Diet plays a vital part in the health and well-being for seamen on board, but also in regards to safety and efficiency does nutrition interfere, which makes it a central participant in improving the bottom line. There are therefore all sorts of reasons to improve the conditions within the diets remit, and strive towards complying with the Maritime Labour Convention (MLC). Project Neptune has been launched in this endeavor, to first of all map challenges in the field and then to develop guidance and implements to secure the best possible conditions for the industry to highlight the diet on board.
Purpose
With the everyday life on board as a starting point, project Neptune has three focuses, all emphasizing why diet on board is so important; legislation, finances and health.
- The MLC formalises the need for a nutritious and healthy diet on board, and especially in the context of a multi-cultural crew. There have in that regard been developed codes of practice regarding hygiene in the galley, and regarding the chef’s consideration towards religious and cultural particulars when preparing meals. The ratification of the MLC has gotten far – so far that a commencement in 2014 seems realistic. The industry in Denmark is in the lead in this aspect, but there is no reason not to improve.
- When the shipping company is cutting back on the expenditures, the food is often the first place for economizing. Cutting to the bone on the diet can lead to discontentedness in the crew, and the Neptune project is there available for a guidance on suitable saving that takes both a nutritious diet and healthy finances into account.
- The seamen must eat nutritious and healthy, and with the cultural diversity on board today, religious and cultural conditions needs to be assorted in the meal preparation. This makes demands, first and foremost to the supplies, but also to the chef that has to be aware of the many interpretations of health among the seamen. The NEPTUNE-project highlights what the chef, the shipmaster, and the shipping company must watch for, what their individual responsibility is, and emphasizes what quality is nutrition-wise.
Method and status
SEAHEALTH have in March published a report on the mapping process for catering and nutrition and skills at sea with the focus on the framework for these aboard Danish flagged ships. The mapping process indicates that there are three significant pointers to be adjusted if (often criticized) catering at sea is to get a boost. The attitude of the company towards nutrition and catering as factors that affect health, the skills associated with catering and the contract the company has with suppliers are the pointers the report highlights as crucial in the attempt to boost catering at sea. The results of the mapping process can be read in its entirety in the mapping report. This can be found at www.uk.seahealth.dk and www.tuneupyourseahealth.com.
Following the mapping process, SEAHEALTH is now focusing on developing tools to help shipowners and seamen get better catering and nutrition on board. Over the next 18 months or more, we shall be gathering good examples of how to work with suppliers, completing an e-learning program on hygiene and developing a system where companies can get inspiration for their cooks, guidance for masters, etc.
The NEPTUNE-project runs until the end of 2013.
Further details
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Health and nutrition consultant, Annelise Ømand |
March 2012