scholarly journals Influence of Soap Characteristics and Food Service Facility Type on the Degree of Bacterial Contamination of Open, Refillable Bulk Soaps

2018 ◽  
Vol 81 (2) ◽  
pp. 218-225 ◽  
Author(s):  
Donald W. Schaffner ◽  
Dane Jensen ◽  
Charles P. Gerba ◽  
David Shumaker ◽  
James W. Arbogast

ABSTRACT Concern has been raised regarding the public health risks from refillable bulk-soap dispensers because they provide an environment for potentially pathogenic bacteria to grow. This study surveyed the microbial quality of open refillable bulk soap in four different food establishment types in three states. Two hundred ninety-six samples of bulk soap were collected from food service establishments in Arizona, New Jersey, and Ohio. Samples were tested for total heterotrophic viable bacteria, Pseudomonas, coliforms and Escherichia coli, and Salmonella. Bacteria were screened for antibiotic resistance. The pH, solids content, and water activity of all soap samples were measured. Samples were assayed for the presence of the common antibacterial agents triclosan and parachlorometaxylenol. More than 85% of the soap samples tested contained no detectable microorganisms, but when a sample contained any detectable microorganisms, it was most likely contaminated at a very high level (∼7 log CFU/mL). Microorganisms detected in contaminated soap included Klebsiella oxytoca, Serratia liquefaciens, Shigella sonnei, Enterobacter gergoviae, Serratia odorifera, and Enterobacter cloacae. Twenty-three samples contained antibiotic-resistant organisms, some of which were resistant to two or more antibiotics. Every sample containing less than 4% solids had some detectable level of bacteria, whereas no samples with greater than 14% solids had detectable bacteria. This finding suggests the use of dilution and/or low-cost formulations as a cause of bacterial growth. There was a statistically significant difference (P = 0.0035) between the fraction of bacteria-positive samples with no detected antimicrobial agent (17%) and those containing an antimicrobial agent (7%). Fast food operations and grocery stores were more likely to have detectable bacteria in bulk-soap samples compared with convenience stores (P < 0.05). Our findings underscore the risk to public health from use of refillable bulk-soap dispensers in food service establishments.

Author(s):  
Anik Paul ◽  
Md. Mahmud Rahma ◽  
Tasnia Ahmed

Foodborne illness is generally caused after consumption of food contaminated with pathogenic microorganisms. Food contamination often caused by contact with tabletops or food handling surfaces where the pathogenic microbes are present due to unhygienic condition of people working there and the overall environment of the food serving area. In current study, four areas (local restaurants, fast food shops, university canteens and hospital canteens) were selected for collection of swab sample (per cm2 area) from the tabletops. Five samples from each area were taken for further studies. After microbiological analysis we found ten different types of bacteria (Esherichia coli, Klebsiella pneumonia, Klebsiella oxytoca, Corynebacterium xerosis, Staphylococcus aures, Salmonella spp., Proteus mirabilis, Enterobacter aerogenes, pseudomonas aeruginosa and Alcaligenes fecalis) which are already considered to be pathogenic bacteria causing different health issues in immune-compromised and also in healthy consumers. These bacteria were then subjected to antibiotic sensitivity test using ten antibiotics-Vancomycin (30 µg), Cotrimoxazol (30 µg), Azithromycin (15 µg), Gentamicin (10 µg), Amoxycillin (10 µg), Cephradine (30 µg), Ceftriaxone (30 µg), Cefuroxime (30 µg), Cefoxitin (30 µg) and Tetracycline (30 µg). Bacterial isolates collected from university and hospital canteens showed most resistance towards these antibiotics. Strict maintenance of proper sanitation and hygiene starting from personal aspects to the overall environment of food handling service should be maintained to reduce the food contamination and foodborne disease.


2012 ◽  
Vol 75 (10) ◽  
pp. 1829-1834 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROBERTO MANCINI ◽  
LEIGH MURRAY ◽  
BENJAMIN J. CHAPMAN ◽  
DOUGLAS A. POWELL

Folklorama in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, is a 14-day temporary food service event that explores the many different cultural realms of food, food preparation, and entertainment. In 2010, the Russian pavilion at Folklorama was implicated in a foodborne outbreak of Escherichia coli O157 that caused 37 illnesses and 18 hospitalizations. The ethnic nature and diversity of foods prepared within each pavilion presents a unique problem for food inspectors, as each culture prepares food in their own very unique way. The Manitoba Department of Health and Folklorama Board of Directors realized a need to implement a food safety information delivery program that would be more effective than a 2-h food safety course delivered via PowerPoint slides. The food operators and event coordinators of five randomly chosen pavilions selling potentially hazardous food were trained on-site, in their work environment, focusing on critical control points specific to their menu. A control group (five pavilions) did not receive on-site food safety training and were assessed concurrently. Public health inspections for all 10 pavilions were performed by Certified Public Health Inspectors employed with Manitoba Health. Critical infractions were assessed by means of standardized food protection inspection reports. The results suggest no statistically significant difference in food inspection scores between the trained and control groups. However, it was found that inspection report results increased for both the control and trained groups from the first inspection to the second, implying that public health inspections are necessary in correcting unsafe food safety practices. The results further show that in this case, the 2-h food safety course delivered via slides was sufficient to pass public health inspections. Further evaluations of alternative food safety training approaches are warranted.


