Risk Of Food Contamination Research Articles

The Role of Supervisors in the Hygiene Practice Compliance of the Food Sector Workers

Food hygiene is indisputably one of the most important issues in terms of public health and safety. Food workers are the leading staff members for the compliance of the basic hygiene rules. COVID-19 pandemic has attracted more attention especially for the exported goods from the higher case countries. Even though there is no evidence about the food contamination and COVID-19 risk, according to the European Food Safety Authority, food hygiene practices are important to avoid any contamination risks. Managers are known to have a significant influence on the behavior of their subordinates. In the relevant literature, it is stated that “interactional justice”, which is called the behavior of managers concerning their subordinates and providing adequate information and explanation about the decisions taken, is the most important indicator of the performance and efficiency of subordinates. From this point on, it is thought that interactional justice will affect the behavior of food workers to comply with the hygiene rules. In this research, employees' perceptions of interactional justice are planned to be measured using the informational and interpersonal justice subscales of the organizational justice scale. The tendencies to comply with the hygiene rules will be measured by asking the requirements of the HACCP food security system. At the end of this study, we expect to reach the processing operation involved workers of the investigated food companies.

Assessing Food Hygiene Knowledge and Practice of On-Campus Food Handler During Pandemic COVID-19

Foodservice outlet in universities is the main dining platform for students and it creates a high dependency on the food sold in campus. However, episodes of food poisoning in Malaysia are still occurring in universities and colleges due to improper practices among food handlers. The concern arises when the students are exposed to the risk of foodborne illness. Therefore, this study aims to assess the relationship between knowledge, attitude, and practice of food safety and hygiene among food handlers at foodservice outlets in five campuses in Selangor. A cross-sectional study was conducted among 90 food handlers who met the criteria set in this study. The data gathered were analysed using SPSS software version 24. Food handlers shown good knowledge towards food hygiene but slightly poor in association to time and temperature control as well as cross contamination while even though shown good attitude and hygiene practice. Weak and positive correlations were observed for knowledge and practice, and knowledge and attitude whereby attitude and practice resulted in moderate positive correlation. Further analysis through linear regression proved that attitude mediated the relationship between knowledge and practice on food safety and hygiene. The finding of this study may help in monitoring and improving the knowledge, attitude, and practice of food safety and hygiene among food handlers. Thus, it reduces the risk of food contamination and foodborne diseases.

Prevalence of Salmonella enterica Isolated from Food Contact and Nonfood Contact Surfaces in Cambodian Informal Markets

The lack of hygiene and sanitation practices and insufficient infrastructure in Cambodian informal markets may increase the risk of food contamination, specifically raw vegetables, which in turn may increase the chances of contracting a foodborne disease. The aims of this study in informal markets in Cambodia were (i) to quantify the prevalence of Salmonella enterica based upon differences in season of the year (rainy versus dry), surface types (food contact surfaces versus nonfood contact surfaces), and location of vendors within the market (inside versus outside) and (ii) to characterize S. enterica serotype prevalence. A total of 310 samples were screened for S. enterica prevalence following the U.S. Department of Agriculture guidelines, and results were confirmed by PCR assay. Whole genome sequencing was used to determine the serotype for each isolate in silico using SeqSero 1.0 on draft genomes. A total of 78 samples were confirmed positive for S. enterica. During the dry season, S. enterica was more prevalent on food contact surfaces than on nonfood contact surfaces (estimated probability of detection [confidence interval]: 0.41 [0.25, 0.59] and 0.17 [0.08, 0.32], respectively; P = 0.002), but no differences were apparent in the rainy season. No differences in S. enterica prevalence were found based on location within the market (P = 0.61). Sixteen S. enterica serotypes were detected across multiple surfaces. The most common S. enterica serotypes were Rissen (18 isolates), Hvittingfoss (11), Corvallis (10), Krefeld (8), Weltevreden (6), and Altona (6). Accurate data on the prevalence of S. enterica in informal markets are crucial for the development of effective surveillance and implementation of suitable intervention strategies at the domestic level, thus preventing foodborne illness.

Ants (Hymenoptera: Formicine) as Carriers of Microorganisms Indicating Hygienic and Sanitary Conditions in Urban Schools.

