Determination of critical control points in fish-based snacks preparation as foods for school children

Fish-based snacks, such as siomay (steamed fish dumpling), otak-otak (fish-dough sticks), and pempek (fried fish-dough native to Palembang, Indonesia), are being vend around the schools in Indonesia. This study was aimed to identify critical points of the snacks’ preparation line, therefore the possible hazards from physical,microbiological, and chemical contaminants could be handled properly. It was done by interviewing and observing the snacks vendors’ application of good readytoeat (RTE) food processing practices. Then, based on the data obtained, the critical points were determined using a decision tree. The critical points of fish-based snacks observed in this study were raw material purchasing, raw material storage, cooking, and serving of the snacks. The raw material purchasing became a critical point because of the possible existence of histamine, which sourced mainly from scombroid fish; in this case: mackerel, tuna, and cob, which were used as raw material by 33, 12, and 3% of the respondents, respectively. When storing the raw materials, 64% of the vendors were not using cold storage. The cooking step, by means of steaming (48%), frying (43%), roasting (8%) and boiling (1%), was a critical point to address microbiological hazards. The recontamination possibility was also becoming a point of concern, because long holding time between cooking and selling the snacks was found in 53% of the vendors (more than four hours by 85% of them), and most of them (72%) stored the cooked snacks in room temperature. The serving step became a critical point because 22% of the stalls used by the vendors were located in unclean environment, and 75% of the stalls were unsheltered, which made them susceptible to rainwater splashes. The food safety extension material is expected to be more specified, based on this identification of critical points and their causes.