The personal and general hygiene practices in the deboning room of a high throughput red meat abattoir
Introduction
According to Gordon-Davis (1998) one of the a major risks of food contamination originates from the working practices of food handlers and disease-causing micro-organisms present in or on the food handler's body are subsequently transported from the food handler to the food during the handling process. Frazier and Westhoff (1988) report that humans shed about 1 × 103–1 × 104 viable micro-organisms per minute. They add that a relationship exists between the numbers and types of such organisms and the working environment. Forsythe (2000) mentions that an estimated one in every 50 food handlers sheds around 109 pathogens per gram of faeces without showing any clinical manifestations of the related illness. Subsequently, poor personal hygiene practices such as negligence to wash hands after visiting the bathroom may result in up to 107 pathogens under the fingernails of the food handler. Organisms originating from infected food handlers include Salmonella spp., Shigella spp., Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus and faecal streptococci (Lawrie, 1998).
Because meat is such a highly perishable foodstuff and the abattoir, particularly the deboning room, is such a labour-intensive working environment, the knowledge and level of training of the food handlers regarding personal and general hygiene is of particular importance to ensure the health and safety of the consumer (Jay, 1996; Van Zyl, 1995). Furthermore Martı́nez-Tomé, Vera, and Murcia (2000) highlight the education of food handlers as a crucial line of defence in the prevention of most types of foodborne illnesses. To ensure that staff members conform to personal hygiene requirements two issues must be considered: (1) the environment within which the staff operates and the “quality” of the staff members. From a food hygiene point of view the quality of the working environment depends on the facilities or equipment provided, which include toilets and protective clothing. The quality of staff depends upon their health, their hygiene and their habits (Johns, 1991).
According to Johns (1991) personal hygiene can be defined as follows: “as clean as is reasonably practical of hands, forearms, neck, hair and any clothing liable to come into contact with food.” Thus, the aim of the study was to assess the knowledge, attitudes, beliefs and practices of the food handlers regarding personal and general hygiene, to assess the level and quality of training, and finally ascertain the involvement of management in training, and in personal and general hygiene. The results from the study will be used in feedback to management, in order to effectively implement and maintain personal and general hygiene practices. Furthermore other meat processing plants to optimise their personal and general practices may use the results of this study.
Section snippets
Questionnaire design
A questionnaire was compiled consisting of two sections designed to acquire the relevant information from the respondents. The structured interview was the method of choice because (1) the interviewer could follow a well-defined structure, preventing the respondent from own interpretation of the question, (2) it would allow more control over the interview process and people with no or low literacy levels could be interviewed, and (3) it would allow the interviewer to explain questions if
Employment status of the meat handlers
The respondents comprised of two groups, including permanent and temporary staff. “Permanent staff” refers to staff who are permanently employed at the abattoir, while “temporary staff” refers to those working on a contract basis. Twelve respondents (42.9%) were employed on a permanent basis whilst 16 respondents (57.14%) were temporary staff members.
Practices regarding the washing of hands
The human body is a reservoir for numerous micro-organisms, with hands being the main agents for cross-contamination within a food handling
Conclusion
This study has attempted to cast light on the personal and general hygiene of the meat handlers of the deboning room of a selected South African high throughput red meat abattoir. The results indicated that there are some personal and general hygiene measures in place and that the workers adhere to the majority of them. However, the workers indicated that there is a need for more effective training in both personal and general hygiene practices. This also served to indicate that the workers
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