2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (3) ◽  
pp. 41-50
Author(s):  
Isabela Alves de Souza ◽  
Doroti de Oliveira Garcia ◽  
Laís Anversa ◽  
Renata Katsuko Takayama Kobayashi ◽  
Gerson Nakazato ◽  
...  

Pseudomonas aeruginosais a very important bacteria for public health because it is present in the environment and clinical infections. The aim of this study was toevaluate the virulence factors such as motility, protease and rhamnolipids in clinical and environmental P. aeruginosaisolates.Twenty-five clinical isolates and ten environmental isolates were analyzed by phenotypic assays and categorized into non-mobile, weakly, moderately and highly mobile strains; and producers of protease and rhamnolipids. The isolates were tested in triplicate on three different days. Environmental isolates produced virulence factors such as motility (Swimming and Twitching), and Ramnolipids significantly higher than clinical isolates.This study alerts us to the high level of pathogenicity of P. aeruginosastrains, mainly environmental strains. For a better understanding of motility and rhamnolipids, virulence factors that are directly associated with the biofilms formation, may favor studies that complement the research aimed at the control of pathogenic bacteria.


2013 ◽  
Vol 774-776 ◽  
pp. 1903-1907 ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Rong Xiao ◽  
Bang Guo Lv ◽  
Xin Wang ◽  
You Jun Zhao

With the development of networking technology and cloud computing technology, low-cost, high level of general practitioners of public health services and basic health service support, as well as the effective supervision of the centralized management and control of public health and primary health care can be achieved. A health cloud service system based on Internet of Things is provided, which is divided into six modules. The system can be used to subordinate all hospitals and medical institutions to provide hospital management and health of residents file management application services using a mobile terminal to collect community and clinical health data entry, upload the community, the region's public medical health data.


Author(s):  
Sarah Palmeter

In the completion of my practicum at the Public Health Agency of Canada (PHAC) this summer, I worked to develop a surveillance knowledge product to support the national surveillance of developmental disorders. This project used Statistics Canada’s 2017 Canadian Survey on Disability to investigate the burden of developmental disorders in Canada. Developmental disorders are conditions with onset in the developmental period. They are associated with developmental deficits and impairments of personal, social, academic, and occupational function. The project objectives are to estimate the prevalence of developmental disorders in Canadians 15 years of age or older, overall and by age and sex, as well as report on the age of diagnosis, disability severity, and disability co-occurrence in those with developmental disorders. The majority of the analysis has been completed and preliminary results completed, which cannot be released prior to PHAC publication. Although not highly prevalent, developmental disorders are associated with a high level of disability in young Canadians. Early detection and interventions have been shown to improve health and social outcomes among affected individuals. Understanding the burden of developmental disorders in Canada is essential to the development of public health policies and services.


Author(s):  
Marcela Moreira Salles ◽  
Viviane de Cássia Oliveira ◽  
Ana Paula Macedo ◽  
Claudia Helena Silva-Lovato ◽  
Helena de Freitas Oliveira Paranhos

Implant-supported prostheses hygiene and peri-implant tissues health are considered to be predictive factors for successful prosthetic rehabilitation. Therefore, the purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of brushing associated with oral irrigation measured as biofilm-removing capacity, maintenance of healthy oral tissues, and patient satisfaction. A randomized, crossover clinical trial was conducted with 38 patients who wore conventional maxillary complete dentures and mandibular overdentures retained by the O-ring system. The patients were instructed to use the following hygiene methods for 14 days: mechanical brushing [MB (brush and dentifrice - Control)]; and MB with oral irrigation [WP (Waterpik - Experimental)]. Biofilm-removing capacity and maintenance of healthy oral tissues were evaluated by the Modified Plaque Index (PI), Gingival Index (GI), Probing Depth (PD), and Bleeding on Probing Index (BP) recorded at baseline and after each method. In parallel, patients answered a specific questionnaire using a Visual Analogue Scale after each hygiene method. Data were analyzed by Friedman and Wilcoxon tests (α=0.05). The results showed significantly lower PI, GI, PD, and BP indices after application of the hygiene methods (P<0.001) than those observed at baseline. However, no significant difference was found between MB and WP. The satisfaction questionnaire responses to both methods showed high mean values for all questions, with no statistically significant difference found between the answers given after the use of MB and WP (P>0.05). The findings suggest that WP was effective in reducing PI, GI, PD, and BP indices and provided a high level of patient satisfaction.


