51 Lorenzini, 1995; Republic of South Africa, 1999; South African Bureau of Standards,
2001. During the acute stages of diseases such as gasteroenteritis large numbers of organisms are excreted and can be widely dispersed Bannister, Begg, Gillespie,
2000. Food handlers who are symptomatically ill, therefore, present a serious health hazard and should be excluded from work. Such individuals should furthermore be made
aware of the need to immediately report illnesses and should be assured that if exclusion is necessary it will not result in loss of employment or wages. Medical examination of a
food handler should be carried out if clinically or epidemiologically indicated Codex Alimentarius, 1997, and a certificate by a medical practitioner should be submitted,
stating whether such person is fit to handle food Republic of South Africa, 1999. Employee behavior and sanitation play an important role to reduce or increase
microbial contaminations.
Figure 8. Scores of employee hygiene and behavior based on hygiene and sanitation inspection.
4.2.2 Building and facility design and plan
The building and facilities design and plan could also impart sharply on the hygiene and sanitation conditions of the RTE food outlets. From figure 8, it can be seen
that outlet III did not score under criteria of serious therefore ranked as whilst
outlets I and II did score under serious thereby ranked as .
Outlet III had the best record for building and facilities design and plan due to several reasons observed during the inspection: building spacious, wash area well
defined brick wall built around it, eating area well ventilated, utensils storage area separate from cooking and washing area, walls and floor designed from easy to clean
52 smooth material. Another main advantage for the result being that outlet III had
spacious and comfortable eating space and enough walkway for employees and customers to used for walking in and out of the outlet thereby preventing congestion
between the eating area and food preparation and serving areas. Both outlet I and II did not differ much with their building and facilities plan
and design: Outlet I had larger space compared to outlet II, however, it stored many items on the floor of the kitchen and around the serving area. This made movement to
and fro for the employees difficult, especially in the food preparation area. Part of the kitchen wall and roof made of woods had openings in them which could be easily
accessed by animal intrusion or rain pelting in. Outlet II had very limited space, with very low kitchen roof; heat from cooking reached eating area poor ventilation, cement
bags filling up part of the eating area, light tied by rope to hold one end in place, utensilsequipment stored very near to washing and cooking area; floor uneven and held
water in the uneven areas. Like outlet I movement especially in the food preparation area was difficult having to pass through limited space.
This part of the inspection was convenient so as to establish not only the building materials that could affect the cleaning of the food outlet but also the design and plan
could affect the flow of activity. That is, by having to move from one part of the outlet to the other to get work done flowingly does not eventuate.
The correct hygienic design and proper maintenance of equipment are crucial to avoid recontamination through, for example, dripping condensation water or
accumulating residues, cracks or micro-holes in heat exchangers or double walled equipment, errors in the design or installation of the equipment allowing contact
between unprocessed and processed product Lecos, 1986. Modifications of the design of equipment and proper maintenance was, for example, found to decrease the
occurrence of L. monocytogenes in cut meats and smoked fish Tompkin et al., 1999, Fonnesbech-Vogel et al., 2001.
53
Figure 9. Scores of building and facility design and plan based on hygiene and sanitation inspection.
4.2.3 Environmental sanitation
