58
Figure 12. Scores of water source and usage based on hygiene and sanitation inspection.
One of the studies carried out in South Africa Mosupye and von Holy 2000 indicated that water contamination in ready-to-eat food outlets is a major microorganism
vector. The study, revealed a potential risk of preparing unsafe foods due to cross contamination and recontamination of cooked products. Recontamination of ready-to-eat
foods resulted, in most cases, from the use of cooking utensils that were not thoroughly cleaned. The study indicated that these utensils may have been contaminated by the dish
water when they were washed. By the time food was ready to be served the dishwater was highly contaminated, because it was not regularly changed Mosupye and von Holy
2000. This revealed the need for access to clean running water for the vendors and proper sanitary facilities.
4.2.6 Overall hygiene
Out of the three ready-to-eat food outlets, outlet III had the best overall hygiene and sanitation recording all grade
. Outlets II and I had similar issues to combat to improve their hygiene and sanitation conditions. Plans to reduce the types of foods sold,
or choose to sell only cooked ready-to-eat foods excluding frozen raw foods like meat, chicken and fish; change the ways of washing the utensils; abstain from undesired safe
and quality food behaviors; and continue improving GMP good manufacturing practices processes.
Thoroughly clean food contact surfaces is critical to food safety and to prevent any form of contamination, a surface should be cleaned before any food comes into
contact with it for the first time and, when necessary, during or immediately after the
59 handling of food Moore and Griffith, 2002; Republic of South Africa, 1999. Although
incorrect cooking and storage of food is considered to be the main cause of foodborne infection, inadequate surface hygiene is a significant contributing factor, and the role of
contaminated surfaces in transmission of pathogens to food is well known in food processing and catering Cogan, Slader, Bloomfield, Humphrey, 2002;
Kusumaningrum, Riboldi, Hazelegger, and Beumer, 2002. By preventing food contamination, high standards of cleanness on food premises promote the maintenance
of shelf-life as well as the protection of consumer health Moore Griffith, 2002. Therefore, it is stipulated in the health regulations that food premises must be equipped
with a washing-up facility with hot and cold water for the effective cleaning of work areas Republic of South Africa, 1999.
The prevention of microbiological foodborne diseases can be achieved by the food cleaning the RTE food outlets with suitable food-grade sanitizers and training
and educating staff in Good Manufacturing Practice Wirtanen et al., 2000. Education is just as important as legislation in approaching the reduction of foodborne
disease outbreaks Worsfold and Griffith, 1995. Training in food hygiene practices is, therefore, fundamentally important, and personnel should be aware of their role and
responsibility in protecting food from contamination. All food handlers should be considered potential carriers of pathogenic microorganisms and should be adequately
trained in Good Manufacturing Practices GMP to ensure that they have the knowledge and skills necessary for handling food Codex Alimentarius, 1997. Management should
be obligated to arrange for all food handlers to receive adequate and continued training in the hygienic handling of food so that they know which precautions to take to preclude
contamination of food South African Bureau of Standards, 2001. Studies in the United Kingdom have shown that training increases the level of
hygiene and that businesses with a higher percentage of trained staff had a lower risk of their products being hazardous to consumers Powell, Atwell, and Massey, 1997. A
study done by Tebbutt 1992 has furthermore confirmed that managements attitude is an important determinant in training standards. It was found that on premises where
training programs had been implemented for staff working with high-risk foods, working practices and personal hygiene improved, while the risk of contamination
decreased significantly.
60 While the implementation of preventive measures is current practice in food
factories, it poses problems in retail outlets, catering facilities and even more in households. The occurrence of recontamination in the home has been demonstrated by
epidemiological investigations Mead et al., 1997. According to Scott 1996, little attention is given to home hygiene because it is assumed that also in the modern
households, traditional hygiene practices are adhered to; this assumption may not be correct in many instances especially in highly industrialized countriesregions.
4.3 Coliforms 4.3.1 Total coliforms
