Citation
ABSTRACTBackground/Objectives: In Brazil, the National Program of School Feeding (PNAE), was created with the objective of meeting the nutritional needs of students, guaranteeing the adequate growth and development of children, and assuring quality sanitation of the food offered. With the intent to guarantee a high level of sanitation of the food offered in the educational field, Good Manufacturing Practices (GMPs) were also instituted. The objective of this study was to evaluate the GMPs employed to produce the food offered in the Rio Branco -AC school system's daycares and pre-schools. Methods: The study was undertaken in 15 schools and 6 public daycares, corresponding with 50% of the total number of schools that admit preschoolers. A "List of Verification of Good Practices in School Feeding and Nutrition" was employed, and a final score was obtained for each school, through which the school was classified by the degree of health risk that it presented. Results: In the 21 schools studied, inadequacies in all analyzed criteria were observed. When classified according to general health risks, 81% of the schools presented moderate health risks and 19% presented high health risks. The most scrutinized criteria were "Controlled Temperature Equipment,""Buildings and Installations,""Processes and Production," and "Sanitation of the Environment." The main problems detected were related to inadequate sanitation of the hands (90.48%) on the part of the food handlers; the absence of mandatory Good Practices and Standard Operational Procedures Manual (POP) (100%), and the absence of fans in the production area (95.24%).
Conclusions:The main problems identified in the evaluated school feeding production units were related to inadequate physical unit structures and the incorrect handling of the foods on the part of those involved in the production process. Therefore, the importance of continued training about Good Fabrication Practices (BPFs), the presence of nutritionists in sufficient numbers during the production process, and a restructuring of the physical space within the food production units need to be highlighted.
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