A comparison study of hygiene status in meals for poorly-fed children through microbiological analysis

Abstract

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to assess hygiene status of meals for poorly-fed children through microbiolo-gical quality. Methods: Meals were provided by two social enterprises, one franchise, and one convenience store. There were a total of six meal samples; two samples (social enterprise meal 1; SEM 1, social enterprise meal 2; SEM 2) from two social enterprises, respectively, two samples (franchise meal 1; FM 1, franchise meal 2; FM 2) from one franchise, and two samples (convenience store meal 1; CSM 1, convenience store meal 2; CSM 2) from one convenience store. Microbiologi-cal analysis and assessment were performed by Korean food standards codex (KFSC). Results: General bacteria and E. coli in SEM 1 were detected, but the levels were not over KFSC, and Coliform less than 9.2 × 10 CFU/g was also de-tected in seasoned bean sprouts of SEM 1. General bacteria was detected at 1.6 × 106 CFU/g in cabbage kimchi of SEM 2. Coliform was detected in cabbage kimchi, squid cutlet, stir-fried pork, and fried chicken of FM1 and 2, but the levels were not over KFSC. In addition, S. aureus was detected in cabbage kimchi and seasoned dried white radish of FM 1 and 2 (9.8 × 10 2 CFU/g, 9.4 × 10 3 CFU/g respectively), thus was over KFSC. B. cereus was detected in stir-fried pork and fried chicken (1.2 × 10 3 CFU/g, 1.5 × 10 3 CFU/g respectively) of FM 1 and 2, thus was over KFSC. Finally, S. aureus was detected in stir-fried dried squid, seasoned spicy chicken, and stir-fried kimchi of CSM 1 and 2, and was over KFSC too (9.5 × 104 CFU/g, 2.4 × 10 2 CFU/g, 1.3 × 10 3 CFU/g respectively). Conclusion: Results of this study suggest that systemic management of hygiene is necessary to safely providing meals to poorly-fed children.