Sanitary status of public school food services in Maceió (Alagoas, Brazil), 2013

Abstract

The risk of foodborne illnesses is related to incorrect food handling practices and food service infrastructure and equipment. This study aimed to assess the sanitary status of the food services of public schools in Maceió. The services of 40 of 121 schools were chosen by simple random sampling. The assessment used a good-practices checklist containing all of the rules in Resolution 216/04 of the National Sanitary Surveillance Agency. The possible answers were "in compliance" and "not in compliance," which were then considered to determine the compliance of the service with the above-mentioned Resolution. The services were classified as: critical (≤ 30%), unsatisfactory (31 to 49%), regular (50 to 69%), satisfactory (70 to 89%), and excellent (≥ 90%). Not one service achieved regular, satisfactory, or excellent compliance; 23 (57.5%) and 17 (42.5%) presented with unsatisfactory and critical compliance, respectively. The main problems were bad infrastructure and poor food-handling practices. The services do not comply with the norms for safe food production. This situation demands urgent action from the professionals and managers.