Hygiene control in fast food restaurants and microbiological evaluation

Due to it's complex nature and wide range scape, ready to eat food sector has the important role on public health which may cause serious health problems in case of in case of improper hygiene and sanitation practices. This study was carried out to determine the level of food safety knowledge, occupational habits, kitchen hygiene-sanitation practices of the food staff working in a kitchen of the ready to serve meals companies and to evaluate the data in terms of food safety and public health. In this study, the level of knowledge of the personnel on hygiene and sanitation was determined to reveal their habits.The microflora of staff's hands, mouths and noses were analyzed. After plant cleaning process, sanitation control has been made on surfacen, appliances and equipments to evaulate the hygienic conditions. At the same time food samples were taken during the day and analyzed for enumeration of total aerobic mesophylic bacteria, coliforms, fecal coliforms, micrococci and staphylococci and for the presence of E. coli. These analyses were replicated after hygiene and sanitation training. Twenty percent of the companies were evaluated as being in good hygienic conditions in terms of the hygenic quality of personnel, equipment, air and water. Hygenic status in the 35 % of the companies were graded as medium. Fourty five percent of the companies however were found to be in bad conditions. Although food hygiene was graded as good in 20 % of the companies, 80 % scored bad in food hygiene. Keywords: Food Safety, Food Personnel, Sanitation Control, Staphylococci, Escherichia coli