Microbiological Quality of Hot Meals Served by Airlines

1998 ◽  
Vol 61 (8) ◽  
pp. 1052-1056 ◽  
Author(s):  
MAIJA HATAKKA

The microbiological quality of 1,012 hot meals served on aircraft was studied in 1991 to 1994. The material included dishes prepared in 33 countries all over the world. The geometric means of aerobic colony counts and Escherichia coli were significantly lower in breakfasts (P < 0.05) than in main dishes. Pathogenic bacteria were found in 30 samples (3.0%), Bacillus cereus being the most common pathogen. The frequencies of B. cereus and Staphylococcus aureus did not differ between breakfasts and main dishes. Many of the samples exceeded the minimum acceptable microbiological standards recommended by the Association of European Airlines (AEA) for E. coli, S. aureus, B. cereus, Clostridium perfringens, and Salmonella; i.e., 8.2%, 0.6%, 0.7%, 0.7% and 0.3%, respectively. There were considerable differences in aerobic colony counts and E. coli counts between countries where the food was prepared.

1983 ◽  
Vol 46 (8) ◽  
pp. 710-713
Author(s):  
DOUGLAS F. CAMPBELL ◽  
MARTHA Y. WORKMAN ◽  
GEORGE W. KRUMM ◽  
RALPH W. JOHNSTON

During visits to 20 federally inspected establishments producing meat ravioli, 577 production line samples and 480 finished product units were collected for bacteriological analyses. Four types of finished, packaged ravioli were encountered: (a) whole ravioli boiled at least 5 min; (b) raw pasta stuffed with a cooked filling; (c) only the meat component cooked; and (d) uncooked ravioli. The microbiological quality of frozen ravioli was affected more by the filling than the pasta. Slow freezing resulted in increased bacterial levels in the finished product. For the boiled ravioli, 100% of the finished product sets contained less than 50 coliforms per g, four of five sets had less than one Escherichia coli per g, and 100% had fewer than one Staphylococcus aureus per g. Four of five sets of packaged boiled ravioli had aerobic plate counts (APC) of less than 10,000 per g. For the raw pasta with a cooked filling-type ravioli, the geometric means of 9 sets were: coliforms, 47 per g; E. coli, 6.7 per g; S. aureus, 10 per g; and APC, 170,000 per g. For the ravioli with only the meat component cooked, the geometric means of 27 sets were: coliforms, 190 per g; E. coli, 1.8 per g; S. aureus, 3.9 per g; and APC, 300,000 per g. For uncooked ravioli, the geometric means of 7 sets were: coliforms, 490 per g; E. coli, 19 per g; S. aureus, 5.7 per g; and APC, 690,000 per g. Only one finished ravioli unit in 480 contained Salmonella.


1984 ◽  
Vol 47 (1) ◽  
pp. 58-60 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. WENTZ ◽  
A. P. DURAN ◽  
A. SWARTZENTRUBER ◽  
A. H. SCHWAB ◽  
R. B. READ

The microbiological quality of precooked or partially cooked frozen breaded onion rings and tuna pot pies was determined by a national sampling at the retail level. The number of units examined and the geometric means for aerobic plate counts at 30 and 35°C, respectively, were 1,590 units of onion rings, 340 and 250/g; tuna pot pies, 1,290 units, 2,400 and 1,600/g. Geometric means for coliform organisms, Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus in onion rings were <3, <3 and <10/g, respectively; those for tuna pies were 5, <3 and <10/g.


1983 ◽  
Vol 46 (11) ◽  
pp. 978-981 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A. WENTZ ◽  
A. P. DURAN ◽  
A. SWARTZENTRUBER ◽  
A. H. SCHWAB ◽  
R. B. READ

The microbiological quality of fresh blue crabmeat, soft- and hardshell clams and shucked Eastern oysters was determined at the retail (crabmeat, oysters) and wholesale (clams) levels. Geometric means of aerobic plate counts incubated at 35°C were: blue crabmeat 140,000 colony-forming units (CFU)/g, hardshell clams, 950 CFU/g, softshell clams 680 CFU/g and shucked Eastern oysters 390,000 CFU/g. Coliform geometric means ranged from 3,6/100 g for hardshell clams to 21/g for blue crabmeat. Means for fecal coliforms or Escherichia coli ranged from <3/100 g for clams to 27/100 g for oysters, The mean Staphylococcus aureus count in blue crabmeat was 10/g.


