scholarly journals Assessment of Hazards and Safety Practices in Food and Beverage Industry in Nigeria

2019 ◽  
pp. 1-18
Author(s):  
G. C. Afube ◽  
I. L. Nwaogazie ◽  
J. N. Ugbebor
Keyword(s):  
Risk Management ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Safety Hazards ◽  
Safety Practices ◽  
Beverage Industry ◽  
Food And Beverage Industry ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Iso 31000 ◽  
Health Organization

The assessment of safety hazards is fundamental to an effective risk management in any industry. Food and beverage production involves a variety of industrial processes with associated hazards. Effective safety practices are used to reduce workplace hazards and promote safety in the work environment. This paper evaluated safety hazards and safety practices in the food and beverage industry (FBI) in South-South, Nigeria. A structured questionnaire designed in accordance with World Health Organization standard was administered to a total of 144 workers, out of which 134 (93.0%) were completed and returned. The questionnaire was fashioned to extract information on types of hazards, awareness of safety hazards, implementation of hazards and risks control measures and the effectiveness of safety hazards and risk management programmes in the food and beverage industry. A modified four-point Likert Scale was used to analyze and evaluate the questionnaire. A Proportional Importance Index (PII) was used to rank each factor variable in the questionnaire. The study identified the major hazards in the FBI as working at height (with PII = 3.3, respondents = 91%); high voltage areas (PII = 3.1 and respondents = 90%), loud noise (PII = 3.0, respondents = 80%), machines and equipment vibration (PII = 2.8, respondents = 69%) and faulty machines and equipment (PII = 2.7, respondents = 65%). The level of awareness on safety hazards amongst the workers was statistically significant (p < 0.05, 95%CI; PII = 3.1 - 3.6). The outcome of intervention showed that FBI-2 improved from 79.62% to 96.82%, FBI-3 improved from 89.81% to 96.18%, FBI-4 improved from 78.34% to 95.54% on worker’s knowledge on the assessment of hazards and risk in the FBIs. There was effective implementation of safety hazards and risks management programmes and controls in the FBI. Administrative control measures are used to reduce hazards and workers make adequate use of personnel protective equipment. There is need to evaluate the risks associated with identified high ranking hazards and develop a risk management framework for the industry based on ISO 31000 and other relevant safety regulations and guidelines.

scholarly journals Heat Resistant Moulds in Pasteurized Fruit Syrups

2021 ◽  
Vol 3 (1) ◽  
pp. 104-111
Author(s):  
A. W. S. Ishara ◽  
G. D. D. K. Gunasena
Keyword(s):  
Fungal Spores ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
Bacterial Spores ◽  
Vegetative Cells ◽  
Heat Resistant ◽  
Beverage Industry ◽  
Food And Beverage Industry ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Off Flavors ◽  
Impedance Monitoring

Fruit syrups or concentrates are sweeteners that are used in food and beverage industry as well as in the pharmaceutical industry. These fruit syrups or juice concentrates are naturally acidic products that are subjected to pasteurization to eliminate the vegetative cells of bacteria, fungi and their less heat resistant spores. There is a chance for heat resistant moulds and Alicyclobacillus spp. to grow in the product after the pasteurization due to the production of heat resistant structures such as ascospores or similar structures and bacterial spores. Byssochlamys, Talaromyces and Neosartorya have been identified frequently as heat resistant moulds in heat processed fruit products. Heat resistant moulds can cause an economical damage to the products by breaking down the texture, producing off flavors, phase separation and causing health hazards due to the ability of mycotoxins formation by some species. In order to detect heat resistant moulds it is necessary to give a selective heat treatment by the laboratory pasteurization to eliminate vegetative cells of bacteria, fungi and less heat resistant fungal spores while stimulation the activation of heat resistant spores formed by heat resistant moulds. Due to the low occurrence of the spores relatively large samples are analyzed. Most of the methods suggest a long incubation period of 30 days to mature the colonies that is too long for quality control measures in food and beverage industry. Impedance monitoring has been suggested as a rapid detection method for the detection of common heat resistant moulds such as Byssochlamys.

Influencing Factors on Customer Satisfaction towards American Brands in the Food and Beverage Industry in Malaysia

2016 ◽  
Vol 2 (2) ◽  
pp. 69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nur Atiqah Rochin Demong ◽  
Abdul Kadir Othman ◽  
Salmi Bawasa
Keyword(s):  
Customer Satisfaction ◽  
Influencing Factors ◽  
Perceived Value ◽  
Perceived Quality ◽  
Kuala Lumpur ◽  
Customer Expectation ◽  
Beverage Industry ◽  
Food And Beverage Industry ◽  
Food And Beverage ◽  
Convenience Sampling

Customer satisfaction is the ultimate aim to food and beverage F&B industry as it ascertains that satisfied customers will stay loyal and reduce the amount of complaints towards their brand of choice. The main purpose of the research is to understand the influencing factors on customer satisfaction towards American brand in F&B industry in Malaysia. Convenience sampling method was used involving the respondents that consist of customers and shoppers within five mega malls in Kuala Lumpur to represent the total population of the study. The researcher used a multiple regression analysis to analyze 384 data from customers. The results indicate a positive and significant influence of all influencing factors (perceived quality, perceived value and Customer Expectation) on customer satisfaction. Customer expectation is seen to be the factor that was highly influential towards satisfaction, followed by perceived quality and perceived value. The implications of the study are discussed in the paper.