Author(s):  
Fatma Elsayed ◽  
Aram Alhammadi ◽  
Alanood Alahmad ◽  
Zahra Babiker ◽  
Abdelhamid Kerkadi

The prevalence of obesity has been increased in Qatar, with the transition from healthy to unhealthy dietary habits. Behavioral factors that are associated with obesity are, long-term imbalanced energy intake, high screen time, skipping breakfast and physical inactivity. Changes in body composition and percent body fat (PBF) increase the risk of non-communicable disease. This study is the first study conducted in Qatar to investigate the relationship between dietary patterns and body composition among young females at Qatar University. This cross-sectional study consisted of 766 healthy female students Qatari and non-Qatari aged from 18-26 years randomly selected from different colleges at Qatar University. A validate questionnaire was used in order to collect data about healthy and unhealthy dietary patterns. Anthropometric measurements involved body weight, height, waist-to-height ratio (WHtR), waist circumference (WC), body mass index (BMI) and body composition using “Seca285”, “Seca203” and “InbodyBiospace 720”. Dietary patterns were identified by using factor loading. Linear regression was used to estimate confidence intervals and regression coefficient. More than half of the participants had a normal weight (65.1%), whereas 22.8 % and 12.0% were overweight and obese, respectively. Fat mass, BMI and PBF were slightly increased with age, but there was no significant difference. Factor analysis identified two dietary patterns: unhealthy patterns and healthy patterns. The frequent intake of vegetables and fruits was significant among high PBF female students (p=0.045 and p=0.001, respectively). The frequent intake of fast food was higher for overweight female students but there was no significant difference (p=0.289), whereas, the frequent intake of sweetened beverages was associated with higher significant rate of normal weight among female students (p = 0.009). No significant relation was found between dietary patterns, BMI and PBF. In conclusion, body composition is not significantly associated with healthy and unhealthy eating patterns among young females.


Combination of genotypes of main types’ genetic markers causes milk productivity in cattle. The article studies correlation between kappa casein genotypes (C3N3), beta-lactoglobulin (LGB), their complexes and milk production indices in cows bred under equal conditions at a breeding farm. The calculation of parental milk yield and fat indices between the three breeds showed a significant difference (P>0,999) of PCI of Ayrshire and Holstein cattle breed milk yield - 3395 kg, PCI of fat - 0,22%; between Holstein and Yaroslavl cattle breeds - 3200 kg, PCI offat - 0,16%. A significant difference of realization indices of protein between all three breeds was not stated. The highest realization ofparental milk yield index was stated - between Ayrshire and Yaroslavl cattle breeds- 113%, Holstein cattle breed - 88%. As for the fat and protein indices, all three cattle breeds showed a high realization of PCI from 98% to 109%. However, Holstein cattle breed showed the highest percentage: protein - 101%, fat - 109%. A significant difference of PCI realization of milk productivity in CSN3 and LGB genotypes was not stated. It was also stated that there is a tendency of high level parental indices realization when there is a higher number of B-allele variants in genotypes of cows.


Total twenty different processed meat plant producing emulsion type sausage were histologically and chemically examined for detection of adulteration with unauthorized tissues. Results revealed that samples were adulterated with different types of animal tissues included; hyaline cartilage, tendon, spongy bone, peripheral nerve trunk, basophilic matrix, lymphatic tissue, fascia, fibrocartilage and vascular tissue. Moreover, these samples were adulterated Also, adulterated with plant tissue included; plant stem, leaves and root. Chemical analysis showed a significant difference in their chemical composition (moisture, fat, protein, ash and calcium) content. Moisture and fat content varied around the permissible limit of E.S.S. while low protein, high ash and calcium content was detected in the examined samples. Therefore, Histological and chemical examinations can be used as reliable methods to detect adultration using unauthorized addition of both animal and plant tissues in processed meat product samples which revealed a high level of falsification.


2019 ◽  
Vol 20 (3) ◽  
pp. 255-262 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sounik Manna ◽  
Munmun Ghosh ◽  
Ranadhir Chakraborty ◽  
Sudipto Ghosh ◽  
Santi M. Mandal

Succumbing to Multi-Drug Resistant (MDR) bacteria is a great distress to the recent health care system. Out of the several attempts that have been made to kill MDR pathogens, a few gained short-lived success. The failures, of the discovered or innovated antimicrobials, were mostly due to their high level of toxicity to hosts and the phenomenal rate of developing resistance by the pathogens against the new arsenal. Recently, a few quantum dots were tested against the pathogenic bacteria and therefore, justified for potential stockpiling of next-generation antibacterial agents. The key players for antimicrobial properties of quantum dots are considered to be Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS). The mechanism of reaction between bacteria and quantum dots needs to be better understood. They are generally targeted towards the cell wall and membrane components as lipoteichoic acid and phosphatidyl glycerol of bacteria have been documented here. In this paper, we have attempted to simulate ZnS quantum dots and have analysed their mechanism of reaction as well as binding potential to the above bacterial membrane components using CDOCKER. Results have shown a high level of antibacterial activity towards several pathogenic bacteria which specify their potentiality for future generation antibacterial drug development.


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