Food safety performance and risk of food services from different natures and the role of nutritionist as food safety leader

Abstract

The objective of this study was to evaluate the food safety performance of food services and its associated factors. The study involved 84 food businesses in the city of Santos as follows: street food kiosks and beach kiosks (street food), commercial restaurants, hospitals and school meal services (institutional food services). A food safety checklist with 81 items was applied. The overall percentage of adequacy was lower in street food kiosk (49.7%) and beach kiosk (62.0%) than in restaurants (69.7%), hospitals (83.9%) and schools (86%). Institutional and commercial restaurants showed higher scores of food safety performance than street food services, mainly regarding risker practices. The variables positively associated with food safety performance in commercial restaurants were: presence of a nutritionist as leader and adequate structure. These results show that street food services need, in a mediate way, the implementation of new strategies and regulations to improve food safety. A nutritionist acting as food safety leader may improve the food safety performance at commercial restaurants.