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Advisor(s)
Abstract(s)
In the Western countries, despite tight food safety
legislation, food poisoning episodes are still quite
frequent. According to the European legislation, it
is mandatory for all European member states the
annual reporting of information on food-borne
outbreaks. In Portugal, the National Institute of Health
(INSA) notifies each year the European Food Safety
Authority (EFSA) about the data of the foodborne
outbreaks occurred in Portugal, namely information
about the pathogenic microorganism responsible,
the food products involved and the places where the
contamination or consumption have occurred. The
aim of this research was to evaluate the Portuguese
consumer knowledge about food products commonly
responsible for poisoning outbreaks, and witch
pathogenic microorganisms are most associated to
those food poisoning episodes.
In 2017, the Department of Food and Nutrition
(DAN) of INSA, carried out laboratory research on 18
outbreaks of food-borne infections that occurred
in Portugal which caused 323 cases of illness and
involved 145 hospitalizations, with no deaths being
reported. Also, we were collecting information through
a questionnaire, which was disclosed in the google
forms online platform.
Ethical issues were respected in the design and
application of the questionnaire, and validated by
the CERNAS Research Centre. The questionnaire was
approved by the Ethics Committee at the Polytechnic
Institute of Viseu, in June 2021 with reference 52/
SUB/2021. The data was collected between June of 2021
and January of 2022, involving 350 adult participants
that voluntarily answered the questionnaire. Data
analysis was made using Excel.
In the EFSA report of 2017, a total of 5,079 foodborne
outbreaks were reported. In these events, Salmonella
spp. was the commonest detected agent, causing one
out of seven outbreaks. Also, Salmonella spp. in eggs
and in meat and meat products were identified as the
highest risk agent/food pairs. Concerning the place
where the food was prepared or consumed, 75% were
in public places (institutions, residential, canteens,
school bars, schools, colleges, kindergartens, day-care
centers, restaurants, hospitals, and nursing homes) and
25% at home, i.e. all the patients involved belonged to
the same household. The major foodborne pathogens,
associated food vehicles, include: Escherichia coli,
Listeria monocytogenes, Salmonella typhimurium, and
Staphylococcus aureus. Listeria monocytogenes is able
to grow at temperatures approaching 0 0 C, and is
responsible for outbreaks of listeriosis often associated
to the consumption of ready to eat meat, dairy and
fishery products.
The results show that consumers are quite well
informed about food contamination by pathogenic
microorganism. They consider products like eggs,
meat, and dairy products, as having the greatest risk
to the health of consumers and identify the salmonella
as the microorganism most associated to those
contamination.
Description
Keywords
Food poisoning Pathogenic microorganisms Portuguese consumer attitudes Chilled food Survey
Citation
Gonçalves JC, Guiné RPF, Djekic I, Smigic N (2023) Consumers’ purchasing habits and food poisoning risk - A portuguese survey. Journal of Hygienic Engineering and Design, 45: 127-133