Saupe, Fatin Nabila Mohd
(2014)
Microbial presence on the food handlers’ hands and
apron surfaces from selected primary school canteens
in Kota Bharu, Kelantan.
Project Report.
Universiti Sains Malaysia.
(Submitted)
Abstract
Food handlers in many setting have been responsible for food borne disease
outbreaks and reports have identified their hands as the major source of pathogens in
the implicated food. In Kelantan, the majority of food poisoning episodes occurred in
the primary school. This study aimed to determine the presence of aerobic plate
count (APC), total coliforms count (TCC), Escherichia coli, and Staphylococcus aureus on food handlers’ hands and their aprons. In this cross sectional study, a total of 135 surface samples (left hand, 45; right hand, 45; and apron, 45) were collected
by convenience sampling from 45 food handlers at 9 primary school canteens in Kota
Bharu. Sampling was performed by swabbing the surfaces of both hands and apron
of the food handlers. The microbiological analyses for APC, TCC, E. coli, and S.
aureus were carried out and determined in cfu/cm2. Of the 45 food handlers sampled,
28 (62%) and 17 (38%) had satisfactory and unsatisfactory level of hygiene,
respectively. Overall findings revealed that 60% and 64% of the swab samples had
satisfactory APC (<103 cfu/cm2) and TCC (<102 cfu/cm2), respectively. However, 40
% of the aprons, 42% of the right hands and 38% of the left hands samples had
unsatisfactory APC level (>103 cfu/cm2). Similarly, 36% of the aprons, 38% of right hands and 33% of the left hands samples had unsatisfactory TCC (>10 cfu/cm2). Besides, food handlers with unsatisfactory hygiene level for both hands
showed very high APC (77%) and TCC (93%) on the aprons. This indicates that there was a significant association between hygiene status of hands and the microbiological quality
aureus were not detected in any of the samples. As a conclusion, the overall hygiene
status of food handlers is still poor and may continually contribute to food poisoning
episodes in primary schools.
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