Hygienic assessment of sanitary facilities in catering establishments

Guests consider the sanitary facilities (SF) of catering establishments to be the most dangerous in terms of hygiene. During the Covid-19 pandemic, companies paid special attention to their cleanliness. The aim of this study was to assess the hygiene of catering establishments' SF based on microbiological assessment and visual inspection of SF. Two research methods were used: microbiological analyses in the SF of six catering establishments; a questionnaire for the guests of catering establishments. Three microbiological assessments were carried out on the surfaces of the SF of six Jelgava catering establishments that are most frequently touched by guests: toilet bowl cover; water flush button; soap dispenser and SF door handle. No enteric bacteria were detected in the samples collected in 2021. However, in the February and April 2022 samples, when the number of guests in the catering establishments was much higher, enteric bacteria were detected in two samples. A survey was carried out using Google Forms from 31 March to 21 April 2022. 183 guests of catering establishments aged between 15 and 50 took part. The results of the survey showed that before and during the Covid-19 pandemic, guests' habits towards visiting catering establishments have changed. Contingency analysis was used to process the survey data. Enteric bacteria are most commonly found on the lid of the toilet bowl in the SF of catering establishments. Guests of catering establishments consider clean and well-maintained SF as a strong indicator of high quality in catering establishments in general. The ‘higher status’ of catering establishments is not a guarantee of microbiologically cleaner SF, but reflects a misguided (stereotypical) perception of guests.