Standardized inspections of food premises during the 2004 Athens Olympic Games: descriptive analysis and risk factors for unsatisfactory results

Standardized inspections of food premises are part of environmental health systems implemented worldwide. The food safety strategy for the 2004 Olympic Games included standardized inspections to ensure uniformity and consistency of procedures and effective electronic management of data. Inspections were carried out by 196 inspectors in the five Olympic cities: Athens, Thessalonica, Volos, Iraklio, and Patra. From January 2003 to September 2004, a total of 1,249 food premises were inspected. An unsatisfactory inspection result (C grade) was received by 347 (27.8%) food premises, a relatively satisfactory result (B grade) was received by 332 (26.6%), and a satisfactory result (A grade) was received by 570 (45.6%). About 16% of inspected premises did not hold a valid permit. Unsatisfactory inspection results were more frequent for premises located in the two largest Greek cities in comparison with the other smaller cities (relative risk = 1.95, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 1.36 to 2.80). Based on logistic regression analysis, unsatisfactory inspection results were positively associated with food premises that were not located on a ground floor (odds ratio [OR] = 2.56, 95% CI = 1.39 to 4.73) and negatively associated with application of hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) principles (OR = 0.27, 95% CI = 0.10 to 0.71). Food hygiene education through formal training programs should be encouraged to improve compliance of food premises. Food premises located on hotel floors and serving buffet meals are at higher risk for unsatisfactory conditions. Businesses that implemented a HACCP system within their operations to ensure food safety operated under more hygienic conditions. Future inspections by Public Health Authorities should involve elements of audit after the legislation for the application of HACCP principles.     

A comprehensive review of the implementation of hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) to the production of flour and flour-based products

The production of flour and semolina and their ensuing products, such as bread, cake, spaghetti, noodles, and corn flakes, is of major importance, because these products constitute some of the main ingredients of the human diet. The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) system aims at ensuring the safety of these products. HACCP has been implemented within the frame of this study on various products of both Asian and European origin; the hazards, critical control limits (CCLs), observation practices, and corrective actions have been summarized in comprehensive tables. Furthermore, the various production steps, packaging included, were thoroughly analyzed, and reference was made to both the traditional and new methodologies in an attempt to pinpoint the occurring differences (advantages and disadvantages) per process.     

Anionic copolymers of octanelactam with laurolactam (nylon-8/12)—IV. Dynamic thermomechanical and mechanical properties

The thermomechanical and the mechanical properties of a recent series of copolyamides of octanelactam (OL) and laurolactam (LL) (nylon-8/nylon-12) were studied. The glass transition temperature (T_g) and melting point (T_m) were determined with dynamic mechanical thermal analyser, and compared to those obtained with differential scanning calorimetry and the activation energy for glass transition was calculated. The copolyamides showed a minimum for tensile strength, yield stress, stress at 100% and modulus and a maximum for elongation at break at the composition 60/40 (OL/LL) which has the lowest crystallinity. Young's modulus against % elongation showed the classification of copolyamides in two groups (rich in OL or LL, respectively).     

Anionic copolymers of octanelactam with laurolactam (nylon 8/12 copolymers)—v. Effect of annealing on thermal properties and crystalline structure

The effects of different annealing time/temperature regimes on the thermal and crystalline behaviour of a series of statistical copolyamides (nylon 8/nylon 12), prepared by activated anionic polymerization of octanelactam/laurolactam (OL/LL), were determined by DSC, X-ray (WAXS), density and viscosity measurements. The melting temperature and the heat of melting increased with annealing time and temperature. The results were correlated with the molar composition of the copolyamides and showed a gradual increase in percentage crystallinity with time.     

Agricultural produces: synopsis of employed quality control methods for the authentication of foods and application of chemometrics for the classification of foods according to their variety or geographical origin

A review of quality control methods and applications of multivariate statistical techniques on the authentication and classification of agricultural products is presented. The products reported within the frame of this article were vegetables, fruits, juices, jams, wines, cereals, bakery products, oils, tea, coffee, honey, sugar-syrups, salad dressings, and gums. The perspective of multivariate statistics as a promising tool to authenticate and classify these food products according to their geographical origin or variety was demonstrated. Several representative figures and informative synoptical tables for agricultural food products were provided both for the quality control methods employed and the multivariate analyses implemented.     

Multivariate data analysis of Cavourmas - a Greek cooked meat product

Physico-chemical and sensory analyses were performed on 48 samples of Cavourmas, a Greek traditional cooked meat product, bought directly from 16 known producers. The following physico-chemical attributes were determined: moisture, crude protein, ether-extractable fat, ash, NaCl, NaNO(2), NaNO(3), pH, TBA value, lightness (L (?)), redness (a(?)), and yellowness (b(?)). Principal component analysis based on three main axes (PC1, PC2 and PC3) accounting for 56.4% of overall variation showed that high consumer acceptability of Cavourmas is related to accepted taste and odour and to the presence of meat in pieces with red colour and white fat. On the contrary, fatty appearance, excessive melted fat and high rancidity were not appealing to the consumer, as confirmed by instrumentally determined high TBA values, high fat content, high percentage moisture and lightness, and should be kept low in order to enhance product acceptability.     

Application of Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA), cause and effect analysis, and Pareto diagram in conjunction with HACCP to a corn curl manufacturing plant

The Failure Mode and Effect Analysis (FMEA) model has been applied for the risk assessment of corn curl manufacturing. A tentative approach of FMEA application to the snacks industry was attempted in an effort to exclude the presence of GMOs in the final product. This is of crucial importance both from the ethics and the legislation (Regulations EC 1829/2003; EC 1830/2003; Directive EC 18/2001) point of view. The Preliminary Hazard Analysis and the Fault Tree Analysis were used to analyze and predict the occurring failure modes in a food chain system (corn curls processing plant), based on the functions, characteristics, and/or interactions of the ingredients or the processes, upon which the system depends. Critical Control points have been identified and implemented in the cause and effect diagram (also known as Ishikawa, tree diagram, and the fishbone diagram). Finally, Pareto diagrams were employed towards the optimization of GMOs detection potential of FMEA.     

Implementation of physicochemical and sensory analysis in conjunction with multivariate analysis towards assessing olive oil authentication/adulteration

The authenticity of products labeled as olive oils, and in particular as virgin olive oils, stands for a very important issue both in terms of its health and commercial aspects. In view of the continuously increasing interest in virgin olive oil therapeutic properties, the traditional methods of characterization and physical and sensory analysis were further enriched with more advanced and sophisticated methods such as HPLC-MS, HPLC-GC/C/IRMS, RPLC-GC, DEPT, and CSIA among others. The results of both traditional and "novel" methods were treated both by means of classical multivariate analysis (cluster, principal component, correspondence, canonical, and discriminant) and artificial intelligence methods showing that nowadays the adulteration of virgin olive oil with seed oil is detectable at very low percentages, sometimes even at less than 1%. Furthermore, the detection of geographical origin of olive oil is equally feasible and much more accurate in countries like Italy and Spain where databases of physical/chemical properties exist. However, this geographical origin classification can also be accomplished in the absence of such databases provided that an adequate number of oil samples are used and the parameters studied have "discriminating power."