Success! Watercoolers Europe Hygiene Awareness training course – held at WE 30th Anniversary event in Vienna

More than 40 Watercoolers Europe Members took part in a Hygiene Awareness training course, held at WE 30th Anniversary event in Vienna, making this training course the most successful in the association’s 30 year history.

WE’s mission is to ensure that its Members offer the highest standards of quality, safety and hygiene to the consumer, together with an unimpeachable product and service.

As water is a food product, hygiene and safety are essential and strict guidelines must be followed for dispensers. WE offers its members an industry-specific Hygiene Awareness training course, to ensure that they can produce safe, high-quality products and strictly adhere to European Directives and regulatory and legislative requirements.

During the course, the attendees can see for the very first time what bacteria and other microorganisms look like. It is a very interactive course that requires an experienced translation company in order to communicate with detail.

In Vienna, the translation of the course material and the presentation into Slovakian was sponsored by Dolphin Central Europe, which also was a key for the attendance success of the training in Vienna. More than 70% of the attendees were from the Slovakian Association which shows the need for and the interest in this type of training.

Time during the course flies very quickly as the attendees expect long, boring and tiring content, so the ability of the trainer to make the content digestible and funny – even the regulations – makes the course very interactive, and maintains the interest of the participants.

Leading the course, was Eden Springs Group Quality Director Alex Mezquida (right), who commented: “From my point of view, as interaction is the key to keeping the attention of the attendees, this training should probably be extended to 4 hours in order to have more time to think, reflect and answer the questions made during the training.”

Course Objectives:

At the successful completion of the course, delegates were able to understand:

• WE best practice
• The hygiene requirements of bottled and plumbed-in water dispensers
• The range of food safety legislation, which applies to the water dispenser industry and how it affects delegates and their employers
• The difference between mineral, spring and purified bottled water and water sources for bottled and plumbed-in dispensers
• The principles of food safety as applied to water and water dispensers
• The food safety hazards involved from bottling and storage to delivery of bottled water and dispensers, and the appropriate and necessary control measures
• The main ways in which water dispensers can be kept in a hygienic condition
• The role of the WE audits.

Exam format: 30-minute multiple choice 15 question exam. A minimum of 9/15 must be achieved for a pass.
Certification: Issued by the WE
Validity: 3 years.

About the trainer:

Based in Barcelona, Spain, Alex Mezquida has extensive experience in food and water systems. Alex serves as writer or co-writer of different Audit Quality Checklists, Training Materials, Technical Manuals, Sanitation Validation Protocols for different local and European associations. Alex has been Vice-Chair of different Standards Committee’s for local and European Associations, and is currently Chair of the Technical & Standards Committee and Vice-Chair of Watercoolers Europe Association since April 2023.

Alex holds University degrees in Pharmacy and Food Science & Technology from the University of Barcelona (Spain) and a PDD Executive Education from IESE Business School University of Navarra (Spain). mRPharmS UK from 1998 to 2021.

Prior to joining Primo Water Europe/Eden Springs, as a Group Quality Director, he enrolled for 14 years with Oliver Rodes Laboratory, Barcelona (Spain) where he carried out duties in different roles: Bottled Water & Spa’s Manager, Quality Manager, Training and Audit Manager, R&D Project Manager, Product Development Director and Management Committee Member. After that he was NSF Technical Director for 2 years providing training and auditing services for beverage, water contact and food and dietary supplements programs.