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Annan M, Sakr S, Alaouie Z, Salla M, Sheet I, Al Khatib A. The Knowledge and Practices Toward Food Safety Measures at Home in the Lebanese Community. Soc Work Public Health 2024; 39:297-312. [PMID: 38426551 DOI: 10.1080/19371918.2024.2323697] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 03/02/2024]
Abstract
Hygienic measures practiced at home are highly related to the occurrence of food-borne diseases during food production, storage, and handling. Contaminated food remains a major cause of several diarrheal diseases, hospitalizations, and spikes in medical expenses. In our current study, we aimed to assess the knowledge of food safety and the food safety and hygiene practices at home among the Lebanese population. A cross-sectional study was conducted through an online questionnaire including two sections. The first section included socio-demographic characteristics of participants, whereas the second section included questions related to practices and knowledge about food safety, divided into five parts; personal hygiene practices, dry and cold storage, sanitizing and cleaning and food intoxication. A total of 1101 Lebanese above 18 years participated and provided their responses to the questionnaire. Overall, the majority of participants had fair knowledge about food safety where 96.8% of the participants answered correctly about preventing microbial growth on food. 77.9% of those participants acquired their knowledge about food safety from articles, workshops, or the internet. Moreover, females, people with children and those who cook for themselves scored significantly higher than others (68.8, 70.6, and 70%, respectively). In comparison to younger participants (67.8%), older participants (50+ and 30-49) scored higher at 69.7% and 68.9%, respectively. Higher scores were obtained for questions related to storing dried foods/meat and poultry products with percentages 91.4 and 87.8%, respectively. However, lower scores were noticed on questions related to washing raw chicken before handling and storing eggs (9.7 and 12.3%, respectively). Altogether, our results revealed the need for directed food safety awareness campaigns at the national level to educate the Lebanese community about domestic food handling practices. We believe these campaigns can significantly reduce related diseases and hospitalizations.
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Affiliation(s)
- Malak Annan
- Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Samer Sakr
- Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Zeinab Alaouie
- Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Mohamed Salla
- Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Imtithal Sheet
- Department of Biological and Chemical Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Ali Al Khatib
- Department of Nutrition and Food Sciences, School of Arts and Sciences, Lebanese International University, Beirut, Lebanon
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Ramakrishnan V, Goveas LC, Prakash M, Halami PM, Narayan B. Optimization of conditions for probiotic curd formulation by Enterococcus faecium MTCC 5695 with probiotic properties using response surface methodology. J Food Sci Technol 2014; 51:3050-60. [PMID: 26396297 PMCID: PMC4571218 DOI: 10.1007/s13197-012-0821-x] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Revised: 08/11/2012] [Accepted: 08/16/2012] [Indexed: 10/27/2022]
Abstract
Enterococcus faecium MTCC 5695 possessing potential probiotic properties as well as enterocin producing ability was used as starter culture. Effect of time (12-24 h) and inoculum level (3-7 % v/v) on cell growth, bacteriocin production, antioxidant property, titrable acidity and pH of curd was studied by response surface methodology (RSM). The optimized conditions were 26.48 h and 2.17%v/v inoculum and the second order model validated. Co cultivation studies revealed that the formulated product had the ability to prevent growth of foodborne pathogens that affect keeping quality of the product during storage. The results indicated that application of E. faecium MTCC 5695 along with usage of optimized conditions attributed to the formation of highly consistent well set curd with bioactive and bioprotective properties. Formulated curd with potential probiotic attributes can be used as therapeutic agent for the treatment of foodborne diseases like Traveler's diarrhea and gastroenteritis which thereby help in improvement of bowel health.
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Affiliation(s)
- Vrinda Ramakrishnan
- />Department of Food Microbiology, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, 570 020 India
| | - Louella Concepta Goveas
- />Department of Food Microbiology, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, 570 020 India
| | - Maya Prakash
- />Sensory Science Department, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, 570 020 India
| | - Prakash M. Halami
- />Department of Food Microbiology, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, 570 020 India
| | - Bhaskar Narayan
- />Department of Meat, Fish and Poultry Technology, CSIR-Central Food Technological Research Institute, Mysore, 570 020 India
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Kanj SS, Kanafani ZA, Shehab M, Sidani N, Baban T, Baltajian K, Dakdouki GK, Zaatari M, Araj GF, Wakim RH, Dbaibo G, Matar GM. Epidemiology, clinical manifestations, and molecular typing of salmonella typhi isolated from patients with typhoid fever in Lebanon. J Epidemiol Glob Health 2014; 5:159-65. [PMID: 25922325 PMCID: PMC7320491 DOI: 10.1016/j.jegh.2014.07.003] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/05/2013] [Revised: 07/13/2014] [Accepted: 07/17/2014] [Indexed: 11/17/2022] Open
Abstract
The objective of this study was to examine the epidemiology and the clinical manifestations of typhoid fever as well as the susceptibility and strain relatedness of Salmonella typhi isolates in Lebanon from 2006 to 2007. A total of 120 patients with typhoid fever were initially identified from various areas of the country based on positive culture results for S. typhi from blood, urine, stools, bone marrow and/or positive serology. Clinical, microbiological and molecular analysis was performed on cases with complete data available. These results indicated that drinking water was an unlikely mode of transmission of the infection. Despite increasing reports of antimicrobial resistance among S. typhi isolates, the vast majority of these isolates were susceptible to various antibiotic agents, including ampicillin, cephalosporins, quinolones, and trimethoprim/sulfamethoxazole. Molecular analysis of the isolates revealed a predominance of one single genotype with no variation in distribution across the geographical regions.
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Affiliation(s)
- Souha S Kanj
- Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon.
| | - Zeina A Kanafani
- Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Marwa Shehab
- Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Experimental Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Nisreen Sidani
- Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Tania Baban
- Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Kedak Baltajian
- Department of Internal Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | | | | | - George F Araj
- Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Rima Hanna Wakim
- Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Ghassan Dbaibo
- Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
| | - Ghassan M Matar
- Center for Infectious Diseases Research, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon; Department of Experimental Pathology, Microbiology and Immunology, American University of Beirut Medical Center, Beirut, Lebanon
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