Ispitivanje parametara higijene od značaja za bezbednost hrane u domaćinstvima / Examination of important food safety hygiene parameters in households

The main aim of this survey was to collect data on consumer awareness and knowledge of food safety, procedures with the food in household, storage conditions and to investigate the bacterial contamination of the selected surfaces in domestic kitchens and refrigerators. Standard questionnaire was used to examine consumer awareness and knowledge about food safety and procedures with the food in households. Storage conditions was controlled by data logger-s, and contamination of kitchen surfaces and refrigerators were defined by taking swabs and determination of the total viable count, psychrotrophic bacteria count and Enterobacteriaceae count. The presence of coagulasepositive staphylococci and Salmonella has been investigated on selected surfaces. Standard methods was used for bacterial examination. The presence of organic matter was determined on wooden or plastic cutting boards. Consumers are applying food safety practices in households acquire from their own experience, means of public information and members of the household. Significantly fewer respondents had not heard of food safety. The most common biological agents that consumers have heard are Trichinella spiralis, Salmonella spp., viruses, E. coli, Staphylococcus aureus, Listeria monocytogenes and Shigella spp. In households combined refrigerator-freezers, aged up to five years are the most common. For refrigerator hygiene detergent, disinfectant and hot water are commonly used. Hygiene of supplies and equipment (knives and cutting boards) are held significantly more by using detergent and hot water. Personal hygiene (hand washing) in a significantly greater number is applied after action that might affect the contamination of work surfaces in the kitchen, and also a food. Significantly more respondents prefer well-done meat, and the testing of thermal treatment performed by visual inspection. Measured temperatures in refrigerators depended on the type of refrigerator. Average temperature in refrigerators was 9,33±3,51 ⁰С. Significantly higher average temperature was determined in the door than the average temperatures of the upper or the lower shelves of the refrigerator. The presence of Salmonella species was found in 13.95% of the households, while the presence of coagulase-positive staphylococci was found in 25% of households. On the kitchen surfaces the incidence of enterobacteria was significantly lower then the incidence of psychrotrophic and mesophilic bacteria. On examined working surfaces in kitchens the incidence of unsatisfactory number of psychrotrophic and mesophilic bacteria was significantly higher than satisfactory number. On a wooden cutting board in domestic kitchen frequency of unsatisfactory number of psychrotrophic bacteria was significantly lower than satisfactory. There was no significantly difference between the frequency of satisfactory and unsatisfactory number of mesophilic bacteria. In contrast, the incidence of unsatisfactory total number of Enterobacteriaceae was significantly lower than desired. On a plastic cutting boards in domestic kitchens the incidence of unsatisfactory number of mesophilic bacteria and enterobacteriaceae was significantly lower than satisfactory. There was no significant difference between satisfactory and unsatisfactory number of psychrotrophic bacteria on the plastic cutting boards. On the refrigerator surfaces the incidence of unsatisfactory number of psychrotrophic and mesophilic bacteria was significantly higher, and the incidence of unsatisfactory number of enterobacteria was significantly lower. On the surveyed kitchen floors the incidence of unsatisfactory number of psychrotrophic and mesophilic bacteria was significantly lower than the frequency of a satisfactory number. Also, the incidence of unsatisfactory number of enterobacteriaceae was significantly lower than the frequency of satisfactory number. On a wooden cutting boards the incidence of organic matter was significantly higher compared to plastic cutting boards.