RESUMO
Hazard analyses of food preparation practices were conducted in three households in a new settlement in the rocky, dusty hillsides at the outskirts of Lima, Peru. These analyses consisted of watching all steps of preparation, recording temperatures throughout these steps, and collecting samples of the food and testing them for common foodborne pathogens and indicator organisms. The residents had migrated from different regions of the country; consequently, they prepared different foods. These included soya cereal, milk formula, rice and carrots for feeding a baby who had diarrhea, soups, mashed potatoes with spinach, carrot and beet salad, cow's foot soup, beans, rice and a mixture of beans and rice. The temperatures attained were high enough to kill vegetative forms of foodborne pathogens, but not their spores. During the interval between cooking in the morning and serving at either lunch or supper time, foods were held either on unheated ranges or in unheated ovens. This interval was long enough to permit some bacterial multiplication, but apparently not to massive quantities. Just before the evening meal, foods were reheated to temperatures that usually exceeded 70°C. Rice, however, was either served cold or if reheated, the center temperature rose a few degrees only. Critical control points for preparation of family meals are cooking, holding between cooking and serving, and reheating. Critical control points for milk formula for babies are using recently-boiled water for the formula, cleaning and boiling bottles and nipples, and, of particular importance, time of holding at room temperature.
RESUMO
Hazard analyses of food preparation practices were conducted in two households in Indiana (a settlement along the Peruvian Amazon River), in a household in a cluster of about a half dozen houses up river, and in three households in Belen (a district near Iquitos), Peru. These analyses consisted of watching all steps of the operation, recording temperatures throughout all these steps, and collecting samples of food and testing them for common foodborne pathogens and indicator organisms. Foods prepared included rice, plantains, yuca, dry fish, fresh fish, beef, and chicken. During cooking, foods attained temperatures of at least 93.3°C; they usually boiled. Such time-temperature exposure would kill vegetative forms of foodborne pathogenic bacteria, but not heat-resistant spores. When cooked foods were leftover, they were kept either on tables or on the unheated stoves or grills on which they were cooked. During this interval, at the prevailing ambient temperature and high humidity of the jungle region, conditions were such that considerable microbial growth could occur. Time of exposure, however, limited counts to the 105-106 level. In the evening, foods were only mildly reheated, if reheated at all, so temperatures were not attained in the center regions of the food that would have killed microorganisms that had multiplied during the holding period. Hence, the primary critical control point is holding between cooking and serving, but cooking and reheating are critical control points also.
RESUMO
Hazard analyses of food preparation practices were conducted in two households in an Andean Indian Pueblo near Puno, Peru and in a house on the outskirts of this city. These analyses consisted of watching all steps of preparation, recording temperatures throughout all these steps, and collecting samples of food and testing them for common foodborne pathogens and indicator organisms. Only cereal-potato soup (a very popular and inexpensive food in the region), kidney stew, and parched cereal were prepared during the survey. The soups boiled during cooking and most of them were eaten during the first serving. Vegetative forms of pathogenic bacteria would have been killed during cooking, but heat-resistant spores would have survived. Leftovers in the pueblo homes, when there were any, remained without heat on the clay stoves on which they had been cooked until eaten or reheated. In the other household, cooked foods were moved from the stove to an earthen floor and kept there until reheating. Under this condition, cooling was more rapid than when left on stoves. The interval of time that cooked foods were between 49°C (120°F) and 21°C (70°F) during holding was less than 4 h, thereby limiting spore germination and bacterial multiplication. In the only household in which foods were reheated, they boiled. Critical control points for food preparation in homes are cooking, holding between cooking and serving, and reheating.
RESUMO
Hazard analyses were conducted at four street-vending stands in the Dominican Republic. Temperatures of foods were measured during cooking, display (holding), and reheating (when done). Samples were taken at each step of the operation and at 5 to 6-h intervals during display. Foods usually attained temperatures that exceeded 90°C at the geometric center during cooking and reheating. At three of the stands, foods (e.g., fish, chickens, pork pieces) were fried and held until sold. Leftovers were held overnight at ambient temperatures in the home of the vendor or in a locked compartment of the stand. They were usually reheated early in the morning and displayed until sold. During the interval of holding, aerobic mesophilic counts progressively increased with time from about 103 after cooking to between 105 to 109/g. The higher counts were usually associated with holding overnight. Escherichia coli (in water, milk and cheese samples), Bacillus cereus (in bean and rice samples), and Clostridium perfringens (in meat, chicken and bean samples) were isolated, but usually in numbers less than 103/g. At the other stand, foods (e.g. beans, rice, meat and chicken) were cooked just before serving as complete meals. There were no leftovers. This operation was less hazardous, although there were many sanitary deficiencies. Recommendations for prevention and control of microbial hazards (mainly reducing holding time, periodic reheating and requesting reheating just before purchasing) are given. The need and suggestions for implementing educational activities to alert and inform those concerned about hazards and preventive measures are presented.
RESUMO
Hazard analyses critical control point evaluations were made in four restaurants specializing in Mexican-style foods. Time-temperature evaluations were made of beans, meat products, and rice during cooking, cooling, reheating, and hot-holding, and other food preparation procedures were observed during 3 d of operation. A few samples were collected and tested for Clostridium perfringens and aerobic plate counts (APC). Raw beans harbored C. perfringens , but this organism was not isolated from a few samples of garlic powder, cooked beans, cooked chicken meat, cooked chili pork, cooked ground beef, or cooked chimichanga meat. APCs generally were higher as the depth of the refrigerated product increased, in covered pans with refrigerator air circulation blocked by pans above or below and adjacent, or when the product was left unrefrigerated for several hours. Foods cooked in these establishments, with the occasional exception of ground meat, usually reached temperatures that would have killed vegetative forms of foodborne pathogenic bacteria. Foods were usually maintained at satisfactorily high temperatures during hot-holding, except surfaces and regions just below the surface of uncovered foods were frequently below 140°F (60°C). The foods, particularly beans, when put in a traditional manner in pans with lids in refrigerators cooled slowly. Cooling without lids, in freezers, or in pans on top of pans filled with ice led to more rapid cooling. During reheating, products often failed to reach 165°F (74°C). Critical control points in all operations were cooling and reheating. Monitoring of cooling can be done by observing the size and shape of containers, by measuring the depth of product, and by determining whether lids are used during cooling and whether the containers are stored on top of or next to each other. Monitoring of reheating can be done by measuring temperatures at the completion of cooking or during the post-heating temperature rise while products are in steam tables ready for service.