Assessment of Unhealthy Diets and Unsafe Foods and its Risks to Human Consumers: Public Health Approaches to prevent Chronic Diseases and Food Poisoning among University of Gezira Students, Sudan (2010 -2013).

Abstract

This study was conducted in the University of Gezira, Sudan; among 4800 students from the first year in the different colleges in ten campuses distributed in the Gezira State Sudan, to know, investigate, and assess the health risks resulting from the consumption of unhealthy and unsafe foods and public health approaches to prevent chronic diseases and food poisoning among students. Fifty duplicate swab samples of equipment preparation surfaces, cooking surfaces and hand swabs of the food handlers were collected. All samples were analyzed in the laboratory of Microbiology, Faculty of Public and Environmental Health, University of Khartoum to evaluate the levels of contamination by using the approved isolation and identification methods. Interpretations of the API Staph numerical profile of all samples were performed in Pasteur Institute, Casablanca, Morocco. Results showed that 87.5% of the total students have no physical activities and 28.96% of the total students have family history of diabetes. The present study showed there is a significant relation between Body Mass Index of students and their physical activity (P < 0.005). All samples of cooking equipments and hand swabs of the food handlers were contaminated with six bacterial species: Staphylococci species, Bacillus species, Kocuria varians/rose, Proteus species, Enterobacter species and Tatumella species. Staphylococci were the predominant bacteria species (79%) of the total isolated Gram – positive cocci, but Gram- negative rods constituted 6% of the total isolated species. This indicating the improper hygiene practices, improper hand washing, lack of surfaces and food preparation equipment, cleanliness and disinfection. About 43.3% of the total food handlers know the proper way to wash their hands during working hours and only 3.3% of them know the proper way of cleaning food preparation surfaces.