The presence of ants in school kitchens and canteens may pose a risk of food contamination. The present study aimed to evaluate the potential of the ants as carriers of microorganisms indicating hygienic and sanitary conditions in school kitchens and canteens in the western region of Santa Catarina. Ten samples were collected with up to ten ants in the kitchen and canteen environments in nine urban schools. The ants were evaluated using microbiological analyses regarding Staphylococcus aureus, aerobic mesophilic bacteria, total coliforms and thermotolerant coliforms/Escherichia coli. Twenty ant species were sampled. Four species presented counts for S. aureus, eight for aerobic mesophilic bacteria and three for total coliforms. The results evidenced the potential of ants as indicators of contamination and the risk of ants to carrier microorganisms in school environments and an important diversity occurring in indoor environments.

Ecotoxicology of glyphosate and recent advances in its mitigation by adsorption.

Glyphosate (N-[phosphonomethyl]glycine) is one of the most popular herbicides now used in agricultural practice. The aim of this paper was to discuss the research progress and innovations in recent years on the mitigation of glyphosate (GLY) from aqueous media by adsorption. The ecotoxicology of GLY was discussed in the domain of its chronic and sub-chronic toxicity, genotoxicity, reproductive toxicity, and carcinogenicity, and potential risks of food contamination were discussed. It was observed that polymers and resins are the best class of adsorbents for GLY adsorption from aqueous media. GLY adsorption was best fit to either Freundlich or Langmuir isotherm depending on the nature of the adsorbent. The pseudo-second-order kinetics was also the best fit for modelling the kinetics of GLY adsorption. A review of the thermodynamics revealed that GLY adsorption was usually spontaneous and exothermic. Research trends and knowledge gaps are in the area of chemical mobility in environmental systems (especially in the presence of other chemical species), the use of heavy metal-laden adsorbent and molecular modelling. Furthermore, it was observed that the ecotoxicology of GLY still has some contentious areas where there is no conclusive stance.

Food Safety Conditions in Home-Kitchens: A Cross-Sectional Study in the Federal District/Brazil.

This study aimed to analyze the food safety conditions in home kitchens from the Brazilian Federal District. A previously validated instrument composed of 77 items (in four blocks) was used to evaluate the safety conditions in home kitchens. A survey was carried out with on-site application with 226 home kitchens’ food handlers in the Federal District, Brazil to evaluate Brazilian home kitchens’ good practices. Of the home kitchen food handlers, most of them were female (64.6%), had completed undergraduate education (29.2%), and were 45–59 years old (23.5%). The visited households had an average of 3.38 ± 1.48 residents that ate some of their meals at home, and 40% declared the monthly family income to be between 5 and 15 Brazilian minimum wages (MW). Regarding the reliability of the instrument, from the KR-20 test, it was verified that the instrument presents good internal consistency (α = 0.758). According to the instrument classification, the home kitchens’ sample was considered as at a medium risk of food contamination (46.5% of them presented from 51 to 75% of conformities to the instrument). There was a statistical difference between house-kitchens with a family income from zero to one minimum wage (MW) and those receiving from 5 to 15 MW (p = 0.017), as well as between those from zero to one MW and who earn above 15 MW (p = 0.009). The result of the on-site evaluation shows that the instrument was able to measure food safety conditions in Brazilian Federal District domestic kitchens. Such findings can contribute positively to the development of actions in health education that help in the adoption of good practices of food manipulation and, consequently, in the reduction in foodborne disease outbreaks in residences.

Influence of Risk Severity and Intentionality on Perceptions of Food Contamination Risks among Pregnant Women: An Experimental Investigation

Given the potential for severe health consequences of consuming contaminated foods during pregnancy, effective communication of food contamination risks to pregnant women is especially important. This study examines pregnant women’s risk perceptions and intentions to adopt risk-reduction behaviors following exposure to a simulated news story about a food contamination incident. The news story was experimentally manipulated to depict the severity of the incident as high or low and the cause of the incident as accidental or intentional. Results showed that both severity and intentionality of the incident elevated pregnant women’s perceptions of getting sick as well as their intentions to temporarily reduce consumption of the contaminated food product and to seek more information. Implications of these findings for effectively communicating food contamination risks to pregnant women are discussed.

