The consumption of hot drinks dispensed from vending machines has become a common practice, both in workplaces and during free time. Every day, millions of bulk drinks are sold, but the quality of the products distributed may not always be guaranteed, as it is related to many factors such as the quality of the water, the raw materials used, and the effectiveness of the equipment’s cleaning system. The purpose of this study is to evaluate the hygienic-sanitary requirements of hot drinks and vending machine surfaces. The investigation highlighted the microbial contamination of both coffee and vending machine surfaces. Although the ”coffee break” is usually considered a moment of pleasure, apparently not subject to specific jurisdiction, the products dispensed can represent a health risk if the hygienic conditions are not fully respected. Therefore, official controls carried out by the Prevention Department represent a suitable way for evaluating and guaranteeing the hygienic-sanitary requirements, providing for corrective actions, when needed, to protect consumers.
Awareness of the importance of the microbial contamination of air and surfaces has increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic. The aim of this study was to evaluate the presence of bacteria and fungi in the air and on surfaces within some critical areas of large supermarkets with and without an ozonation system. Surveys were conducted in four supermarkets belonging to the same commercial chain of an Apulian city in June 2021, of which two (A and B) were equipped with an ozonation system, and two (C and D) did not have any air-diffused remediation treatment. There was a statistically significant difference in the total bacterial count (TBC) and total fungal count (TFC) in the air between A/B and C/D supermarkets (p = 0.0042 and p = 0.0002, respectively). Regarding surfaces, a statistically significant difference in TBC emerged between A/B and C/D supermarkets (p = 0.0101). To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study evaluating the effect of ozone on commercial structures in Italy. Future investigations, supported by a multidisciplinary approach, will make it possible to deepen the knowledge on this method of sanitation, in light of any other epidemic/pandemic waves.
Understanding the actual distribution of different Legionella species in water networks would help prevent outbreaks. Culture investigations followed by serological agglutination tests, with poly/monovalent antisera, still represent the gold standard for isolation and identification of Legionella strains. However, also MALDI-TOF and mip-gene sequencing are currently used. This study was conducted to genetically correlate strains of Legionella non pneumophila (L-np) isolated during environmental surveillance comparing different molecular techniques. Overall, 346 water samples were collected from the water system of four pavilions located in a hospital of the Apulia Region of Italy. Strains isolated from the samples were then identified by serological tests, MALDI-TOF, and mip-gene sequencing. Overall, 24.9% of water samples were positive for Legionella, among which the majority were Legionella pneumophila (Lpn) 1 (52.3%), followed by Lpn2-15 (20.9%), L-np (17.4%), Lpn1 + Lpn2-15 (7.1%), and L-np + Lpn1 (2.3%). Initially, L-np strains were identified as L. bozemanii by monovalent antiserum, while MALDI-TOF and mip-gene sequencing assigned them to L. anisa. More cold water than hot water samples were contaminated by L. anisa (p < 0.001). PFGE, RAPD, Rep-PCR, and SAU-PCR were performed to correlate L. anisa strains. Eleven out of 14 strains identified in all four pavilions showed 100% of similarity upon PFGE analysis. RAPD, Rep-PCR, and SAU-PCR showed greater discriminative power than PFGE.
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