Alonzo-Salomón J, Heredia-Navarrete MR, García-Roque O

Language: Spanish
References: 24
Page: 86-95
PDF size: 74.70 Kb.

ABSTRACT

Objective. To describe the presence of fecal coliformes (FC) and aerobic mesophiles (AM) in food, on surfaces and hands of personnel and children at a day-care center and to propose measures for their control.
Materials and methods. At a day-care center, samples were obtained from different foodstuff before being consumed by the children, from the surfaces and from the hands of both the personnel and the children. Bacterial analysis was carried out to determine the concentration of CF and AM and the results were compared.
Results. The highest concentrations of FC in food was obtained from milk with 700 UFC/millilitre and from meat with 200 UFC/gram the highest concentrations on surfaces were obtained from the table 9 UFC/25cm². No FC were found on the hands of neither the personnel nor the children. The highest concentrations of AM obtained from food was from milk and soft drinks, 6700 and 2800 UFC/millilitre respectively and from meat with 270 UFC/gram; the highest concentrations obtained from surfaces were on the feeding bottles, floor and toys with 70000, 400 and 640 UFC/25 cm² respectively. The highest concentration of AM found on the hands of personnel was 940 UFC/50 cm² and 800 UFC/50 cm² on children's hands.
Conclusion. The highest contamination by FC was found in food, among which, milk was the main source of faecal contamination in the day-care center. Hygienic preparation of milk needs to be improved, especially in the area of suckling babies wich is the group with the highest record of FC in milk. As far as AM is concerned, the greatest concentration was found on the feeding bottles of suckling babies, so improved care in the hygenic cleaning of the feeding bottles is also recommendedd.

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