Seroprevalence of Toxoplasmosis in Cats in Espirito Santo State, Brazil

Abstract Objectives Toxoplasma gondii is a zoonotic protozoan parasite found worldwide. It can infect all warm-blooded animals and an estimated 30% of the human population carries the parasite. Cats are important in the epidemiology of T. gondii because they are the only hosts that can excrete environmentally resistant oocysts and humans become infected by ingesting tissue cysts from undercooked meat, consuming food or drink contaminated with oocysts, or by accidentally ingesting oocysts in the environment. Some outbreaks of acute toxoplasmosis in humans have been associated with oocyst contamination. Cats probably play a major role in transmitting T. gondii through faecal contamination of soil, food or water because they can excrete millions of oocysts in a short period. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the seroprevalence of anti-T. gondii antibodies in cats and to determine the risk factors associated with seropositivity in the regions of Vitoria, in state of Espirito Santo (ES), Brazil. Methods Serum samples from 79 cats from Zoonosis Control Centers and temporary shelters were evaluated, as well as epidemiological data on origin, sex, breed and age of each animal. Anti-T. gondii IgG immunoglobulins were analyzed by Immunoenzymatic Assay (ELISA) and Indirect Immunofluorescence Reaction (IFI). Results The serological prevalence in cats by ELISA was 15.2% (12/79) and 7.6% (6/79) by (IFI). Among the serum of cats, although there was agreement between the tests (k = 0.63), they were significantly different (P = 0.041). The results demonstrated high contamination of the environment by the parasite, suggesting a high risk of human and other animal infection by cat feces. Conclusions This is the first study to determine the frequency of anti-T. gondii and the risk of food contamination by cats feces in urban gardens in Espirito Santo state. Funding Sources CAPES and FAPES.

Effects of Employee Behavioral Factors on HACCP System Practices in Four and Five Star Rated Hotels in Nairobi County, Kenya

Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) is a globally recognized food safety program advanced as a suitable program to minimize or eliminate the risk of food contamination. Successful implementation of HACCP System requires appropriate employee support. This study sought todetermine the influence of employee behavioral factors on HACCP system practices in four and five star-rated hotels in Nairobi County.A total of 255 hotel cooks and 33 chefs participated in the study. Analysis of the data utilized a set of descriptive statistics that provided detailed description of the study variables. To establish the statistical significance of the hypothesis,multiple linear regression analysis was conductedat 95 percent confidence level ( α = 0.05).The study established the existence of a statistically significant positive relationship between employee behavioral factors and HACCP system practices. Rrecommendations to hotel managers and other food production industry practitioners on enhancement of employee behaviour for effective HACCP system implementation are provided. Keywords: Employee Behavioral Factors, Food Safety, HACCP System Practices, Star- Rated Hotels DOI: 10.7176/JTHS/48-05 Publication date: April 30 th 2020

Versicolorin A, a precursor in aflatoxins biosynthesis, is a food contaminant toxic for human intestinal cells

Aflatoxin B1 (AFB1) is the most potent carcinogen among mycotoxins. Its biosynthesis involves the formation of versicolorin A (VerA), whose chemical structure shares many features with AFB1. Our data revealed significant levels of VerA in foodstuff from Central Asia and Africa. Given this emerging food risk, it was of prime interest to compare the toxic effects of the two mycotoxins against cells originating from the intestinal tract. We used human colon cell lines (Caco-2, HCT116) to investigate the cytotoxic process induced by the two mycotoxins. Contrary to AFB1, a low dose of VerA (1 µM) disturbed the expression level of thousands of genes (18 002 genes). We show that the cytotoxic effects of low doses of VerA (1–20 µM) were stronger than the same low doses of AFB1 in both Caco-2 and HCT116 cell lines. In Caco-2 cells, VerA induced DNA strand breaks that led to apoptosis and reduced DNA replication of dividing cells, consequently inhibiting cell proliferation. Although VerA was able to induce the p53 signaling pathway in p53 wild-type HCT116 cells, its toxicity process did not mainly rely on p53 expression since similar cytotoxic effects were also observed in HCT116 cells that do not express p53. In conclusion, this study provides evidence of the risk of food contamination by VerA and shed light on its toxicological effect on human colon cells.

