Evaluation of Bacteriological Quality of Aircraft Food at The Jomo Kenyatta International Airport, Nairobi, Kenya.

Abstract

The production of aircraft meals can pose risks of global dimensions. In order to lay a foundation for assessing these high-risk foods, this descriptive cross sectional study sought to evaluate the microbiological quality of meals served on aircraft at the Jomo Kenyatta International Airport (JKIA), Nairobi in Kenya. Three hundred and sixty one meals were sampled under four categories of (i) Starter dishes such as hors deuver that require a fair amount of handling during preparation and which are served without reheating, (ii) Main courses, that are served hot, (iii) cold desserts; and (iv) Snack meals which include sandwiches. Isolation of microorganisms was carried out in the laboratory, enumerated and data analyzed. The antibiotic sensitivity profile of the microorganisms was also evaluated against twelve (12) antibiotics .In addition, a questionnaire was administered to assess demographic characteristics, assess food safety knowledge, practices and attitude. Statistical significance was set at p<0.05. The results revealed contamination of aircraft food at 85% from all food sampled. Cold meals were more contaminated (68.7%) than hot meals (16.3%). The only pathogenic microorganism isolated was Staphylococcus aureus that accounted for 1.2% of the foods sampled. The bacteria isolated were most sensitive to Kanamycin and Aztreonam both at 81.8%, while they were resistant to Ampicilin and Ampicilin at 81.2% and 84.1% respectively. In conclusion, hygiene officers, food handlers and airport health officers at the JKIA should improve and strengthen hygienic production of aircraft meals to avoid bacterial food contamination.