Assessing the microbiological safety status of most commonly consumed food items sold at local and branded restaurants of Faisalabad, Pakistan

AbstractThe current study was designed to assess the microbial safety status of rice and chicken dishes offered for sale at various local and branded restaurants. Purposely, 24 samples of rice and chicken dishes were collected from eight local and branded restaurants of Faisalabad city. All the collected samples were subjected to microbiological examination to determine the prevalence and comparative enumeration ofBacillus  cereus, Escherichia coli (rice),Salmonella andCampylobacter (chicken). Results pertaining to the enumeration ofB. cereus andE. coli exhibited highest count of 2.12  × 108 and 2.59  × 107 cfu/g, respectively. Both strains were found to be higher among the samples collected from branded restaurants. Likewise for chicken dishes, the highest count observed forSalmonella andCampylobacter were 2.50  × 107 and 1.87  × 108 cfu/g, respectively. Further, the results of current study revealed that 38% of rice samples collected from local restaurants and 63% from branded restaurants have unsatisfactory safety status forB. cereus. Similarly, forE. coli, 63 and 42% samples were found unsatisfactory from local and branded restaurants, respectively. On the other hand, the percentage of chicken samples with unacceptable safety status according toSalmonella andCampylobacter standards were 46& 58% and 54& 46% for local and branded restaurants, respectively.Practical applicationsSafe handling of food during preparation and adherence to the food saf...
Source: Journal of Food Safety - Category: Food Science Authors: Tags: ORIGINAL ARTICLE Source Type: research