MEAT PRODUCTS MICROBIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION AND NUTRITIONAL QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK DEVELOPED FOR

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MEAT PRODUCTS MICROBIOLOGICAL CONTAMINATION AND
NUTRITIONAL QUALITY MONITORING NETWORK DEVELOPED
FOR ROMANIA

• Ioana-Rodica Lupsa1, Iulia Neamtiu2, Aurel Goia1,
  Vasile Ostafe3, Emilian Damian Popovici1, Daniela
  Tulhina1
• 1 Institute of Public Health, Timisoara, Romania
• 2 Environmental Health Center, Cluj-Napoca,
  Romania
• 3 West University, Timisoara, Romania

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BACKGROUND

• The global food safety strategy of WHO includes
  as a main goal reducing of health and social
  burden of foodborne diseases also by surveillance
  systems.
• In this regard the Ministry of Public Health in
  Romania initiated national programs aiming to
  protect the population and prevent outbreaks of
  diseases related to environmental risk factors,
  by developing surveillance methodologies.

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ROMANIA with 42 counties / PAHs (administrative
and control units)
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OBJECTIV

• Institute of Public Health Timisoara (IPHT)
  developed a monitoring system for meat products
  regarding their
• nutritional quality,
• microbiological contaminates and
• diseases risk.

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OBJECTIV

• in order to establish a local, regional and
  national
• network and
• a database
• to be used in
• food risk assessment for an evidence-based
  national control strategy,
• as well as to perform capacity building for the
  Public Health Authorities (PHAs) in all the 42
  counties in Romania, involved in the study.

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METHODOLOGY

• IPHT designed a web-based methodology that was
  applied by all 42 PHAs (trained), consisting in
• data collection - questionnaires collecting
  information about the hygienic conditions on the
  entire food chain
• meat products samples analysis to establish
  nutritional quality and microbiological
  contamination,
• report - using an informational system (for each
  county) and
• communication of harmonized data.

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RESULTS

• Data from the questionnaire revealed the
  unacceptable figures
• 15-18 of the sanitation testes, most of them
  (59-67) at the equipments and working surfaces
  and
• only 42-63 of the meat plants had a functional
  HACCP system (not mandatory for Romania at that
  time).

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RESULTS

• 39-48 of the 23,385 collected samples had
  unacceptable nutritional values for at least one
  parameter
• protein content bellow or above the standard
  limits,
• fat content above the limits and
• moister above the limits.
• protein content with low nutritional value
  animal protein substituted by vegetal protein
  (soy and peas extracts) or animal protein with
  low EAA content (collagen tissues).

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RESULTS

• Data from questionnaires revealed the use of
  ingredients which decreased the nutritional value
  of the meat products
• starch increases perishability, respectively
  increases the microbiological risk
• collagen tissues - tendon, cartilage,
  aponeuroses
• MDM mechanical deboned meat (poultry or pork
  not allowed any more).

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Average protein content in sausages (min 10)
during 2001-2004, in the 42 counties
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Average fat content in sausages (max 28) during
2001-2004, in the 42 counties
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Average moisture content in sausages (max 68)
during 2001-2004, in the 42 counties
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RESULTS

• Microbiological contamination has been identified
  in 12-18 of the samples
• most frequent types of pathogenetic bacteria were
  coliforms (up to 88) and E. Coli (up to 85)
• other identified microbiological contaminants
  were Bacillus Cereus (up to 56),
  coagulase-positive Staphilococcus (up to 28),
  sulfite reducing Clostridia (up to 18) and
  Salmonella (up to 10).

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RESULTS

• Most frequently contaminated assortments were
• forcemeat gt meat balls gt sausages prepared from
  swine entrails.
• Responsible for foodborne diseases outbreaks due
  to contaminated meat products consumption were
• Salmonella followed by
• E. Coli followed by
• coagulase-positive Staphilococcus.

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Number of E. Coli in sausages (max 1/g) during
2001-2004, in the 42 counties
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Number of coliforms in sausages (max 10/g) during
2001-2004, in the 42 counties
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Number of Salmonella in sausages (0/g) during
2001-2004, in the 42 counties
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CONCLUSIONS

• We consider that the development of such a
  network could be sustainable and useful for a
  gradual introduction of a unitary, harmonized
  surveillance system of the manufacturing
  conditions, nutritional value and microbiological
  contamination (integrated food safety network)
  through local, regional and national evaluations
  of health risks related to meat products
  consumption.

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CONCLUSIONS

• It can detect faults and needs and provide with a
  database to support MPH in taking health-related
  decisions in these matters, ensuring adequate
  resources to establish and strengthen the food
  safety programs and national food safety plan.

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• THANH YOU FOR YOUR ATTENTION !