Hazards and Critical Control Points of Food Preparation and Storage in Homes in a Village and a Town in Pakistan

Abstract

Hazard analyses were conducted in 13 homes in each of a village and a town in Pakistan. Pulses, lentils, chick peas, potatoes, rice, and combinations of them, curd, and weaning preparations were commonly prepared in both locations, and meat dishes were prepared in the town. Cooked foods were left, usually at room ambient temperature, overnight in over 50% of the homes. Samples of foods cooked in the morning and eaten at noon usually had mesophilic aerobic colony counts less than 104 CFU/g, but those left overnight usually ranged between 106–9 CFU/g. Coliform bacteria were isolated from 77% of samples; many of the counts exceeded 105/g. Greater than 104/g Staphylococci aureus were isolated from curd and buffalo milk which had been previously heated. Clostridium perfringens were isolated from 18% of samples; once from pulses left overnight in quantities exceeding 107/g. Only three samples contained Bacillus cereus. Salmonella was not recovered from any of 28 samples. Hazards were primarily associated with holding the foods after preparation. Critical control points are cooking, manipulation of foods after cooking, holding cooked foods, and reheating.