doi: www.doi.org/10.14202/IJOH.2020.41-48
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Article history: Received: 05-12-2019, Accepted: 09-03-2020, Published online: 03-05-2020
Corresponding author: Sukumar Saha
E-mail: sukumar.saha@bau.edu.bd
Citation: Sabuj AAM, Haque ZF, Younus MI, Pondit A, Barua N, Hossain MG, Islam MA, Saha S (2020) Microbial risk assessment of ready-to-eat fast foods from different street-vended restaurants, Int. J. One Health, 6(1): 41-48.Aim: Microbiological risk analysis of ready-to-eat fast foods for sale on the campus of Bangladesh Agricultural University was undertaken to understand the contribution of such foods to foodborne disease.
Materials and Methods: From each of 10 randomly selected fast food outlets, a total of 120 samples of six food items were collected to assess common microbial load. In parallel, vendors were asked about their food production and selling practices, while consumers (n=200) were asked about their consumption of fast foods and whether they had experienced symptoms of foodborne disease.
Results: Aerobic plate count (APC) varied from 6.92 to 7.24 log colony-forming unit (cfu)/g, Staphylococcus spp. 4.67 to 5.15 log cfu/g, Salmonella spp. 3.67 to 4.22 log cfu/g, and Escherichia coli 4.10 to 4.58 log cfu/g. Microbial risk assessment of Staphylococcus spp., Salmonella spp., and E. coli for daily, weekly, or monthly consumption was estimated by Monte Carlo simulation (10,000 iterations). The consumer survey showed 57% chance of being infected by ready-to-eat fast food samples. The calculated mean annual risks of Staphylococcus spp., Salmonella spp., and E. coli infection were about 100% in all cases.
Conclusion: Thus, the study revealed high risk of infection associated with the consumption of ready-to-eat fast foods.
Keywords: fast foods, microbial quality, microbial risk, Monte Carlo simulation.