1979 ◽  
Vol 42 (6) ◽  
pp. 464-469 ◽  
Author(s):  
M. E. STILES ◽  
L.-K. NG

Ham and chopped ham from two manufacturers were contaminated with five enteropathogens: Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, Escherichia coli, Salmonella typhimurium and Staphylococcus aureus, at time of slicing and vacuum-packaging, to simulate contamination by manufacturer. Subsequent treatment of the samples, representing sound and undesirable retail handling and consumer use conditions, indicated marked differences in the fate of the pathogens between these products and within product type between the two manufacturers. Greatest differences were observed between the chopped ham products. All pathogens, except C. perfringens, grew actively in fresh ham and chopped ham with abusive holding at 30 and 21 C. After storage at 4 or 10 C for 30 days, B. cereus and C. perfringens were no longer detected, even after subsequent holding at 30 or 21 C for 24 h. E. coli survival and growth was variable, S. typhimurium survived well and grew under some conditions and S. aureus was generally inhibited at high levels of competition.


2009 ◽  
Vol 72 (1) ◽  
pp. 197-201 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. J. MELDRUM ◽  
P. T. MANNION ◽  
J. GARSIDE ◽  

A survey of the general microbiological quality of ready-to-eat food served in schools was undertaken across Wales, United Kingdom. Of the 2,351 samples taken, four were identified as containing unsatisfactory counts of Escherichia coli, four contained unsatisfactory counts of Staphylococcus aureus, and one contained an unacceptable count of Bacillus cereus when compared with guidelines for the microbiological quality of ready-to-eat food published by the United Kingdom Public Health Laboratory Service in 2000. No samples contained detectable levels of Salmonella, Listeria species, or Clostridium perfringens. When compared with data on the general microbiological quality of food available in Wales, the food sampled from schools was of relatively better microbiological quality.


1983 ◽  
Vol 46 (1) ◽  
pp. 34-40 ◽  
Author(s):  
E. C. D. TODD ◽  
G. A. JARVIS ◽  
K. F. WEISS ◽  
G. W. RIEDEL ◽  
S. CHARBONNEAU

Ten types of frozen cream-type pies, manufactured in Canada and imported from the United States, were analyzed for aerobic colony counts, yeasts and molds, coliforms, Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus and Salmonella. The variations in counts depended more on the manufacturer than on the type of pie and the ingredients used. Five of the 465 examined pies had an excess of 105 aerobic colony counts/g, whereas the median value for all the pies examined was between 102 and 103 CFU/g. E. coli and S. aureus were present in few pies, mainly made by one manufacturer, but there was no correlation between high aerobic colony counts and these organisms. Salmonella was not found in any of the pies. Percentage distributions of the estimated ‘population’ of pies available nationally at the time of the survey were statistically determined. These were then compared with suggested national guidelines in the form of a three-class acceptance plan based on United States surveys and desirable manufacturing practices. These indicate that pies should contain aerobic colony counts of <50,000/g, yeast and mold counts of <500/g, S. aureus counts of <100/g, coliform counts of <50/g, E. coli counts of <10/g, and no Salmonella. Three of the six manufacturers would have had an estimated 5.4 to 32.6% of lots in excess of the guidelines at the time of the survey.


2020 ◽  
Vol 49 (1) ◽  
pp. 32-39 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Vásquez García ◽  
S.H. Gomes de Sá ◽  
G. de Sousa Silva ◽  
J.E. Mejia Ballesteros ◽  
E. Barbieri ◽  
...  

The objective of this study was to evaluate the microbiological quality of oysters and mussels grown in Cananéia, Brazil, by analysing mesophiles, psychrothophic bacteria, moulds and yeasts, Staphylococcus aureus, and Salmonella spp., and to compare the efficiency of Compact Dry EC method and the conventional method for counting of total coliforms and Escherichia coli. The microbial analysis showed that the mean values of mesophilic counts were 3.14±0.81 log CFU g−1 for oysters and 3.92±0.90 for mussels; the mean values of psychrophilic counts were 2.78±0.75 log CFU g−1 for oysters and 3.22±0.75 log CFU g−1 for mussels; the mean values of mould and yeast counts were 3.70±0.58 log CFU g−1 for oysters and 3.33±0.81 log CFU g−1 for mussels. Salmonella spp. did not present positive results, and the maximal count of Staphylococcus aureus was 1.7 log CFU g−1, therefore, within the limits established in the legislation. The correlation coefficients between the Compact Dry EC method and conventional method were >0.87 for total coliform and E. coli counts for both types of shellfish. The data in this study show that the Compact Dry EC method is an acceptable alternative to conventional methods for enumeration of total coliforms and E. coli in shellfish.


