Avaliação higienico-sanitaria de talheres servidos em restaurantes de shopping center em Fortaleza/CE

Abstract

The care with food safety has been gaining more and more space in the food industry, in which certifications such as ISO and FSSC, obtained by companies, signal a set of virtuous practices adopted in the labor context. A highlight is the microbiological safety that must be ensured from the beginning of the process, with safe raw materials, with efficient processes and with appropriate physical installations. It is noteworthy that the correct cleaning of utensils must be present in order to avoid the possibility of cross-contamination and dissemination of food-borne diseases. Therefore, in 2021, it was possible to observe the care of retailers reinforced due the pandemic of Covid-19, through the cutlery individualization to costumers, protecting it by placing them in plastic or paper packaging. Thus, through swab tests, the presence of bacteria from coliform group was used as an hygienic-sanitaty condition indicator for forks ans knives, in five diferents restaurants of a food court in Fortaleza’s food court mall. The presence of total coliforms was observed in two of them, signaling flaws in good practices of handling with the utensils. The result indicates failures in complying of the good practices, which raises the question about microbiological safety and the quality of hygienic-sanitary conditions in food establishments, which must receive extra care in pandemic times.