Assessment of hand washing facilities, personal hygiene and the bacteriological quality of handwashes in some grocery and dairy shops in Alexandria, Egypt

Food produced with satisfactory hygienic standards is one of the essential conditions for promoting and preserving health. A total of 15 grocery and dairy shops were randomly selected from Alexandria, Egypt to assess their hand washing facilities and personal hygiene of food handlers using a pre-designed sanitation checklist. Also the bacteriological profile of the handlers' hand washes was determined. Only 20% of these shops were acceptable concerning their hand washing facilities [>/= 50% score percentages]. Observing 29 food handlers revealed that only 3.4% of them were acceptable in their personal hygiene with a mean score percentage of only 31.0 +/- 9.2. Although the hand washing method followed by the food handlers significantly decreased both aerobic mesophilic and staphylococci counts, they were still high. Moreover, fecal coliforms increased insignificantly from 5 to 7 MPN/100ml indicating that the hand washing was improperly done due several pitfalls. Most of the handlers who washed their hands for less than 10 seconds [41.4%] had higher counts of aerobic mesophiles and staphylococci than those who washed for more 10 seconds. Most of the handlers [93.1%] did not avoid contamination from the tap after hand washing. Moreover, their hand washes were contaminated with fecal coliforms [8 MPN/100ml] and with slightly higher staphylococci counts than those who avoid contamination either by rinsing a tap or closing it by elbow. Recommendations: Much effort should be done from the responsible authority to improve the sanitation inside these shops and food handlers should be given inservice training to know how to efficiently wash their hands

Food safety knowledge and practices among women working in Alexandria university, Egypt

Ensuring food safety at the household level is well accepted and an understanding of the status of the food handling knowledge and practices is needed. Food safety knowledge and practices of 270 women working in six faculties and institutions of Alexandria University were assessed using a questionnaire including data on personal characteristics, previous attack of prominent food poisoning, and four parameters of food safety knowledge and practices. The highest percentage of food poisoning cases [46.8%] was belonging to staff members and 39.7% were in the age group<10 years. Half of the cases resulted from eating outside home compared to 16.7% from eating at home. The mean score percentage of the total safety Knowledge of the sample was 67.4 compared to 72.0 for their safety practices. The highest Knowledge score was in personal hygiene [73.8] while the highest practice score was in cooking [77.5]. The lowest Knowledge score was in food preparation [59.8] whereas the lowest practice was in purchasing and storage [62.7]. The highest mean scores percentages of the total food safety knowledge and its four associated. parameters were among staff members with significant differences among different jobs except in food preparation. The highest scores of the total food safety practices and their parameters were among clerks except in practicing safe purchasing and storage where the highest mean score was among staff members [66.5 +/- 12.8] with significant differences among jobs except in practicing personal hygiene. Conclusion and recommendations: The study showed inadequate safety Knowledge and practices among all job categories. The inconsistencies between Knowledge and practices emphasize the need for implementing repeated food safety education programs

Influence of aqueous green tea extract on the antimicrobial activity of some antibiotics against multiresistant clinical isolates

Green tea has been shown to have several antibacterial activities, limiting bacterial growth and acting in synergy with beta-lactam antibiotics. Antibiotics belonging to different groups were tested separately and in combinations with green tea against different isolates using disc agar diffusion technique. The bactericidal activity of certain antibiotics against selected isolates was evaluated separately and in presence of green tea using surface viable count. Subinhibitory concentrations of green tea showed marked increase in the sensitivity of even the multiple resistant isolates to most of the antibiotics tested. Moreover, Green tea enhanced the bactericidal activity of all tested antibiotics. Green tea had the ability to cure resistance to cefuroxime. In addition, the effect of green tea on direct inhibition of beta-lactamases production was conducted using the nitrocefin method. There were beneficial outcomes of concomitant administration of green tea with tetracycline, chloramphenicol as well as beta-lactam antibiotics

Assessment of the hygienic condition of chicken shops in Alexandria and its impact on the bacteriological quality of sold carcasses

