Effects of HACCP on process hygiene in different types of Serbian food establishments

This paper presents results from a research that analyzed effects of implementing HACCP on process hygiene in food establishments in Serbia. Process hygiene indicators were microbial profiles of 73,428 samples from food contact surfaces, hands of food handlers and cooling facilities collected from 1707 food establishments during a period of seven years. The study covered two periods during the observed period, 41 months before and 43 months after the implementation of the new Food Safety Law in Serbia requiring HACCP. Overall results presented in this paper confirm post-HACCP process hygiene improvement expressed as reduction of at least 0.7 log₁₀ CFU/cm² for food contact surfaces to over 1 log₁₀ CFU/cm² for cooling facilities. Our research confirms that after requiring HACCP, the main differences in process hygiene in respect to food contact surfaces were observed between takeaways (as food establishment with poorest hygiene) and other categories of food establishments. Institutional food services were the best scored establishments. Regarding food handlers' hygiene, results show similar level of hygiene improvements in all types of establishments.     

Survey on typology,PRPs and HACCP plan in dry fermented sausage sector of Northern Italy

One hundred and fifty four dry fermented sausage small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) were visited in Northern Italy, to collect information on building and facilities, production technology and marketing organization. Five businesses, out of 154, were then selected with the aim of analysing their prerequisite programmes (PRPs) and the level of hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) system implementation. The results of this survey acknowledge the importance of small enterprises in the dry fermented sausage production sector. This study shows that fully compliance with PRPs and HACCP is far from complete, especially in micro-sized businesses, in spite of derogations for small establishments provided by Italian and European rules. In order to help SMEs to comply with food safety objectives, collaboration with Local Health Unit officers always proves positive for the businesses because they can inform and support enterprises, particularly small food premises.     

Implementation of HACCP and prerequisite programs in food businesses in Turkey

The objectives of this study was to determine food safety practices and procedures related to the hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) programme and prerequisite programme implementation in food businesses. One hundred and nine food businesses in Turkey were assessed for HACCP-prerequisite programmes and food safety practices. Only eight food businesses had implemented the HACCP system in food businesses. Directors and employees often have insufficient knowledge regarding the basics of food hygiene. Results indicated that proper food safety practices and prerequisite food safety programmes for HACCP were often not being followed in many food businesses. Time and temperature errors and inadequate handwashing practices were wide in the most food businesses. Emphasis on implementing prerequisite programmes in preparation for HACCP is needed in food businesses. The problems of implementing HACCP in food businesses have been namely a low level of food hygiene management training, high staff turnover rate, lack of motivation, lack of financial resources, inadequate equipment and physical conditions of the facility and failure of government.     

Implementation of Food Safety Management Systems in small food businesses in Cyprus

EU legislation requires that food businesses in all member states must implement a Food Safety Management System based on HACCP principles. Although manufacturers have used this system successfully for many years it has been less common in small and medium sized enterprises (SMEs), especially those in the food service sector. There are considered to be a number of barriers which small businesses find particularly difficult to overcome. This study assesses the impact of various Food Safety Management Systems in 50 small businesses in Cyprus. It compares food hygiene before, during, and after implementation of the food management systems, assesses the attitude of the Food Business Operators and the hygiene knowledge of the staff. Results show that the maximum improvement came when implementing the pre-requisite programmes and a bespoke HACCP plan but that a deterioration in standards could be identified when using more complex systems such as the CYS 244 standard or ISO 22000. Food Business Operator attitude started positively but became more negative as the complexity of the Food Safety Management System increased.     

A review on food safety and food hygiene studies in Ghana

Food safety and hygiene in Ghana was studied using desk top literature review. Food research was highly concentrated in the capital city of the country and most research focus were on commercial food operations specifically street foods and microbiological safety with limited information from institutional catering and other forms of food hazards. The media currently serves as the main source for reporting of food borne diseases. Food establishments and other sources contributing to food borne diseases included restaurants, food joints, food vendors, schools and individual homes. Limited use of prerequisites measures and food safety management systems was identified. Recommendations on regulating the General Hygiene Principles, implementation of HACCP to strengthen the food sector, regular food safety and hygiene workshops and training for food handlers that commensurate with their roles were made. Government support for SMEs and food handler's health screening were made.     