Characterizing the effectiveness of COVID-19 mitigation measures: A data-centric approach (Preprint)

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lukman Olagoke ◽  
Ahmet E. Topcu
Keyword(s):  
Control Measure ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Mitigation Measures ◽  
Effective Control ◽  
The World ◽  
Decision Making Processes ◽  
And Performance ◽  
Health Organization ◽  
The Impact

BACKGROUND COVID-19 represents a serious threat to both national health and economic systems. To curb this pandemic, the World Health Organization (WHO) issued a series of COVID-19 public safety guidelines. Different countries around the world initiated different measures in line with the WHO guidelines to mitigate and investigate the spread of COVID-19 in their territories. OBJECTIVE The aim of this paper is to quantitatively evaluate the effectiveness of these control measures using a data-centric approach. METHODS We begin with a simple text analysis of coronavirus-related articles and show that reports on similar outbreaks in the past strongly proposed similar control measures. This reaffirms the fact that these control measures are in order. Subsequently, we propose a simple performance statistic that quantifies general performance and performance under the different measures that were initiated. A density based clustering of based on performance statistic was carried out to group countries based on performance. RESULTS The performance statistic helps evaluate quantitatively the impact of COVID-19 control measures. Countries tend show variability in performance under different control measures. The performance statistic has negative correlation with cases of death which is a useful characteristics for COVID-19 control measure performance analysis. A web-based time-line visualization that enables comparison of performances and cases across continents and subregions is presented. CONCLUSIONS The performance metric is relevant for the analysis of the impact of COVID-19 control measures. This can help caregivers and policymakers identify effective control measures and reduce cases of death due to COVID-19. The interactive web visualizer provides easily digested and quick feedback to augment decision-making processes in the COVID-19 response measures evaluation. CLINICALTRIAL Not Applicable

scholarly journals Countries with delayed COVID-19 introduction – characteristics, drivers, gaps, and opportunities

2021 ◽  
Vol 17 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Zheng Li ◽  
Cynthia Jones ◽  
Girum S. Ejigu ◽  
Nisha George ◽  
Amanda L. Geller ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Geographic Location ◽  
Control Measures ◽  
World Health ◽  
Small Island ◽  
Influenza Surveillance ◽  
Middle Income ◽  
School Closing ◽  
Travel Restrictions ◽  
Potential Factors ◽  
Health Organization

Abstract Background Three months after the first reported cases, COVID-19 had spread to nearly 90% of World Health Organization (WHO) member states and only 24 countries had not reported cases as of 30 March 2020. This analysis aimed to 1) assess characteristics, capability to detect and monitor COVID-19, and disease control measures in these 24 countries, 2) understand potential factors for the reported delayed COVID-19 introduction, and 3) identify gaps and opportunities for outbreak preparedness, particularly in low and middle-income countries (LMICs). We collected and analyzed publicly available information on country characteristics, COVID-19 testing, influenza surveillance, border measures, and preparedness activities in these countries. We also assessed the association between the temporal spread of COVID-19 in all countries with reported cases with globalization indicator and geographic location. Results Temporal spreading of COVID-19 was strongly associated with countries’ globalization indicator and geographic location. Most of the 24 countries with delayed COVID-19 introduction were LMICs; 88% were small island or landlocked developing countries. As of 30 March 2020, only 38% of these countries reported in-country COVID-19 testing capability, and 71% reported conducting influenza surveillance during the past year. All had implemented two or more border measures, (e.g., travel restrictions and border closures) and multiple preparedness activities (e.g., national preparedness plans and school closing). Conclusions Limited testing capacity suggests that most of the 24 delayed countries may have lacked the capability to detect and identify cases early through sentinel and case-based surveillance. Low global connectedness, geographic isolation, and border measures were common among these countries and may have contributed to the delayed introduction of COVID-19 into these countries. This paper contributes to identifying opportunities for pandemic preparedness, such as increasing disease detection, surveillance, and international collaborations. As the global situation continues to evolve, it is essential for countries to improve and prioritize their capacities to rapidly prevent, detect, and respond, not only for COVID-19, but also for future outbreaks.

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