Plant-based natural saponins for Escherichia coli surface hygiene management

Cleaning the surfaces enables reducing microbial populations and consequently the risk of food contamination. The aim of this research was to study the potential of natural extracts from soap nuts, quillaja bark, and horse chestnuts for the reduction of Escherichia coli on glass surfaces. Analogous to that, we tested the efficacy of standard saponins as the active components in the plants mentioned above. The results show that the numbers of bacteria cells are decreased by increasing concentrations of all cleaning product, except for quillaja standard saponin (p < 0.05). Furthermore, the findings indicate that natural plant extracts have greater efficacy than standard saponins do. In particular, quillaja bark extract shows the potential to reduce bacterial populations by up to 66%. Moreover, the research also demonstrates that natural plant extracts have excellent abilities to reduce water surface tension (22 mN/m for soap nut extract) and emulsification potential (74 for quillaja bark extract). Natural plant extracts are inexpensive, biodegradable, and residues are less toxic than conventional ones. The evidence of this study suggests that natural plant extracts are efficient against attached E. coli cells on the glass surface and are a good candidate for surface hygiene management.

An online relationship between consumer trends and food in its various avatars

The latest advancements of the Internet has enhanced the growth of online food services by assisting people to search, compare prices and conveniently access these services. Many a time, the preference for a food product like noodles may not depend upon just the price, quality, quantity or even taste, but merely on its availability ‘online’. The food systems in case of countries having low and middle income are heterogeneous and fragmented. Moreover, numerous small time food retailers are prevailing in such countries. Therefore, safety and hygiene considerations need to be catered to with utmost importance. Especially, unorganised processing of food, transfer plus packaging of this food among small online food retailers leads to the elevation of the risk of food adulteration or contamination and contributes to food poisoning outbreaks due to the extension of several harmful bacteria. This article gives an insight into consumers’ preferences, perceptions, needs, their level of awareness, their convenience and their willingness to purchase food online as well as offline. An online questionnaire was collected by conducting a survey. It was found that in India, though people are not very price conscious when it comes to food and are ready to try new food items, they are aware about conventional food items. Indian consumers also give importance to fast food that comes with quick convenient delivery.

Contribution of Rhizosphere Processes to Acacia Seedlings Adaptation into Polluted Soils of a Municipal Landfill (Cote d'Ivoire)

Inadequate urban waste management in Cote d’Ivoire is the heavy metal source in soils used to produce vegetables. This represents a potential risk of food contamination. In order to find an efficient technique for soils depollution before their use in agriculture, an experimental study had demonstrated the ability of species of Acacia (mangium, auriculiformis and crassicarpa) to extract heavy metals from landfill soils. This work was undertaken to determine rhizosphere processes controlling Acacia growth in polluted soil. An experiment was carried out in hydroponic culture and on thin layer of landfill polluted soil during 3 months. During this experiment, growth parameters, soil chemical properties, heavy metal contents in soil (total and various fractions) and in plants were measured at the end of experiment. Results show that plant growth is related to the development of strategies in root zone. Plants released protons in their rhizosphere and lowering the redox potential, especially under Acacia crassicarpa, which stored the most level of heavy metal in in biomass. The other species produce organic acids allowing plants to grow with high biomass in soil with high content of heavy metal. Acacia crassicarpa is therefore the species better suited for depollution of landfill soil.

Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices (KAPs) on Food Safety Among Food Handlers in School Canteens in Eastern Visayas, Philippines

The present study was conducted to evaluate the levels of knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) on food safety among food handlers in different high school canteens in Eastern Visayas, Philippines. Of the 26 respondents, the were between 36-45 years (23.1%), are females (76.9%), reached tertiary education (73.1%), and obtained food safety-related trainings (50%). When it came to foodborne disease transmission, 96.2%, 88.5%, and 73.1% of the respondents know that Salmonella, hepatitis A virus and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively, are foodborne pathogens. Yet some of the respondents (38.4%) did not know that microbes can be in the skin, nose and mouth of a healthy food handler. The overall satisfactory knowledge of food safety among the respondents did not however translate into positive attitudes and satisfactory practices on food safety. The majority of the respondents were unaware of the appropriate way in thawing meat products (57.7% wrong answers); 53.8% of the respondents practiced refreezing of defrosted food products, and washing of eggs soon after purchase. Although the majority of the respondents (80.8%) knew that eating and drinking in the workplace increased the risk of food contamination, 53.8% of these respondents still report eating and drinking during working hours. Overall, findings revealed that adequate knowledge on food safety will not necessarily translate into positive attitudes and good practices on food safety. Thus, continuous food safety education and subsequent monitoring and evaluation are a must. Strategies to motivate food handlers in pursuing food safety procedures are also recommended.