Evaluation of basic knowledge on food safety and food handling practices amongst migrant food handlers in Peninsular Malaysia

This study was aimed to measure the basic knowledge on food safety and food handling practices among migrant food handlers as these information is scarce in Malaysia. A cross-sectional study was conducted face-to-face amongst 383 migrant food handlers from three major cities in Peninsular Malaysia through questionnaire. Socio-demographic information of all respondents was collected. Questions on food safety knowledge (i.e. food cleanliness and hygiene, symptom of foodborne illnesses and foodborne pathogens) and food handling practices were assessed. The compiled data were analyzed by using the Statistical Packages for Social Science (SPSS) 16.0. Overall, migrant food handlers had poor level of knowledge on food safety with an average food handling practice. Significant effects were observed between respondents’ food safety knowledge and socio-demography (country of origin and educational level) and two factors namely; respondents’ nationality and attendance at food training programs showed significant associations with their food handling practices. Multiple logistic regression analyses revealed that attendance at food training programs was a significant and independent predictor of the respondent’s food handling practice. The study’s findings highlighted issues with regards to the extent of knowledge acquisition on food safety and hygiene by migrant food handlers. Therefore, this warrants improvements not only in the better delivery methods of training modules but also tight enforcement of attendance at the programs by the respective authorities.     

Managerial attitudes, acceptance and efficiency of HACCP systems in Hungarian catering

The Hungarian catering industry has to face up to numerous challenges nowadays because of rising costs and stagnating purchasing power. Under these conditions the managerial acceptance of the compulsory introduction of the HACCP system is rather mixed. This research is based on a direct question survey, with the aim of analysing the relation amongst the strategies of catering service managers, their attitudes towards food hygiene and the HACCP system, their managerial experiences about working with the HACCP system, as well as the evaluation of hygienic practice of catering service providers by independent specialists. More than 1100 questionnaires were processed. Two main approaches were analysed with regard to the general attitudes of catering managers: the hygiene and the cost-oriented approaches. The acceptance of HACCP systems lacked homogeneity to a significant extent. 28% of the respondents considered that the increasing quality and safety were the really important and necessary tasks. 41% of the respondents had a rather reluctant attitude towards their systems, mainly as a consequence of fear of extra investment and administrative burdens. Last but not least, the third group of managers accepted the importance of hygiene, but did not acknowledge the possibilities offered by HACCP for better work-organisation and clearer determination of responsibility. The structural equation analysis between the managerial strategy and attitudes, as well as the hygienic conditions, have proven numerous significant relations between these factors, but the results highlight the importance of efforts aiming at better integration of the HACCP approach in managerial activities. There is a real danger that this system will be simplified to accomplish administrative tasks.     

Difficulties and barriers for the implementing of HACCP and food safety systems in food businesses in Turkey

The purpose of this study was to determine barriers for HACCP and food safety programs in food businesses in Turkey. A lack of understanding of HACCP was identified as one of the main barriers to its implementation 63.5% reported that they did not really know what HACCP was while 23.5% reported that it was too complicated. Only 33.0% of managers said they had a food safety management system. About 31% of the employees in food businesses had received basic food hygiene training. The majority of managers (91.3%) identified improved customer confidence as a benefit of implementing a food safety management system. Lack of prerequisite programs (92.2%) was the key barrier identified for all food businesses. While lack of knowledge about HACCP (83.5%), lack of time (88.7%), staff turnover (80.9%), lack of employee motivation (83.5%), complicated terminology (87.0%) and lack of personnel training (91.3) was the other most common barriers in food businesses. As a conclusion, lack of knowledge about HACCP and other food safety programs were identified as the main barriers for food safety in food businesses. Lack of prerequisite programs and inadequate physical condition of the facility were also identified as other barriers. Training programs, both basic food safety and HACCP to support implementation of prerequisite programs and HACCP in food businesses were suggested.     

