TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title Page    –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         i

Certification –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         ii

Dedication   –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         iii

Acknowledgements         –         –         –         –         –         –         iv

Table of Contents  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         vi

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     Introduction –         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         1

CHAPTER TWO

2.1     Factors Enhancing Microbial foodborne outbreak   –         –         3

2.2     Microbial Contaminants in Prepared Food    –         –         –         7

2.2.1  Aerobic Mesophilic micro-organism   –         –         –         –         8

2.2.2  Lactic Acid Bacteria        –         –         –         –         –         –         9

2.2.3  Entero bacteriacea  –         –         –         –         –         –         –         11

2.2.4  Total and Fecal Coliforms         –         –         –         –         –         12

2.2.5  Escherichia coli     –         –         –         –         –         –         –         13

2.2.6  Staphylococcus aureus    –         –         –         –         –         –         15

2.2.7  Listeria monocytogenes   –         –         –         –         –         –         16

2.3     Risk factors affecting microbial safety of food        –         –         17

2.3.1  Hygienic food handles practices –         –         –         –         –         17

2.3.2  Cross-contamination        –         –         –         –         –         –         19

2.3.3  Food Storage         –         –         –         –         –         –         –         20

2.3.4  Training of food handles  –         –         –         –         –         –         22

CHAPTER THREE

3.1     Food borne Diseases        –         –         –         –         –         –         25

3.2     Health and Socio economic implication of Microbial

Contamination of foods   –         –         –         –         –         –         26

3.3     Intervention Strategies Against food borne outbreaks        –         29

3.4     Food Presentation Techniques from microbial

cross-contamination         –         –         –         –         –         –         34

CHAPTER FOUR: SUMMARY AND CONCLUSION

4.1     Summary/Conclusion      –         –         –         –         –         –         42

References

CHAPTER ONE

1.0     Introduction

Currently, there has been an increasing interest around food hygiene and safety, as well as around the incidence of food borne diseases because of the strict correlation with Public Health. In this respect, microbiological food contamination with pathogens microorganisms, their persistence, replication and/or toxin production has become one of the major concerns to consumers, food industries and regulatory agencies all around the world. Food microbial contamination can occur at any stage of the food chain and could be avoided by applying good manufacturing practices, Hazard Analysis Critical Control Point (HACCP) notions, raw material control, and maintenance of the cold chain at the industry and retail levels (Do Prado-Silva et al., 2022; Jaffee, 2019). It can be referred not just to the growth of undesired microbes but also to the production of toxic molecules resulting by their metabolism, such as mycotoxins (Potorti et al., 2020), or biofilm formation (Holban et al., 2020).

Tightly associated with microbial contamination is food losses due to spoilage or waste (Odeyemi et al., 2020). As result of the human population global growing, the food demand is constantly increasing. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations carried out a study revealing that one-third (1.3 billion tons per year) of food production for human consumption is lost due to spoilage or waste (FAO, 2019). The improper wastes management can represent a public health risk and cause environmental problems, such as diseases and air pollution (Tropea et al., 2022). Food-borne disease transmission has received more attention than food spoilage, due to the public heath resonance. However, food spoilage causes important economic losses, adverse food industry publicity, and diminution of human food supplies (Brancini, 2015). For these reasons, an appropriate food management is recognized as an essential prerequisite for sustainable development, also for the attainment of the global sustainability goals (SDGs 12 and 13) since it will allow for lower food waste generation, with a double advantage both from an economical and environmental point of view (Tropea, 2014).