FOOD SAFETY IN THE CONTEXT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC: THE ROLE OF COMMERCIAL RESTAURANTS

• Autor(a) principal: Pinto, Ana Maria de Souza
• Data de Publicação: 2024
• Outros Autores: Gil Marcelino, Mariana
• Tipo de documento: Artigo
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Revista UniVap (online)
• Texto Completo: https://revista.univap.br/index.php/revistaunivap/article/view/4487
• topic: restaurants; quality; pandemic; COVID-19; commercial restaurants; adequacy to legislation; good manufacturing practices; pandemic Covid-19; restaurantes; qualidade; pandemia; COVID-19; restaurantes comerciais; adequação à legislação; boas práticas de fabricação; pandemia Covid-19

Commercial restaurants are establishments responsible for preparing meals away from home, ensuring a wide variety in their menu and easy access to food. With the easing of the quarantine plan, new recommendations have emerged as a preventive measure against COVID-19 for food services. The objective of this study was to verify the adequacy of commercial restaurants in the face of the new norms for providing meals, during the COVID-19 pandemic. Eighteen self-service and à la carte commercial restaurants in the Municipality of Santos, S.P., which operated at 80% of capacity from October to December 2021, were analyzed. based on the new recommendations of the Brazilian Association of Bars and Restaurants (Abrasel), and on the technical notes of the National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA), being divided into four blocks, addressing health, hygiene and worker safety, organization and social distancing, sanitary quality in food distribution, facilities and environment. The results showed that 83% of the restaurants were compliant in most items. Items with lower adherence were highlighted, such as changing masks every 3 or 4 hours and the precariousness of installing waterproof barriers in activities and places where minimum distancing is not possible. Despite the adaptation to the new norms for providing meals, it is necessary to pay attention to the items that were highlighted negatively. It is the role of establishments to adopt measures to prevent COVID-19 throughout the production process