Implementation and effectiveness of the HACCP and pre-requisites in food establishments

The aim of this paper was to identify the most important weaknesses in the implementation and effectiveness of the pre-requisites and HACCP found in food establishments. To cover these objectives, official control audits of the manuals and their implementation in 1350 small and 66 medium size organizations: restaurants, hotels and cafeterias in one area of the Valencian region (Spain) were carried out from 2007 to 2010. The microbiological quality of 1054 ready-to-consume dishes was also evaluated as an indicator of the effectiveness of the control at Critical Control Points. The results showed that the main deficiencies in the implementation of the pre-requisites and HACCP were found in conditions and structural design followed by hygiene & cleaning. Moreover, the analysis of Listeria monocytogenes in dishes at the time of consumption shows that 99.6% were of good microbiological quality. This indicates that in relation to this hazard, the implementation of safety management systems in the majority of the food establishments was effective. These results demonstrate the crucial role played by official control to ensure the welfare of consumers and how it facilitates continuous improvement in the safety management of these businesses.     

Food safety practices in a Portuguese canteen

The objective of this study was to verify procedures and practices related to the pre-requisites of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point (HACCP) at university foodservice canteen. A checklist based on the Portuguese and European legislation was developed and applied. The global score of the checklist in this canteen was 62% which is acceptable. The topics that had the worse classifications concerned: food handlers, preparation, distribution, cleaning areas and quality control. This checklist may help the quality control of food production in catering establishments and improve the hygiene and sanitary quality of the meals served.     

A survey on the sanitary condition of commercial foods of plant origin sold in Brazil

The objective of the study was to evaluate the hygienic conditions and practices of commercial foods of plant origin in establishments and street marketed by street vendors in cities in the State of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Forty different sales points were evaluated (establishments that prepared and sold fruit juices and street vendors that commercialized fresh coconut water, sugarcane juice and orange juice) using a questionnaire with 12 items, divided into three blocks (salesmen/handlers, operations, installations). The results indicated that the activities related to the commerce of fruit beverages in the cities of São Gonçalo and Rio de Janeiro required the elaboration of a set of actions by the Sanitary Vigilance Agency in order to improve the hygienic and sanitary level and minimize health risk to consumers. Important requirements in the legislation relevant to this type of food are still not followed; adequate packaging and storage of the raw material, obtaining the raw material from registered suppliers, hygiene of the handlers and adequate management of wastes produced during the activities in question are amongst the main items deserving attention.     

Knowledge,attitudes and practices of food handlers on food safety in food service operations at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia

This study was conducted to determine the level of knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers in food service operation at the main campus of Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM) regarding food safety. Data were collected from 112 food handlers through questionnaires which consisted of questions about knowledge, attitudes and practices. The results showed that there was significantly positive correlation among the three levels and respondents possess good scores for knowledge (19.68 ± 3.87) about personal hygiene, foodborne diseases and temperature control of food; for attitudes (89.26 ± 8.66) on safe food handling, and for practices (90.02 ± 8.23), specifically for appropriate hand washing, use of gloves in food preparation and prevention of food hazards. About 73.2% of respondents never attend any training related to food safety and majority show poor knowledge of pathogens associated with disease-causing agents as well as critical temperatures for storage of ready-to-eat foods. Therefore, effective and ongoing training on food safety and hygiene must be given to all food service employees to ensure the safety of food provided.     

HACCP in the United Kingdom

Formal UK Government initiatives to encourage the implementation of HACCP based control systems began in the early 1990s. Early consideration was given to HACCP training activities for both industry and food control officials.In the early 1990s HACCP systems were increasingly introduced by the UK food industry through supplier specification requirements. From 1993 onward, legal requirements for HACCP based controls were progressively introduced through European single market legislation. Subsequently a range of central UK guidance has been produced to encourage and assess HACCP based control systems in UK food businesses.     

