modification of the dishes
i. Nutrient needs of HKCC students
The students in HKCC are low activity; their energy need for every meal should be just fit to prevent
overweight. That should not more than 800 Kcal for men and 633 Kcal for women. (Centre of Food
Safety, 2007) Most of students are 18 to 20 year olds, during the late period of growth; some
nutrients such as protein and calcium are needed for their body development. To maintain health,
dietary fiber and wide range of vitamin and minerals are needed.
ii. Modification of the dishes
For dish (1), instead of flat noodle, rice noodles should be used to lower the fat. The amount of
noodles and beef should decrease to two-third to low the calories of dish. To lower the seasoning,
raw beef instead of marinated beef and less soy sauce should be used. No more table salt, soy sauce
is enough for seasoning.
For dish (2), smaller size of egg or only egg white should be used to lower the cholesterol. The
amount of shrimp should be reduced to one-third to lower protein intake. This dish is not suitable
to add vegetable to cook, so half of bowl of boiled leafy vegetable should be serviced aside the dish
to boost the dietary intake.
For (3), rice instead of fried rice should be used and reduce the amount of rice and pork to two-third
to lower the calories intake. Double the amount of raw tomato to enhance to fibers intake. No stock
and no tomato sauce and raw pork instead of marinated pork should be used to reduce the sodium
intake.
D. Recommendation on the Hygienic condition of the canteen
For the tableware, staff should totally replace them by the clean tableware to prevent cross
contamination between clean and old tableware. For the tray, it should be washed thoroughly before
the staff put it back to original place and their collection should be kept away from the rubbish bin.
For the tongs, every packets of food should have their own tongs to prevent cross-contamination
between foods. For personal hygiene, they must wear mask and gloves and take them in a right way.
E. Conclusion
The canteen provide high calories dish and over the needs of students. The micronutrient, however,
such as calcium and fiber is always insufficient. The Modification of the dish mainly focuses on the
reduction of calories and addition of fibers. The hygiene condition of canteen is not so good, the
prevention of cross-contamination of the tools and human should enhance.