Food contamination in fast food restaurants in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria: Implications for food hygiene and safety

Public Health
A R IsaraC K Ojide

Abstract

To determine the prevalence of food contamination in the fast food restaurants operating in Benin City, Edo State, Nigeria. Three hundred and fifty food handlers were selected by means of a systematic sampling method and interviewed using a semi-structured researcher-administered questionnaire. One hundred and sixty-eight samples of ready-to-eat food and 45 stool samples were collected and analysed in the laboratory for the presence of bacteria (excluding anaerobic bacteria). More than half of the respondents (n=184, 52.6%) had no training in food hygiene and safety. Only 149 (42.6%) respondents knew that micro-organisms can contaminate food. The prevalence of food contamination in the fast food restaurants was found to be 37.5%. Bacillus cereus and Staphylococcus aureus were the most commonly isolated bacteria, while salad, meat pie and fried rice were the most commonly contaminated foods. There is need for the relevant local authorities to ensure that the food sold to consumers in fast food restaurants is safe, wholesome and fit for human consumption in order to prevent outbreaks of food-borne illnesses. Also, there should be regular training/retraining and health education of these food handlers in all aspects of food hygien...Continue Reading

References

Mar 1, 1992·International Journal of Food Microbiology·S Notermans, A Hoogenboom-Verdegaal
Apr 6, 2001·The Journal of Hospital Infection·I F AngelilloN M Viggiani
Apr 26, 2001·East African Medical Journal·J N OmbuiS M Arimi
Feb 6, 2004·Infection Control and Hospital Epidemiology : the Official Journal of the Society of Hospital Epidemiologists of America·Mehrdad AskarianPeyman Jafari
Jun 24, 2008·Travel Medicine and Infectious Disease·O A IdowuO Adehanloye

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Citations

Oct 17, 2013·International Journal of Food Microbiology·Andreja RajkovicMieke Uyttendaele
Oct 7, 2011·Clinical Infectious Diseases : an Official Publication of the Infectious Diseases Society of America·Vivek CharuCécile Viboud
Mar 28, 2021·International Journal of Infectious Diseases : IJID : Official Publication of the International Society for Infectious Diseases·Jannat RazaHabib Ur Rehman

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