Prevention of travel-related foodborne diseases: Microbiological risk assessment of food handlers and ready-to-eat foods in northern Italy airport restaurants

The focus of this study was to assess the hygienic standards of 44 foodservice facilities located in three Italian International Airports (with an output ranging from 100 to 800 meals a day), by monitoring the microbiological quality and safety of foods ready for consumption (n = 773), food contact surfaces (n = 302), and food handlers (n = 287). The hygienic standard of surfaces was sufficiently high. Only 7.9% of surfaces did not conform with advisory standards in terms of total coliforms, and 2.6% were found to be contaminated with Enterococcus spp. at >= 1.0 log(10) CFU/cm(2). The hygienic standard of washed and disinfected hands of food workers was not adequately high: the total bacterial count and coagulase positive Staphylococci exceeded the satisfactory limit in 8.4% and 3.5% of cases, respectively. The microbial analysis of foods examined showed an absence of Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella spp. Food sample analyses highlighted a percentage of samples that did not conform to microbial reference standards: Staphylococcus aureus non-conforming percentages ranged from 2.3% for fully cooked food to 9.2% for raw fruit and vegetables; Escherichia coli, from 0.0% for raw fruit and vegetables to 6.1% for cooked and uncooked foods; total coliforms from 14.3% for fully cooked food to 79.8% for cooked and uncooked food. In conclusion, the results suggest that more effort is needed in the application of HACCP principles. In order to prevent travel-related foodborne infections, various changes in the timing of food preparation and holding temperatures are needed, together with further training of food handlers. (C) 2012 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.