Kigali Serena Hotel recently received the Hygiene Monitored Certificate, an international certification for food safety and hygiene from Societe Generale de Surveillance (SGS), a global inspection, testing, and certification company.

The company scored an index of 85 per cent which is the minimum SGS benchmark.

Daniel Sambai, the Country Manager of Kigali Serena Hotel, said the establishment proved to have high hygiene standards, according to the evaluation, adding that the hotel remains committed to improving the standards to ensure food safety.

"We are committed to ensuring that we serve all our clients with high standards, and we are proud to have received the Hygiene Monitored Certificate. As an establishment, we feel a responsibility to make sure that our customers consume safe food. It’s not just about the taste of the food, but its safety, which is of utmost importance,” he said.

Sambai emphasised that their audits were conducted internally because they strongly believe in the value of self-assessment. They believe that it’s important to monitor their progress rather than solely rely only on external institutions to do so. After all, without self-monitoring, it’s difficult to determine whether or not they are performing well.

"Apart from their internal assessment, we have various bodies that usually do inspections such as regulators like Rwanda Development Board and Rwanda Standard Boards among others,” he said, adding, "We feel that we need to do more because hygiene is a very critical aspect for a hotel.”

He reiterated that they need to make sure that they’re serving food that is safe for their clients to eat, arguing that they don’t want them to have any complications.

Sambai stressed that the more one subjects oneself to tests and audits, the better the confidence of staff and the higher the hygiene standards.

The audits were carried out on every aspect of the operation from the receiving point to preparation to the storage and delivery, along with taking samples of some foods and taking them to their labs and testing, which they passed.

The hotel is committed to further improvement and is actively working on addressing the areas identified during the audits.

"We believe that by focusing on these areas, we can improve our overall rating and exceed expectations during future audits. Our goal is to continuously improve and provide the best possible experience for our guests,” he added.

Speaking on other branches, he pointed out that the Rubavu-based hotel has undergone the exercise this year but the results are not yet out.

Grace Mungai, Food Safety Auditor with SGS Kenya Ltd, pointed out that they have been supporting Serena Hotels in Food Safety Auditing and Training under the SGS Hospitality Excellence Program (Food Safety Module) for a long time now.

"We are happy to work with them and see them make great strides in ensuring safe food for their guests,” she said.