Semi-quantitative study to evaluate the performance of a HACCP-based food safety management system in Japanese milk processing plants

This study aimed to gain an insight in the performance of Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points (HACCP)-based food safety management systems (FSMS) implemented in Japanese milk processing plants. Since 1995, Japan has a comprehensive approval system for food manufacturing establishments by evaluating the development and implementation of GHP and HACCP by the food manufacturing companies/operators. An FSMS-diagnostic instrument was applied to assess the level of the core control and assurance activities in the FSMS and to judge the risk level of the context wherein the companies operate. The data were collected in 13 dairy companies (mostly located around Tokyo area) and involved in-depth interviews performed (by the National Institute of Public Health) with responsible quality assurance persons of respective companies.The results revealed that the microbial food safety output was higher for companies with national HACCP approval. They have more advanced FSMS in combination with a less risky context. All Japanese companies scored high on technology-dependent activities (i.e. preventive measures and intervention processes), but less in managerial activities as monitoring and typical quality assurance activities as validation and verification of the FSMS. Japan has a detailed vertical legislation, leading to a “hazard-based” and ”legislation-based” FSMS compared to a “science- or risk-based” FSMS common in Europe.     

Food safety knowledge among food service staff in hospitals in Jordan

This study aimed to measure food safety knowledge among food service staff in hospitals in Jordan. A total of 532 food service personal (dietitians, cooks and food workers) from 37 hospitals (public, private, and university hospitals) were conveniently selected to participate in this cross sectional study. The participants completed a questionnaire composed of two parts (general characteristics and food safety knowledge). The overall food safety knowledge of food service staff is fair with a mean score of 56.3 out of 90 points (62.5%). Respondents had sufficient knowledge on “cross contamination prevention and sanitation” aspect, while they had very poor to good knowledge on “foodborne pathogens and related symptoms and illnesses”, “safe storage, thawing, cooking, holding and reheating of the foods”, “health problems that would affect food safety” and “personal hygiene” aspects. There were no significant associations between the total food safety knowledge score and age, educational level, marital status, income, experience, nature of work and attending course(s) on food safety. Respondents from public hospitals and who believed that HACCP is not important for food safety had significantly lower food safety knowledge score than those from private sector (OR: 3.3, CI: 1.76–6.01) and those who believed that HACCP is important (OR: 3, CI: 1.64–5.36), respectively. Food workers and respondents who have experience ≤48 months had significantly lower food safety knowledge score than dietitians (OR: 2.6, CI: 1.33–5.2) and those who have experience > 48 months (OR: 1.9, CI: 1.06–3.51), respectively. There is an urgent need for tailored food safety education and training programs that improve food safety knowledge of food service staff in hospitals in Jordan.     

An assessment of the value of documenting food safety in small and less developed catering businesses

Current legislation requires food businesses to identify and control food hazards by focussing on critical factors which directly affect the safety of food. This study, commissioned by the Food Standards Agency (FSA) compares the standards of food hygiene in seventy food premises operating either documented or undocumented hazard analysis systems within the Derby City Council boundary.Food hygiene standards were evaluated from purchase of foodstuffs to service of meals to customers. Scores were awarded for the implementation of controls integral to hazard analysis, based on epidemiological data. The only stages in production where a significant difference in standards existed was during preparation and cooking. That is, the standards of hygiene were better during preparation and cooking in those premises with documented hazard analysis systems compared to those operating undocumented systems. The findings highlight problems associated with ineffective monitoring of temperatures, particularly at cooking and cross contamination resulting from poor cleaning practices.The study has important implications for future development of hygiene legislation, particularly if Government is committed to require 30% of UK food businesses to implement full HACCP by April 2004.     

