Segurança dos alimentos do comércio de rua do município de Belo Horizonte, MG

Abstract

Street food can pose a risk to consumer health due to the lack of food safety. The objective of this study was to characterize the socioeconomic profile and to evaluate the hygienic-sanitary conditions of the food street trade in Belo Horizonte - MG. This isa cross-sectional, quantitative, descriptive and observational study, based on the application of questionnaires, checklist by interviewers, and microbiological analysis of food (hot dogs, hamburgers and spaghetti) and vendor hands. A total of 135 street vendors were interviewed in 49 neighborhoods of the West, Central-South and Venda Nova regions with a significance of 95,0%. Street vendors ranged in age from 16 to 76 years, 51,5% female, 58,3% less than 11 years of schooling and was the main activity formost. 12,7% of the sites had a thermometer, 56,7% food storage was inadequate, 52,2% carried food at room temperature; 45.5% reused food leftovers, 51,9% did not have a water reservoir, 85,1% did not sanitize their hands after handling money. The coliform counts were higher in 33,3% of the evaluated foods, and 53,3% of the hands of the manipulators presented higher values for S. aureus. Greater oversight of food marketing sites and training for street vendors is needed.