Assessment of the hygienic condition of 15 chicken shops in Alexandria revealed that carcass handling had the highest mean score percentages in all zones ranging from 69.7% to 83.3% but unfortunately personal hygiene was given the lowest score percentages ranging from 34.5% to 46.9%. Moreover, there were no significant differences among different zones concerning the mean score percentages of different sanitation checklist parameters. Bacteriological analysis of 198 samples; 135 chicken carcass's washes, 45 scalding water samples and 18 defeathering machine washes revealed that washes collected after defeathering had the worst bacteriological profile regarding the counts of aerobic mesophiles [3.7x10[7] CFU/100 ml] and coliforms [8.0x10[4] MPN/100 ml]. Carcass washes collected after evisceration and wash4rg from most zones were contaminated with lower bacterial loads than either after scalding or defeathering, but they showed higher contamination with coagulase positive staphylococci Within the same zone, the defeathering machine washes were usually of worse bacteriological quality than scalding water

Comparative study on the effects of steviosides and aspartame on glucose, urea and creatinine levels of normal and type 2 diabetic rats

Comparing the effects of the natural nonnutritive sweetener [steviosides] and the artificial sweetener [aspartame] on the plasma glucose, urea, and creatinie levels of normal and type 2 diabetic rats revealed that treating normal and diabetic rats with different doses of both sweeteners reduced the plasma glucose levels except in normal rats treated with low dose of aspartame and high dose of steviosides that increased glucose levels by 17.3% and in normal rats treated with the high aspartame dose [38%] but fortunately they were still within the normal glucose range. All doses of both sweeteners increased urea levels in normal rats by percentages ranging from 5.2% to 41.7% though they were within the normal urea range except the low aspartame dose and high steviosides dose, moreover medium aspartame dose reduced urea level by 11.1%. All doses of both sweeteners reduced the urea levels in diabetic rats with the highest reduction percentage in those treated with the high steviosides dose [63.8%] while the lowest [40.9%] was in those treated with the medium dose of aspartame but unfortunately, no dose succeeded to lower urea levels to their normal ranges. Treating normal rats with different doses of both sweeteners increased the plasma creatinine by percentages ranging from 33.3% in the medium steviosides dose to 33.3% in the low spartame dose although they were kept within the normal creatinine range. Treating diabetic rats with different doses of both sweeteners succeeded to lower creatinine levels to their normal ranges with reduction percentages ranging from 25.8% to 38.1%. The creatinine levels were more or less similar in diabetic rats treated with different doses of both sweeteners with no significant differences between the two sweeteners in any dose

Handling of infant milk formulas and it impact on their microbiological quality during bottle feeding

Fifty mothers with their infants were interviewed at the National Nutrition Institute, Cairo to assess their handling practices of infant formulae during bottle feeding. The majority of the interviewed mothers [96%] started to bottle feed their infants during the first six months after delivery, moreover, more than half of them [52%] blamed milk insufficiency for starting the bottle feeding. Half of infants of the interviewed mothers were attacked 1-5 times with gastrointestinal disturbances during the period of bottle feeding. Microbiological analysis of 100 samples of infant milk formulas collected from the markets revealed their compliance with the Egyptian Standards. Unfortunately, the microbiological quality of infant formulas worsens during their home preparation where the mean aerobic mesophilic, Staphylococci as well as mold and yeast counts increased from<100 CFU/g in those collected from the markets to reach 2.6x10[4], 3.9 x10[2] and 2.9 x10[4] CFU/ml; respectively. Completing a pre-designed questionnaire showed that most of the interviewed mothers [72%] used to wash their children bottles using hot water, whereas only three mothers [6%] used to properly wash the bottles [using detergent then rinsing and washing with hot water]. Prepared formulas collected from the bottles of infants whose mothers were used to wash bottles properly had better microbiological quality than those washing with either tap water or hot water alone. Prepared formulae collected from those used to store them between feedings at room temperature [62% of the interviewed mothers] had a worse microbiological quality than those used to prepare formulas for one feeding or store in the refrigerator. Forty percent of the interviewed mothers were used to reheat leftover prepared formulas by adding hot water. Prepared formulae collected from these mothers had a worse microbiological quality than those belonging to mothers who used not to reheat. Education of mothers in food safety principles, especially for weaning foods, must receive high priority from the responsible authorities and concerned organizations

Effect of green tea extract on some virulence factors of selected multiresistant clinical isolates

