Hazards and Critical Control Points of Vending Operations at a Railway Station and a Bus Station in Pakistan

Abstract

Hazard analyses (which included watching operations, measuring temperatures of foods throughout preparation and display, and sampling and testing for microorganisms of concern) were conducted of vending operations at a railway and a bus station in a large city in Pakistan. Commonly prepared foods which were surveyed included: rice, pulses, chick peas, ground meat and potato mixtures, meat stew, and okra. Temperatures were measured and samples were collected from a variety of other foods. Large numbers (104–7) of Clostridium perfringens were isolated from samples of pulses, ground meat dishes, and chick peas collected during display, 8 to 10 h after cooking. Aerobic colony counts were also high in these and other foods that were held for several hours, unless hot, at temperatures >55°C throughout the holding periods or periodic reheating practiced (which was done by a few vendors). Cooking was usually thorough, but spores survived which germinated during the display period. High temperature holding or periodic reheating maintained safe foods, and hence, are critical control points for these operations. Education about these matters ought to be directed at health and transportation authorities, vendors, and the public.

A survey of hygiene and sanitary practices of street food vendors in the Central State of Northern Nigeria

“…Foods were exposed to flies and this could result to epidemiological disease outbreak like cholera (Ashenafi, 2009). Foods that were stored in container/cupboard other than refrigerator are likely to be contamination by pathogenic micro-organisms and associated with reduced quality (WHO, 1984;Bryan et al, 1992;Mensah et al, 2002). The oily appearance of water used for washing the crockery confirms the wash water reuse practice amongst the vendors surveyed.…”

“…In developing countries especially Nigeria, there is a noticeable increase in the number of street food vendors as a result of dwindling economy and unemployment. According to WHO (1984), Bryan et al (1992) and Ashenafi (1995), food exposed for sale on the streets may become contaminated either by spoilage or pathogenic micro-organisms. Furthermore, it is also reported that street-vended foods have epidemiological links with illness (El-Sherbeeny et al, 1985;Abdulsalam and Kaferstein, 1993;Muinde and Kuria, 2005).…”

Bacteriological quality of street-vended <i>um-jingir</i>: A traditional Sudanese food

“…Whereas the total coliform count were ranging from 3 to 1400 MPN per 100 ml. The MacConkey's agar count ranged from 2× 10 2 to 2.7×10 4 , and mannitol salt agar count ranged from 2× 10 2 to 1.6×10 4 per ml (Table 1).…”

“…Microbiological quality investigations of street-vended foods have reported high bacterial counts and a high incidence of food borne pathogens in such foods in different countries [4].…”

Indícios de Rotavirus na etiologia de um surto de infecção de origem alimentar

“…Na maioria das vezes, casos de infecções alimentares estão relacionadas ao consumo de alimentos que sofrem manipulação exacerbada associada as más condições de armazenamento e acondicionamento, permitindo a exposição direta ao ambiente, propiciando a contaminação e posterior veiculação de agentes de natureza infecciosa aos consumidores [3,4,5,6,18,26]. Os microrganismos representam uma ameaça à segurança dos alimentos, podendo ser causadores de doenças de origem alimentar.…”