Unidades produtoras de refeições dos meios de hospedagem de Maceió: avaliação dos requisitos de boas práticas na manipulação de alimentos

Abstract

Every consumer has the right to food that is safe and fit for consumption. Diseases transmitted by foods increase the costs of health care and of the investigation of outbreaks. They can be damaging to trade and tourism by reducing revenues thereby leading to unemployment, or through lawsuits. The food production chain is very critical in its various stages, and certainly is responsible to the larger outbreaks of foodborne diseases, arising in most cases from a deficiency in the facilities, the absence of control in the acquisition of raw materials and the lack of training of the food handlers, both in terms of hygiene and personal presentation in the aspects of reception, storage, preparation, maintenance and distribution of meals. The growth in providers of food services in Brazil is around 20% per annum, which implies changes and innovations arising from our own society, the production sectors, forms of practice, legal codes and quality control systems. Aiming at contributing to the quality of meals sold, this study discusses aspects related to Best Practices in Food Handling, applied to the Unidades Produtoras de Refeições of lodging facilities, specifically hotels, in Maceio, capital of Alagoas State. Criteria related to Best Practices in Food Handling was collected, in loco, by applying a prepared check list based on the relevant legislation of the Ministry of Health, which establishes procedures for best practice in food production so as to ensure the hygienic-sanitary conditions of food ready for consumption. This thesis is divided into two chapters, the first being a literature review which presents the relevant legislation, its criteria with respect to food handlers and the good practices to be implemented during the production process of the meals. The second chapter refers to a research study showing the correlation between outcome variables related to employees and production processes, in addition to ranking considering the size of the lodging facilities surveyed. The results showed that the lodging facilities, regardless of size, meet the criteria of the relevant legislation to a certain degree. Of medium to large hotels, classified in Group II, between 51% to 75% met the legal requirements; and the smaller facilities, in Group III, between 0% and 50% in the two aspects evaluated.