INVESTIGAÇÃO MICROBIOLÓGICA EM SUPERFÍCIES, MÃOS E AMBIENTE DE SERVIÇOS DE ALIMENTAÇÃO EM PROCESSO DE CATEGORIZAÇÃO

• Autor(a) principal: Pereira, Gabriela da Silva
• Data de Publicação: 2020
• Tipo de documento: Dissertação
• Idioma: por
• Título da fonte: Repositório Institucional Universidade Franciscana
• Texto Completo: http://www.tede.universidadefranciscana.edu.br:8080/handle/UFN-BDTD/968
• topic: Análise microbiológica; Contaminação ambiental; Listeria monocytogenes; Segurança dos alimentos.; Environmental contamination; Food safety; Listeria monocytogenes; Microbiological analysis.; Ciências da Saúde e da Vida

In food services, the sanitary quality of food and the risk of foodborne disease depends on several factors, from the hygiene conditions of handlers, equipment and utensils used and the environment in general. Quality programs are necessary since they present the requirements for safe food production, among them the Good Handling Practices stands out. Categorization is a form of sanitary inspection that is being used worldwide, because it evaluates establishments using criteria scored regarding health risk. In this context, the aim of this study was to investigate the presence of microorganisms in the hands of handlers, surfaces that come into contact with food and food service environments in Santa Maria (RS), in the context of categorization. For microbiological investigation, 68 hand samples were collected from handlers, 47 samples of surfaces of as long as food (cutting plates and handling surfaces) for determination of mesophilic and thermotolerant aerobics, in addition to 50 environmental samples for determination of Listeria monocytogenes. All collections were performed in food services that participated in the categorization process of the municipality of Santa Maria (RS), from March to November 2019, totaling 40 locations. In addition to microbiological analyses, some items of the Categorization Evaluation List were used, applied by the health authorities and during the collections the academic team performed the visual observation of hygiene procedures and registered in a specific form. For the analyses and collections, recommended methods were used and all results underwent statistical treatment. The results of the items evaluated in the Categorization Evaluation List showed an improvement in the percentage of adequacy and reduction of health risk. However, the visual observations made by the academic team showed flaws in the hygiene procedures both in the hands of the handlers and in the handling surfaces (benches and cutting plates). As for the hands of the handlers, the mean was 5.7 x 105 UFC/cm² for the count of mesophilic aerobics, which is expected, however, it is concerned with the presence of thermotolerant in 34% of the analyzed hands. The analysis of mesophilic aerobics in handling benches and cutting plates was more than 70% out of the standards and for the investigation of thermotolerant patients, almost 30% of the benches and more than 50% of the cutting plates outside the standards recommended for food services were contacted. Of the environmental samples, 20% indicated the presence of Listeria monocytogenes. The results reinforce the importance of implementing categorization in these sites since the collections were performed before the second inspection cycle performed by the health surveillance. The research allowed to visualize deficient points within the food services evaluated, which generates risk to consumers, however their voluntary participation in the Categorization shows that they are committed to the continuous improvement recommended in good practices.