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IMPORTANCE OF HYGIENIC PRACTICE OF RETAIL MEAT WORKERS AND THEIR IMPACT ON WORKERS’ HEALTH AND FUNGAL CONTAMINATION OF FROZEN MEAT

ALSHIMAA A. HASSANIEN ¹ and NAHED MAHMOUD ABDEL-AZIZ ²

¹ Department of Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Egypt.

² Department of Food Hygiene, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Egypt.

Received: 21February 2017;       Accepted: 20 March2017

INTRODUCTION

Food contaminated with fungi leads to economic losses to food producers and consumers. Yeasts and molds can invade and grow on several types of foods such as grains, beans, fruits before harvesting, meat and processed food during storage. Fungal growth in food can be detectable based on fungus and food type as well as the invasion degree; food may be slightly spoiled, severely spoiled or decomposed completely. Food contaminated with fungus show either cotton mycelium, spots with different sizes and color or slim but in some instances appear normal and contamination was detected by mycological examination (Tournas et al., 2001).

Fungal contamination is one of the most important pathogen caused spoilage of meat. It is occurred during animal slaughtering, meat transportation, handling and processing, as well as using of contaminated utensils and equipment (Abd El-Rahman et al., 1995). Spoilage of food was enhanced in temperature of 10 - 35ºC, at pH 2 - 9, moisture and unsanitary measures obtained by the workers in meat shops causing bacteria, yeast and mould growth (Jakobsen and Narvhus, 1996).

Corresponding author: Dr. ALSHIMAA A. HASSANIEN

E-mail address: hassanien2008@yahoo.com

Present address:Department of Zoonoses, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Sohag University, Egypt

Freezing temperatures dose not kill all human pathogens especially mould which resist the cold temperature. Yeast and molds originated mainly from contaminated water and soil. Human hazards caused by yeast and moulds represented in production of mycotoxin, skin lesion, eye affection and allergy (Averkieva, 2009 and Wafaa, 1995). This work was designed to detect the hygienic practice taken by retail meat workers in handling and processing of meat as well as the hazards caused by fungi to workers. In addition, examine the fungal contamination of frozen meat. 

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Data and samples collection

Human samples

A total of 49 hand swabs were randomly collected from workers in different retail meat shops in Sohag Governorate. Data were collected from workers after their consent including health status (apparently healthy or symptomatic), hygienic practice during working and handling of food (periodical hand washing, periodical washing of articles and utensils, continuous freezing and thawing of frozen meat).

Meat samples

A total of 73 samples of frozen meat were randomly purchased from different retail meat shops in Sohag Governorate. Meat samples were homogenized with sterile saline in a sterile blender and the homogenate was used for mycological examination.

Isolation and identification of fungi

Hand swabs and prepared frozen meat samples were cultured on Potato dextrose agar supplemented with antibiotics, and then incubated at 25ºC for 2-7days. Fungal growth was morphologically and microscopically identified.

RESULTS

Table1: Health status and hygienic practice of retail meat workers and factors associated with fungal infection.

Table 2: Frequency distribution of fungal species among retail meat workers and frozen meat samples.

Photos 1- 5:  Some fungal species under light microscope stained with lactophenol cotton blue stain

DISCUSSION

The results in Table 1 revealed that 35 (71.4%) of retail meat workers were apparently healthy and 14 (28.6%) showed lesions in their hands as peeling of skin in the palm of hands, around the nail and between fingers. Some workers suffered from Paronychia and hand eczema. The majority of workers did not wear gloves during meat handling (63.3%), also, some workers preferred to wash their hands periodically (32.7%). Although washing hands is a good practice, keeping hands wet for long time increased the chance of fungal growth. So, wearing gloves is better as it keeping hands dry and prevent fungal invasion into the blood in case of  skin lesion affection.

Workers used to clean their shops, articles and utensils only with water and they lack the knowledge of using disinfectant, as well as most of them wearing dirty clothes. Some articles as meat mincing machine was cleaned only once daily, this practice leads to accumulation of organic matters for long time inside the machine and enhancing the growth of pathogens. Moreover, may disseminate theses pathogens to other minced meat and reducing its quality (Cenci-Goga et al., 2005).  

Concerning freezing and thawing of meat, most of workers (77.5%) have this habit. This explained by that frozen meat mostly sold as minced or sliced meat; therefore upon request, workers get it out of a freezer and left it at room temperature to thaw to be easy for mincing and cutting, then they return it back to deep freeze. Holding food at room temperatures exposed to air, dust and microorganisms as yeast, mold and bacteria causing rapid food spoilage. Microbial growth in food depends on pH level, chemical structure of food and environmental conditions as relative humidity and temperature (Ashrae, 2006).

