Assessment of safety of frozen foods

This study aimed to assess the microbiological quality of 90 frozen food samples (50 samples of raw frozen vegetables including molokeya, okra, green peas, peas + carrot, and artichoke, 20 of frozen poultry products and 20 of frozen meat products), and to assess the level of women practice during handling. A cross-sectional study was conducted. Results showed that the mean aerobic mesophilic plate count of frozen vegetables was 3.4 x 10(5) +/- 7.3 x 10(5) cfu/g. The mean mold and yeast count was 3.9 x 10(3) +/- 1.1 x 10(4) cfu/g. The mean coliform count was 3.9 x 10 +/- 6.6 x 10 m.o./g. In case of meat product, the mean aerobic count was 2.3 x 10(5) +/- 3.2 x 10(5), that of mold and yeast was 2.5 x 10(5) +/- 8.8 x 10(5) cfu/g and that of coliform was 3.2 x 10(2) +/- 3.8 x 10(2) m.o./g. Poultry products on the other hand had a mean aerobic count of 6.8 x 10(5) +/- 1.6 x 10(6), a mean mold and yeast count of 3.5 x 10(5) +/- 7.4 x 10(5) cfu/g and a mean coliform count of 6.4 x 10(2) +/- 5.2 x 10(2) m.o./g. Fecal coliforms were detected only in 60.0% of meat product samples and in 45.0% of poultry product samples. On the other hand Staph aureus was detected only in 10.0% of poultry product samples. Difference between the 5 types of vegetables was statistically significant (P = 0.00, and 0.02, respectively) for total plate and mold and yeasts counts. Among the 113 interviewed women, 80 used frozen food products. Twenty six of them (32.5%) had scores < 50%, those were classified as being bad as they were handling frozen food improperly which would contribute to outbreaks of food borne diseases. Less than 4% of the users used satisfactory practice during handling frozen foods. Illiteracy affected significantly the level of practice.