Meat Merchandising in Single Look Produce the Chance of Foodborne Illness:Shoppers Alert!

Purpose: The aim of the study is to produce information of food safety relates to meat consumption to guage the knowledge and angle of shoppers to make the notice publically to avoid the chance of foodborne ill health. Here the investigation belongs to however the shoppers square measure influenced by getting at totally different levels of meat below the chance perception. Design/methodology/approach- Structural equation modeling (SEM) was engineered to grasp the chance perception of urban and rural shoppers in Coimbatore, Erode and Nilgris by scale back with the perceived risk of their probability of goat meat, chicken, fish, beef and pork. Findings– The intentions of shoppers in these 3 districts is to facilitate with the acquisition behavior, attitude, knowledge, food safety awareness square measure involved with the microbiological risk of food contamination. Social implications- The retail search oversubscribed their meat and poultry in single buy their convenience of shopper to avoid wasting time period and cash by mistreatment constant knife and board. It’ll produce the microbiological risk and facilitate to grasp the food handling behavior conjointly to guage the effectiveness of food safety to avoid the chance. Practical implication- The merchant and shopper prefers these quite consumption for saving the time and cash to urge all meat in one place however they’re not knowing the chance of pathogens they use same knife and cutting all meat and poultry this produce the chance of food borne sickness and also the snacks search, tea shop, fruit stall square measure closely around the meat search and also the meat search marketing in Associate in Nursing open show there’s a necessity of closed glass box that stop mud, and bug will unfold the sickness. Research implications– The result offer with the data of food safety steerage from producer to shopper to avoid the chance of foodborne ill health and create safe consumption to the buyer with clean and clear setting. Originality worth– The risks are unknown by the retailers and shoppers it provides the data of meat consumption that relates to food safety with detail understanding of risk perception.

Exposure to Broad-Spectrum Visible Light Causes Major Transcriptomic Changes in Listeria monocytogenes EGDe.

Listeria monocytogenes, the causative agent of the serious foodborne disease listeriosis, can rapidly adapt to a wide range of environmental stresses, including visible light. This study shows that exposure of the L. monocytogenes EGDe strain to low-intensity, broad-spectrum visible light inhibited bacterial growth and caused altered multicellular behavior during growth on semisolid agar compared to when the bacteria were grown in complete darkness. These light-dependent changes were observed regardless of the presence of the blue light receptor (Lmo0799) and the stressosome regulator sigma B (SigB), which have been suggested to be important for the ability of L. monocytogenes to respond to blue light. A genome-wide transcriptional analysis revealed that exposure of L. monocytogenes EGDe to broad-spectrum visible light caused altered expression of 2,409 genes belonging to 18 metabolic pathways compared to bacteria grown in darkness. The light-dependent differentially expressed genes are involved in functions such as glycan metabolism, cell wall synthesis, chemotaxis, flagellar synthesis, and resistance to oxidative stress. Exposure to light conferred reduced bacterial motility in semisolid agar, which correlates well with the light-dependent reduction in transcript levels of flagellar and chemotaxis genes. Similar light-induced reduction in growth and motility was also observed in two different L. monocytogenes food isolates, suggesting that these responses are typical for L. monocytogenes Together, the results show that even relatively small doses of broad-spectrum visible light cause genome-wide transcriptional changes, reduced growth, and motility in L. monocytogenesIMPORTANCE Despite major efforts to control L. monocytogenes, this pathogen remains a major problem for the food industry, where it poses a continuous risk of food contamination. The ability of L. monocytogenes to sense and adapt to different stressors in the environment enables it to persist in many different niches, including food production facilities and in food products. The present study shows that exposure of L. monocytogenes to low-intensity broad-spectrum visible light reduces its growth and motility and alters its multicellular behavior. Light exposure also caused genome-wide changes in transcript levels, affecting multiple metabolic pathways, which are likely to influence the bacterial physiology and lifestyle. In practical terms, the data presented in this study suggest that broad-spectrum visible light is an important environmental variable to consider as a strategy to improve food safety by reducing L. monocytogenes contamination in food production environments.

