Health Risk of Bacteriological Contamination of Food Utensils in Mass Catering Establishments

Abstract

OPS 07: Farm animals, antibiotics, infections and the microbiome, Room 110, Floor 1, August 27, 2019, 10:30 AM - 12:00 PM Background: Despite a few studies on the sanitary condition of food establishments in urban centers of Ethiopia, there is no scientific evidence based on laboratory examination to confirm the health risk of food contamination by pathogenic organisms due to unclean utensils used in mass catering. This study is aimed at investigating the bacteriological quality of food utensils used in mass catering establishments as evidence of food safety risk factor in Jimma town. Methods: A cross-sectional survey of 72 (20%) randomly selected mass catering establishments out of a total 360 was carried out from February 8 to March 8, 2017. Standardized and structured questionnaires were used to gather information. Standard swab samples were collected from food utensils in the 72 establishments and analyzed for bacteriological quality using standard methods. Results: Of all the utensils tested 33.3% were found to be contaminated by Coliform bacilli with above the acceptable level (>100 colonies/100ml) and 53.3% were grossly contaminated by fecal coliform (>39.5 fecal coliform/100 ml). The presence of fecal coliform is an indicator of possible contamination of utensils by unclean water during washing. Observational studies also indicated that other causes of contamination could be inefficient washing, sanitizing and drying, cross contamination of contact surfaces during storage and, unhygienic kitchen practices of food handlers. The study showed that 86.1% of the establishments had licenses, 59.7% were operating in their own private building and 30.5% of the owners had educational grade level of 11-12. Conclusions: The study confirms that eating meals outside the home is a risk factor for obtaining food-borne diseases. There is a need to create public awareness in order to improve the sanitary standard of mass catering establishments through efficient inspection, regulatory compliance, education and motivation of food handlers and owners in coordination with the relevant stakeholders.