Tea intake is second to water in terms of worldwide popularity as a beverage. The antimicrobial activity of green tea was recognized about 90 years ago. The present work revealed that the tested multiresistant isolates of Staphylococcus spp were much more sensitive to the antimicrobial activity of green tea compared to E. coli, Ent. sakazakii, Ps. aeruginosa and C. albicans isolates. However, the growth patterns of the tested Gram negative isolates were more affected by the presence of subinhibitory concentrations of green tea. Among the virulence factors tested was the ability of the organism of biofilm formation. It was tested using both the surface viable count and scanning by electron microscope and the results revealed that subinhibitory concentration of green tea increased the bacterial count of the tested isolate. Moreover, increasing the concentration of green tea, its killing effect on the already established biofilm decreased. On the other hand, the effect of green tea on the cell surface hydrophobicity of the 3 tested Ps. aeruginosa isolates varied however, higher concentrations of green tea may reduce it. It was also found that subinhibitory concentrations of green tea reduced the tolerance value of the tested isolates of Staphylococcus spp to high ionic strength of Na Cl and this effect was concentration-dependant. Consequently, it could be concluded that green tea showed a great effect on the tested virulence factors among the multiresistant clinical isolates under investigation

Microbial contamination and levels of heavy metals in packaged and loose varieties of some herbs sold in the markets

Sixty samples of six different herbs were collected from several markets in Cairo. They were subjected to microbiological analysis. It revealed that most of the loose varieties have worse microbiological quality than packaged except in case of coliform count in chamomile where both varieties revealed similar values [1500 MPN/g]. And in case of Aerobic Mesophilic Count of peppermint, packaged varieties revealed non significantly higher count [l.0xl0[5] compared to 3.9xl0[4] CFU/g in loose peppermint]. Among the thirty loose herbs samples, only a caraway sample was complying with Egyptian Standards regarding Aerobic Mesophilic Count; while seventeen out of the thirty packaged samples [56.6%] were complying with the standard. Despite contamination of all loose herbs varieties with both coliforms and fecal coliforms, the packaged varieties were contaminated only with coliforms and none of them were contaminated with fecal coliforms. Although coagulase positive Staphylococci were detected in all loose herbs varieties none of the packaged varieties were contaminated. All loose herbs varieties were contaminated with mold and yeast, counts were much higher than those encountered in the packaged varieties. Analysis of heavy metals revealed that all loose herbs samples showed significantly higher contamination with arsenic, lead and mercury levels than packaged varieties except in case of mercury in caraway. Heavy metals contents of both packaged and loose peppermint were complying with the Egyptian Standards. Moisture contents of loose herbs were significantly higher than that of the corresponding packaged varieties of the same herb except in case of anise where the difference was not statistically significant, moreover, packaged and loose varieties of cinnamon showed similar mean moisture content [9.0%]. Loose varieties showed significantly higher ash contents than that in the packaged varieties except in tilio. Moreover, packaged and loose chamomile showed more or less similar ash values [9.09 and 9.03%; respectively]. Moisture and ash levels of most samples of both packaged and loose varieties were complying with the Egyptian Standards

Vegetable-transmitted parasites among inhabitants of El-prince, Alexandria and its relation to housewives' knowldge and practices

In the present study, stool samples were obtained from 575 individuals from El-Prince, a suburban village of Alexandria, Egypt to detect helminthic eggs and protozoan cysts. The results showed that, 35.7% of the sample had at least one vegetable-transmitted parasite the highest percentage [46.4%] was in the age group of 6 to less than 15 years. The nematode Ascaris lumbricoides was the most prevalent in 18.4%, followed by the protozoan Giardia lamblia in 10.4%. Fasciola eggs were found in 2.4% of samples. Knowledge and practices of housewives concerning Fasciola and its source of transmission and methods of washing leafy vegetables was obtained through house-to-house interviews with 303 housewives. Knowledge that leafy vegetables were a source of Fasciola infection was indirectly proportional with age, better in younger housewives and those of secondary or higher education. More than half of the interviewed housewives [57.7%] washed leafy vegetables under running tap water and 32.7% soaked them in tap water. Only 9.6% soaked them in water mixed with a substance as vinegar, lemon juice or common salt. Only 5% of those who were infected with vegetable transmitted parasites washed vegetables by soaking in water with an added substance compared to 19.6% of parasite free housewives. Most of those adding a substance to soaking water [89.7%] used vinegar. Results of the study revealed that a serious and consistent effort through public health activities is essential to educate housewives about vegetable-transmitted parasites, their transmission and ways of prevention