Introduction of hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) principles at the flight catering food production plant

In the article there is considered the quality control and safety system implemented in the one of the largest flight catering food production plant for airline passengers and flying squad. The system for the control was based on the Hazard Analysis And Critical Control Points (HACCP) principles and developed hygienic and antiepidemic measures. There is considered the identification of hazard factors at stages of the technical process. There are presented results of the analysis data of monitoring for 6 critical control points over the five-year period. The quality control and safety system permit to decline food contamination risk during acceptance, preparation and supplying of in-flight meal. There was proved the efficiency of the implemented system. There are determined further ways of harmonization and implementation for HACCP principles in the plant.

Interaction of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Staphylococcus aureus with Listeria innocua in dual species biofilms and inactivation following disinfectant treatments

Biofilms pose a serious hygienic concern in the food processing environment due to the strong antimicrobial tolerance and thus higher risk of food contamination. The aim of this study was to investigate dual species biofilm formation of P. aeruginosa ATCC 27853 or S. aureus FI 2 with L. innocua FI 2 and biofilm inactivation using QAC-, tertiary alkyl amine-, and chlorine-based disinfectants; the effect of biofilm maturity and comparison with single species biofilms are reported. We used epifluorescence microscopy (EFM) coupled with fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) and LIVE/DEAD staining to evaluate species contribution and cell inactivation; cells were prepared using the LabTek Chamber Slide System. In dual species biofilms during 72-h incubation time, P. aeruginosa produced a higher and S. aureus slightly lower cell numbers than the companion species of L. innocua. In dual species biofilm inactivation experiments, P. aeruginosa was more resistant to disinfectant treatment of 24-h compared to 72-h; however, S. aureus was more resistant at 72-h compared to 24-h. In addition, P. aeruginosa was more resistant to tertiary alkyl amine- and chlorine-based disinfectants and S. aureus was more resistant to all three disinfectants in dual species biofilms compared to single species biofilms. In the LabTek™ experiment, when nutrients were repeatedly provided, FISH showed almost equal contribution of P. aeruginosa and L. innocua into the biofilm as well as a predominance of S. aureus when grown with L. innocua. Regardless of biofilm composition, the LIVE/DEAD staining revealed that the majority of cells had damaged membranes after the treatment with the QAC-based disinfectant, while approximately half of the cells remained intact following the treatment with the tertiary alkyl amine-based disinfectant. As for chlorine, cells in P. aeruginosa-L. innocua biofilm were mostly dead whereas cells in S. aureus-L. innocua biofilm were largely viable, and thus were protected under the applied conditions. This study shows that dual species biofilms with foodborne pathogens are more resistant to disinfectant treatment than their single species counterparts and that biofilm maturity as well as environmental conditions, i.e. access to nutrients, play an important role in their response to the treatments tested.

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

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.

A deep learning model to recognize food contaminating beetle species based on elytra fragments

Insect pests are often associated with food contamination and public health risks. Accurate and timely species-specific identification of pests is a key step to scale impacts, trace back the contamination process and promptly set intervention measures, which usually have serious economic impact. The current procedure involves visual inspection by human analysts of pest fragments recovered from food samples, a time-consuming and error-prone process. Deep Learning models have been widely applied for image recognition, outperforming other machine learning algorithms; however only few studies have applied deep learning for food contamination detection. In this paper, we describe our solution for automatic identification of 15 storage product beetle species frequently detected in food inspection. Our approach is based on a convolutional neural network trained on a dataset of 6900 microscopic images of elytra fragments, obtaining an overall accuracy of 83.8% in cross validation. Notably, the classification performance is obtained without the need of designing and selecting domain specific image features, thus demonstrating the promising prospects of Deep Learning models in detecting food contamination.