Trade and safety issues of raw beef from the countryside of Bahia state, Brazil

Background: Brazil is one of the world's largest meat exporters. However, there is a paradox in this situation due to existing non-inspected meat trade and technical-sanitary failures in retail marketing. Design and methods: This study aimed at characterizing the issues of trade, food safety and quality of raw beef in the street market of a municipality in the state of Bahia. An exploratory, quantitative and census study was carried out, at 17 raw beef vending locations. A questionnaire was administered and meat samples were collected (n=34), which were submitted to a physicochemical assessment, color analysis and microbiological analyses.Results: Meat sellers were between 20 and 64 years of age, predominantly males (82.4%), with limited education and without professional training (64.7%). Medians for temperature and pH in the small butcher shops samples were 18.10ºC and 5.75 respectively, and 21.80ºC and 5.50, in small supermarkets samples. The difference in pH was significant (p<0.05). The filtration test suggested quality changes in 17.65% of the samples. No frauds were detected. Total coliform count medians were 4.90 and 4.78 log CFU/g, for the samples taken from butcher shops and supermarkets, respectively. E. coli was identified in approximately 40.0% of the samples. Salmonella spp. were confirmed in two samples collected in the butcher shops. There was a significant association between inadequate storage conditions and microorganism counts (p<0.02).Conclusions: The results evidenced a meat supply with preservation failures and non-compliance with hygiene requirements, constituting a consumers’ health hazard, not in line with an agro-exporting country model

Street food and child labor: reality on the beaches of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil | Comida de rua e trabalho infantil: realidade na orla marítima de Salvador, Bahia, Brasil

The objective of this study was to describe the reality of children and teenagers working as street food vendors on the beaches of Salvador, and to uncover the social, economic, and sanitary aspects of their work. This cross-sectional study administered semi-structured questionnaires to 275 street food vendors under the age of 18 working on 18 city beaches. Participants’ ages ranged from 5 to 17 years old, with a mean age of 13 years. Most vendors were males (71.3%), and 94.9% attended school. The most popular foods sold were queijo coalho, acarajé, and hard-boiled quail eggs. Most vendors had poor personal hygiene, although they considered hygiene important and recognized that street foods can cause disease. Some vendors (44.7%) cleaned the utensils daily. Few vendors (13.8%) admitted they did not wash their hands, and the remainder claimed to wash their hands two to five times a day with water or seawater, but this practice was not observed in the field. The results of this study confirm the presence of child and adolescent labor in the street food informal labor sector and substantiates the risk of street foods to consumers’ health due to vendors’ ignorance of hygiene principles. ================================================ Caracterizar a realidade de trabalho de crianças e adolescentes inseridos no segmento de comida de rua, na orla marítima de Salvador, revelando o aspecto social, econômico e sanitário do trabalho desenvolvido pelos vendedores infanto-juvenis. Realizou-se estudo transversal, com aplicação de questionários semiestruturados, junto a 275 vendedores de comida de rua, menores de 18 anos, em 18 praias da cidade. Os participantes tinham entre 5 e 17 anos, média de 13 anos, eram predominantemente meninos (71,3%) e 94,9% estudavam. Os alimentos mais vendidos compreenderam queijo coalho, acarajé e ovo de codorna cozido. A maioria dos vendedores não atendia a requisitos de higiene pessoal, embora considerassem a higiene importante e que os alimentos vendidos nas ruas poderiam veicular doenças. No que se refere à frequência de limpeza dos utensílios, 44,7% declararam lavá-los diariamente. Parte dos vendedores referiu não lavar as mãos (13,8%), enquanto os demais disseram lavar as mãos de duas a cinco vezes por dia apenas com água ou água do mar, embora esta prática não fosse observada em campo. Os resultados confirmam a inserção da mão de obra infanto-juvenil no segmento, com oferta variada de alimentos e apontam riscos à saúde dos consumidores, devido ao desconhecimento de princípios de higiene por parte dos vendedores