Detection of coagulase positive staphylococci in meat products sold in Alexandria using two different media

Microbiological examination of 200 meat products collected from 30 supermarkets in Alexandria revealed that CHRO Magar Staph aureus yielded higher counts than Baird Parker medium that were significant in all examined products except sausage. The prevalence of coagulase positive staphylococci was 4%, moreover CHRO Magar Staph aureus showed higher recovery rate and specificity [87.5% and 98.9%; respectively] than Baird Parker medium [50.0% and 15.6%; respectively] during their detection. Sanitary evaluation of the supermarkets revealed that all of them were acceptable regarding prevention of bacterial growth parameter, although their mean score was only 55%. Avoidance of contamination parameter had the lowest mean score percent [15.6 +/- 27.3] with only about seven percent of the inspected supermarkets being acceptable. Although all recruited food handlers were apparently healthy, in few supermarkets, handlers were wearing clean light colored uniform [6.7%] and gloves [3.3%]. Despite the presence of hand washing basins in all supermarkets, few of them were provided with hot water [6.7%] and detergents were available in 30% of them. Improvement of the sanitary conditions under which meat products are handled in the supermarkets is a must, also, improving the selectivity of CHRO Magar Staph aureus in addition to both specificity and recovery rates of Baird Parker medium is recommended

Seroprevalence of hepatitis E virus infection amongst pediatric acute Leukemias at the national cancer institute in Egypt

Hepatitis E virus [HEV] is one of the important causes of hepatitis epidemics in the developing world. This study aimed to investigate the prevalence of HEV antibodies in pediatric acute leukemics. Setting: The pediatric service of the National Cancer Institute, Cairo University, Egypt. Subjects: One hundred and seventy five children, 88 newly diagnosed acute leukemic children and 87 healthy siblings of 42 of the patients as controls. ELISAtesting for anti-HEV IgM and anti-HEV IgG was done on the sera of the patients and controls. A higher exposure rate to HEV [IgG antibodies] was noticed in acute leukemia patients, 26/88 in comparison to 15/87, in the sibling control group. Acute HEV infection diagnosed by anti-HEV IgM Ab was higher in normal siblings [6%] compared to [2%] in leukemic children. Analysis showed that HEV seropositivity was seen mostly in leukemic children at preschool age [< 5 Y] and the exposure to HEV infection was higher among young adults [> 10 Y]. HEV seropositivity was higher among females leukemic children 15/26 [58%] compared to males 11/26 [42%]. Leukemic children living in rural area are exposed to a higher risk of hepatitis E infection [58%] compared to [42%] among urban population. Leukemic children with a previous history of blood transfusion showed significant increase in the seropositivity [69%] compared to [45%] in the non-transfused children. The data indicate a higher susceptibility of the children with acute leukemia for HEV infection. Ensuring a clean drinking water supply remains the best preventive strategy. Recombinant vaccines may be particularly useful for these patients

Handling of dairy products and its impact on their microbiological quality

A total of 18 dairy shops was randomly selected from different zones of Alexandria, where a sanitation checklist was filled. A total of 108 samples of dairy products [Domiati, fresh soft white, Romi cheese, raw milk and yoghurt] was collected as purchased. Also, 36 samples of each of empty polyethylene bags and rinses of milk measuring containers were collected. The study aimed to assess the handling of dairy products sold in dairy shops of Alexandria City and its impact on their microbiological quality. Floor parameter had the highest mean score%, while handling of the dairy products had the lowest. Moreover, all inspected shops showed acceptable grades concerning floor and hand washing parameters, while only eight shops were acceptable regarding the handling of dairy products. Raw milk had the highest mean aerobic mesophilic plate count, staphylococcal count, coliform count as well as mold and yeast count. The highest% of samples contaminated with coagulase and DNase positive staphylococci was found among raw and fresh white cheese samples; moreover, 83.3% and 47.2% of raw milk and yoghurt samples were contaminated with fecal coliforms, respectively. It was recommended to improve the sanitation of dairy shops through training the handlers and strengthening the inspection activities; also, the microbiological quality should be regularly assessed by responsible authorities