Purpose: To what extent the economic crisis has affected quality assurance programs in the mass feeding industry needs to be addressed. This study explores the microbiological profile of offered menus and environmental hygiene status in 50 mass feeding facilities which have or have not implemented HACCP.
Methods: ISO 16649-2 for E. coli, ISO 6888.1:1999 for S. aureus, ISO 11290-1:1996 for L. monocytogenes and ISO 6579:2003 for Salmonella spp. were used.
Results: A total of 3714 hotel, 1131 catering and 2818 local and multinational fast food facility samples were analyzed. In 26 facilities using HACCP, 3.6, 1.4 and 5.3% of food samples were not in conformity to legislative criteria for E. coli, S. aureus and L. monocytogenes, respectively. In 24 facilities not implementing HACCP, the corresponding figures were 8.9, 8.2 and 10.1%, respectively. Non conformity to guidelines for environmental samples for total coliforms, E.coli and L. monocytogenes for the first group was 7.9, 5.1 and 9.9% and for the second 27.9, 27.9 and 33.5 % respectively. Salmonella was present only in 0.2% (5/2452) of fresh and deli salad samples. Comparison of the present data to those of the 2003-2010 study period to identify trends is in progress.
Significance: Considering the number of facilities and samples analyzed the results are of great significance to regulatory agencies in enforcing HACCP implementation for foreign and local consumer protection.