The most common fungal zoonoses were ranged from mild (self limited) to fatal diseases especially in individuals with poor immunity. Among these fungi; some species of Penicillum, Candida, Cladosporium, Fusarium, Aspergillus, Cryptococcus,Rhodotroula and Alternaria. Penicillum species are soil saprophytes, upon entry into the body of the host, it secretes phosphatase enzyme which enabling them to survive in the macrophage. It affects different organs as lung, liver, spleen, skin and bone marrow. The severity of infection associated with the health status of the host (Samanta, 2015), while pathogenic species of Cladosporium causing symptoms as skin lesion, allergy, eye affection, sinusitis, pulmonary affection and asthma (CDC, 2015).

Candida species are commensally inhabit the digestive tract and vagina of healthy individuals. It is responsible for onychia with paronychia especially for those hands immersed for long time in water. Although candidiasis mainly limited to mucocutaneous form, systemic infection may occur through hematogenous transmission (Acha and Szyfres, 2006). Whereas, some Fusarium species cause superficial lesions as keratitis, locally invasive lesions, or disseminated infections. Also cause allergic diseases and mycotoxicosis in humans and animals after ingestion of contaminated food by toxin producing Fusarium species (Nelson et al., 1994).

Aspergillus species was saprophyte on air, soil and vegetables. Human and animals get infected by inhalation of fungal spores or ingestion of mycotoxins which produced by different Aspergillus species. After inhalation, conidia of fungal spores were engulfed by tracheal and nasal epithelial cells but most of them are killed by phagolysosome. Lung injuries act as a major factor for invasion of Aspergillosis. Therefore, it is common in patients with chronic diseases as tuberculosis, cancer and diabetes, also in those with prolonged antibiotic usage especially for lung diseases and in hematological malignancy patients. Occupationally exposed persons to fungal spores for long time were also more susceptible to Aspergellosis infection (Torres et al., 2003).

Table (2) illustrated the fungal species which isolated from human swabs and frozen meat samples. The results indicated that F.oxysporum were the most prominent fungal species in workers hands with percentage of 20.4%, followed by A.niger (18.4%), P. expansium, Cladosporium cladosporioides and Aspergillus flavus (14.3%), G. candidum and Candida species (12.2%), P. chrysogenum, Aspergillus fumigates, Cryptococcus species and P.jensii (10.2%) and P. corylophilum (8.2%). This result is lower than the results reported by Allam et al. (2016). This difference may be associated with hygienic practice taken by the workers, the type of handled food and weather temperature. Presence of different fungal species in human hands may affect on the human health especially in case of systemic mycoses infection. Also, disseminate the infection to all utensils and articles as well as to the handled meat.

Cryptococcus inhabits avian excreta and transmitted to human through inhalation or precutaneous route (Samanta, 2015). Their presence in retail meat shops explained by that most of shops have live poultry cages such as pigeon, chicken, rabbits and duck. Poultry excreta were loaded with fungi which disseminated with air and contaminate all utensils and articles inside the shop as well as workers hands. Up to 80 species of Alternaria, Alternaria alternata and Alternaria infectoria are the most common human pathogens. It causes asthma, sinusitis, pneumonia, keratitis and granulomatous lung disease in immunocompromised patients (Santiago et al., 2010).

Concerning fungal contamination of frozen meat, Cladosporium cladosporioides represented the highest contamination rate (26%), followed by P. corylophilum (21.9%), Aspergillus fumigatus (16.4%), Candida species and Aspergillus niger (15.1%), P. expansium and F. oxysporium (13.7%), Aspergillus flavus (12.3 %), P. chrysogenum and G. candidum (8.2 %), and Cryptococcus species (6.8%). As reported by Campbell et al. (2013); Cladosporium cladosporioides can grow in temperature ranged from – 10 ºC to – 3 ºC and P. corylophilum grow well in – 5ºC, so this explain their presence in frozen meat with highest contamination rate. Our results incompatible with the results of Mansour et al. (1994) and Nahed, (1999) who detected Aspergillus species as a predominant fungal species in frozen meat and El-Katieb and Abd El-Rahman, (1989) who detect Penicillum species as a predominant mold species. This diversity may be related to the origin of the imported frozen meat; also, meat may be contaminated during transportation for long time under unsuitable temperature.

As reported by Mansour et al. (1991); freezing temperature up to - 8ºC didn’t kill most of fungi species and not stop their growth. Also, contamination of frozen meat may be caused by improper handling and processing in retail meat shops; our results reported that most of workers not follow the hygienic practice during handling of meat; in addition, presence of live poultry in meat shops will increase the chance of fungal contamination from the excreta of these birds. Therefore, workers in retail meat shops should be subjected to regular health and veterinary inspection and live poultry should not be sold in retail meat shops.

CONCLUSION

Workers in retail meat shops should follow strict hygienic measures during handling and processing of frozen meat. Workers should wear gloves during meat handling, store frozen meat at a suitable temperature and prevent freezing and thawing of meat to stop fungal growth, also clean and disinfect all articles and utensils.

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