Verification of hazard analysis and critical control point in hotels and catering units: evaluation of the cleaning and disinfection procedures and microbiological monitoring of hot and cold meals

The aim of the present study is to assess the efficacy of the methods used in a HACCP system by measuring the Total Viable Count (TVC) and Coliforms, after cleaning and disinfecting the surfaces used and also by monitoring TVC and enterobacteriaceae of hot and cold meals. In order to evaluate the appropriateness of the surfaces used, samples were obtained from kitchens of 37 Greek hotels/resorts, all of which operated a documented HACCP safety management scheme, while the samples of hot and cold meals were selected from the menu of a catering unit and collected from the actual point of hot and cold dishes banquette at the start time (time 0) and after 4 hours. The developed colonies were counted. The results showed that only 13.5% of the hotels presented surfaces without any TVC or coliforms and 86.5% of the hotels had surfaces with TVC or coliforms or both above the limits. However, 75.8% of the total surfaces exam ined were acceptable for TVC and 81.9% of the surfaces examined were coliforms. Our microbiological monitoring of food showed that the TVC content of hot meal samples after 4 hours of display (above 60˚C) was not significantly dif ferent from the TVC content of the aforementioned samples at time 0, while in cold meals TVC and enterobacteriaceae content had significantly risen after 4 hours of display (below 5˚C).Conclusively, insufficient application of disinfection and ineffective surface and equipment cleaning programs were found. Additionally, cold meals are more vulnerable than hot meals in developing TVC and enterobacteriaceae.