Abstract:

Food quality can be determined through quality analytical control. Microbial quality can be established using microorganisms, like the coliform group, as indicators of fecal contamination. Usually food borne illness is caused by bacteria and in most cases the contamination are result from an inadequate handling and poor sanitary conditions. Therefore, the objective of this study was to evaluate the hygienic-sanitary quality from the food handlers’ hands in a dairy industry in São Luís de Montes Belos micro-region in Goias state. The study evaluated 102 swab samples from food handlers’ hands. The most probable number of total coliform, thermotolerant coliforms and counting of aerobic mesophilic microorganism. The “swab test” was utilized in order to determine the relative values of handler condition at work operational area. The standard suggested by reference values in a specialized literature are: 1,0 x 102 CFU/hand for aerobic mesophilic microorganism counts, 10 CFU/hand of most probable number of total coliforms and zero CFU/hand for thermotolerant coliforms. The results were analyzed by descriptive statistics using absolute and relative frequency in order to compare to standard reference values. There was no total coliform or thermotolerant contamination in the samples analyzed; however, the results showed that 23.52% (24/102) from the swab samples analyzed were positive for aerobic mesophilic microorganism which is above the limit recommended by standard reference values. Therefore it is essential certify the food handlers training in order to provide a better final dairy product quality. Microbial quality aims to produce safe food in terms of microbiological patterns. To achieve this goal of safe food, food handlers must be properly trained. These efforts will prevent food-borne diseases