ASSESSMENT OF BACTERIAL STATUS OF FOOD CONTACT SURFACES IN A HOSPITAL CENTRAL CATERING FACILITY

Contaminated equipment and food contact surfaces. One of the top risk factors for foodborne disease outbreaks particularly for the immune compromised patients who are at risk of being affected and suffering from more serious complications as a result of infection. Moreover the single most important means to prevent spread of infection is hand washing and if poorly or
improperly implemented, can lead to foodborne illness because workers may carry pathogens as Staph. Aureus and E. coli in their nails or their skin that led to contaminating cooked food with these pathogens. So, the aim of the present study is to assess the hygienic status of food contact surfaces (Cutting boards, serving dishes,knives,Meat mincer,Meat saw Sieve for
chicken thawing, Tape surface and Presentation Plate) in addition to employee’s hand by conventional and convenient methods through enumeration of total mesophilic aerobes which is one of the most common parameters used to assess the microbiological quality of food contact surfaces and workers’ hands.A total of 55 swabs were collected from food contact
surfaces and from worker’s hands then examined for total aerobic mesophilic count. The traditional hand swabs result before starting work was below the detectable limit (< 2 Log10 CFU) while during working process revealed an elevation in the total count. Results of rapid method (ATP) agreed with the traditional methods. For other food contact surfaces, the APC for clean (Washed) equipment swab samples are high indicating unsatisfactory conditions.