Multiple Interventions for Improving Food Safety Practices in 2 SmallBeef Abattoirs of Honduras and Associated Impacts on Risk-MitigationManagement

摘要

Mitigation of risk for Shiga toxin-producing (STEC) and contamination was evaluated after amultiple-intervention approach (comprising food safety education and training,implementation of customized food safety practices and programs, andenvironmental monitoring programs with audits and corrective actions) in 2 smallHonduran beef abattoirs. Previously, neither abattoir had food safety programsin place nor were they subjected to strict food safety regulatory surveillance.Abattoirs A and B were sampled on 4 nonconsecutive months each. Swab samples ofabattoir A (n = 160, 40 samples per sampling date) and abattoir B (n = 78, 16-22samples per sampling date) were taken from direct and indirect food contactsurfaces, screened by BAX real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) assays andconfirmed using immunomagnetic separation, selective media, and latexagglutination. In abattoir A, presence wasnegligible, whereas presumptive STECs were present in 10%, 12.5%, 0%, and 5% ofthe environmental samples respective to each sampling month, indicating areduction of STEC (  = .06) by the third and fourth samplingmonths. Conversely, presumptive STEC presence was negligible in abattoir B,whereas presence for each sampling month was of5.6%, 6.3%, 27.3%, and 0.0%, respectively. Upon the increased pathogen presencedetected on the third sampling month, additional actions were taken to reinforcethe implementation of food safety practices and programs, which resulted in a reduction to 0% by the fourth sampling month(  = .013). The satisfactory results strongly suggest thata multiple-intervention approach is crucial to improve food safety in this typeof premises.