2017 ◽  
Vol 145 (8) ◽  
pp. 1545-1556 ◽  
Author(s):  
J. McLAUCHLIN ◽  
F. JØRGENSEN ◽  
H. AIRD ◽  
A. CHARLETT ◽  
N. ELVISS ◽  
...  

SUMMARYThe purpose of this study was to investigate the microbiological quality of liver pâté. During 2012–13, a total of 870 samples, unrelated to the investigation of food-poisoning outbreaks, were collected either at retail (46%), catering (53%) or the point of manufacture (1%) and were tested using standard methods to detect Salmonella spp. or Campylobacter spp., and to enumerate for Listeria spp., including Listeria monocytogenes, Clostridium perfringens, coagulase-positive staphylococci including Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus spp., including Bacillus cereus, Escherichia coli, Enterobacteriaceae, and aerobic colony counts (ACCs). Seventy-three percent of samples were of satisfactory microbiological quality, 18% were borderline and 9% unsatisfactory. Salmonella spp. or Campylobacter spp. was not recovered from any sample. The most common causes of unsatisfactory results were elevated ACCs (6% of the samples) and high Enterobacteriaceae counts (4% of samples). The remaining unsatisfactory results were due to elevated counts of: E. coli (three samples); B. cereus (one sample at 2·6 × 105 cfu/g); or L. monocytogenes (one sample at 2·9 × 103 cfu/g). Pâté from retail was less likely to be contaminated with L. monocytogenes than samples collected from catering and samples from supermarkets were of significantly better microbiological quality than those from catering establishments.


2004 ◽  
Vol 67 (8) ◽  
pp. 1779-1781 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. SERRANO ◽  
L. M. MEDINA ◽  
M. JURADO ◽  
M. JODRAL

Hygienic quality was investigated in 60 samples of ready-to-eat snails (Helix lactea, Helix nemoralis, and Helix hortensis) obtained from 30 in-season street stalls and 30 catering establishments (bars) in Córdoba. In accordance with Spanish legislation regarding hygiene in the preparation, distribution, and sale of prepared foods, counts were obtained for total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, coliforms, total Enterobacteriaceae, Escherichia coli, Salmonella, and Staphylococcus aureus. The results obtained showed that 33.3, 20.0, and 13.3% of the samples from stalls and 73.3, 53.3, and 6.7% of the samples from bars did not comply with the regulations with respect to the control of total mesophilic aerobic bacteria, Enterobacteriaceae, and Staphylococcus aureus, respectively. Coliforms were found in 53.3% of the samples from the bars (mean, 2.1 CFU/g) and in 33.3% of the stalls (mean, 1.1 CFU/g). Salmonella was not detected.


2008 ◽  
Vol 71 (4) ◽  
pp. 860-864 ◽  
Author(s):  
VIKTORIA ATANASSOVA ◽  
FELIX REICH ◽  
GÜNTER KLEIN

Sushi is a traditional Japanese food, mostly consisting of rice and raw fish. Fish is considered a healthy food, but as with other animal products, consumption of raw muscle incurs potential health risks such as ingestion of pathogenic bacteria or parasites. In this study, 250 sushi samples were analyzed for their microbiological status and the prevalence of pathogenic bacteria. A comparison was made between frozen sushi from supermarkets and fresh sushi from sushi bars. Aerobic mesophilic bacteria counts differed for sushi from these two sources, with means of 2.7 log CFU/g for frozen sushi and 6.3 log CFU/g for fresh sushi. The prevalence of Escherichia coli and Staphylococcus aureus was higher in the fresh samples. Salmonella was found in four (1.6%) of the sushi samples, and Listeria monocytogenes was found in three (1.2%) of the samples. These results indicate that the microbiological quality of industrially processed sushi is higher than that of freshly prepared sushi. The quality of freshly prepared sushi strongly depends on the skills and habits of the preparation cooks, which may vary.


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