Knowledge on food hygiene of food service staff working in nursing homes and kindergartens in Porto region – Portugal

In this study the food-hygiene knowledge of food handlers working in nursing homes and kindergartens was evaluated. From a global population of 1392 food handlers, a sample was selected of 335 participants from 155 institutions (kindergartens and nursing homes), in the region of Porto, Portugal. Data was collected through a self-administrated, multiple-choice questionnaire that was filled-in individually, in the presence of the researchers. The average score of correctly answered questions was 13.9 (±3.65SD), corresponding to 60.7% of the questions. The level of knowledge shown was heterogeneous, varying according to the topics covered and the socio-demographic characteristics of the participants, although some pattern could be discerned as to areas of strength and weakness. Knowledge relating to temperature control (44.2% of correct answers) and to risk associated to foods (50.2% of correct answers) was significantly lower (p < 0.001) than the overall knowledge (60.7% of correct answers). Education and training (over the previous 12 months) were positively correlated to higher knowledge on food hygiene (p < 0.001). The same could not be verified in relation to hazard analysis and critical control points (HACCP) implementation (p = 0.454). The results underline the importance of assessing training needs and consider such needs when designing training programs.     

Protecting child health by preventing school-related foodborne illnesses: Microbiological risk assessment of hygiene practices,drinking water and ready-to-eat foods in Italian kindergartens and schools

The purpose of this study was to evaluate hygiene and microbial safety in 26 Italian school catering establishments. This involved monitoring the microbiological quality and safety of ready-to-eat foods (n = 395), drinking water (n = 43), food contact surfaces (n = 139), and food handlers (n = 249). Food samples analyses revealed an adequate level of microbiological quality and safety. Of particular concern was the isolation of Salmonella spp. and Listeria monocytogenes in 5.8% and 1.9% of raw vegetable samples, respectively. Escherichia coli counts exceeded the microbial reference standards in 8.6% of soft cheeses samples and in 27.3% of multi-ingredients preparations. Staphylococcus aureus counts exceeded the reference limits only in 5.7% of soft cheeses samples. The hygienic level of food contact surfaces was very high, since only 1.4% of samples showed unacceptable contamination. Concerning the food workers' hands, the results showed that the total bacterial count, coagulase positive staphylococci and Enterobacteriaceae levels exceeded the reference standards in 18.1%, 10.4%, and 11.2% of cases, respectively. The results of the water analyses indicated that 47.8% of the tap water and 10.0% of drinking water samples examined were found to be non-conforming to law limits. In conclusion, since children have a relatively lower immunity than adults, additional safety measures are needed to protect them from foodborne pathogens and high microbial contamination in school lunches. Consequently, our results suggest that various changes in the timing of food preparation and holding temperatures are needed, and good manufacturing practices and HACCP principles need to be applied more rigorously.     

Knowledge,attitude and practices of food safety amongst food handlers in the coastal resort of Guangdong,China

In order to identify risk factors contributing to foodborne disease outbreaks in Guangdong province, China, the present study evaluated the knowledge, attitude, and practices (KAP) of food safety among food handlers in a coastal resort area that has a high incidence of foodborne disease outbreaks from Vibrio parahaemolyticus. The KAP of 171 food handlers from 22 food establishments—including seven food establishments in which outbreaks had occurred and 15 in which outbreaks had not occurred—were evaluated.A self-administered questionnaire designed to access the KAP of food safety was completed by the food handlers. The majority of respondents didn't know the maximum stored time at room temperature and the most common agent of foodborne disease in seafood. Most of the respondents' attitudes about food safety and training were positive. When asked about the practices undertaken, about one-fifth of the respondents admitted they had mixed food (raw and cooked) containers in varying degrees. There was significant variance among different food establishments, different ages, and different times of training. Training programs may achieve good results, but training should be more selective, educate the trainees to realize food safety is more important than fresh seafood, target how to cook seafood and lower the risk of microbiology in food, and conduct particularly focused training among managers and newcomers.