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Dairy, Food and Environmental Sanitation
Abstracts - December, 2000
- Prevalence of Unsafe Practices During Home Preparation
of Food in Argentina
- Relationship of Molds in Paperboard Packaging to Food
Spoilage
Prevalence of Unsafe Practices During Home Preparation
of Food
in Argentina
Alicia N. Califano, Graciela L. De Antoni, Leda Giannuzzi, and Rodolfo H.
Mascheroni
SUMMARY
The World Health Organization regards illness resulting from
contaminated food as one of the most widespread health problems in the
contemporary world. For infants, immunocompromised people, pregnant women, and
the elderly, the consequences are potentially fatal. Consumers play an
essential role in preventing foodborne diseases, both during food preparation
and in the food choices they make. Numerous reports describe what consumers
can do to improve food safety in their own households. However, because there
is little information reporting the frequency with which certain practices
pose sanitary risks in developing countries, it is important to identify
unhygienic preparation practices to intensify consumer awareness in those
areas. A written questionnaire was prepared to evaluate the occurrence of
common errors in food handling: personal practices (handwashing, cross
contamination), insufficient cooking or reheating of food, hot and cold
ingredient preparation and holding (time, temperature and product handling),
general kitchen facilities, and consumption of high risk foods. In all 107
responses analyzed, at least one violation of safety guidelines was reported.
Over half of the respondents consume food that includes raw eggs;
approximately 20% wash their hands before food preparation "only
sometimes" and 32% neglect to wash cutting boards properly after using
them with raw meat or poultry; and most subjects (72%) employ unacceptable
reheating criteria. The results of this study could prove useful in
identifying the most common hazardous practices, with which information
consumer education could be intensified. Furthermore, the fact that over 50%
of the students and professionals surveyed were in disciplines related to
health and food sciences suggests that it is a problem not only of lack of
information but also of changing deep-rooted cultural habits.
Relationship of Molds in Paperboard Packaging to
Food Spoilage
J. A. Narciso and M. E. Parish
SUMMARY
Reported incidences of growth of filamentous fungal organisms in juices held
in paperboard cartons is a chronic problem for the juice processing industry
that is related to the longer shelf life of refrigerated juices packed in
gable-top cartons with oxygen barriers. A review of the process that leads
from timber harvest to the final paperboard product suggests several avenues
of entrance for fungal contamination. Studies of pulp and paperboard cartons
have resulted in isolation of many species of filamentous fungi. Further
investigations of citrus juice spoilage have shown the paperboard to be a
source of spoilage fungi.
Remedial steps to reduce fungal contamination from food-grade paperboard
would include a close examination of pulp during storage, surveillance of
environmental parameters (e.g. water, air, machinery) that contain viable mold
propagules, and a better understanding of the seemingly sporadic and seasonal
nature of carton contamination. The paperboard portion of food containers
should be considered one possible source of fungal contamination in foods that
are susceptible to fungal spoilage.
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