Hygienic and sanitary qualities of fruit salads sold at beach kiosks in Florianopolis - SC during the 2015 summer season

Abstract

Recently, changes in lifestyle have modified the eating habits, with an increase in having meals outside of home and demanding for the convenience of ready-to-eat foods, and also rising the search for healthier diet. Controls on this kind of food production and commercialization should be strict for protecting the population health. Beach kiosks do not offer the suitable conditions for handling certain foods due to their lack of structure. Therefore, it is prohibited to sell fruit salads on the beaches of Florianopolis-SC, although they have been amply commercialized. Hygiene and sanitation conditions were evaluated in 40 fruit salad samples sold in kiosks on the four beaches in Florianopolis, by analyzing the occurrence of Salmonella and thermotolerant coliforms counting. These results were compared to the standards established by the local regulation (RDC 12/01). Only 5 % of the samples were considered unsuitable for human consumption, as they exceeded the limits established for thermotolerant coliform. All of the samples showed negative results for Salmonella in 25 g of food. The satisfactory microbiological results found in this study might be associated with the intrinsic characteristics of fruit salads, which possess a low pH value and being enough to inhibit the growth of these two microorganisms.