Survey on the Microbial Quality of Traditional Foods Sold by Street Vendors in Qatar

Research Article

Austin J Nutr Metab. 2014;1(2): 4.

Survey on the Microbial Quality of Traditional Foods Sold by Street Vendors in Qatar

Tahra Elobeid*, Hassan A Aziz, Reham Mousa and Amal Alzahiri

Department of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Qatar

*Corresponding author: Tahra Elobeid, Department of Health Sciences, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

Received: October 15, 2014; Accepted: December 08, 2014; Published: December 09, 2014

Abstract

During the past few years the traditional market of Qatar has become an attraction to many customers who eat from the numerous women street vendors selling Qatari traditional dishes. To gain an understanding on the safety of these street vended foods, we designed the study to test microbiological quality of 14 different Qatari foods sold in Souk Wagif, the main traditional market in Qatar. This study was conducted to mainly identify presence or absence of microbial pathogens. A total of 56 samples were purchased from 10 different street vendors and the samples were collected randomly on different days. The samples were tested for microbial contaminants at Central Food Laboratories, Doha, Qatar. The qualitative study was conducted using Real Time-PCR to screen for; Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and E. coli 0157:H7. Out of the 56 samples, only two samples “Biryani” and “Khabess” contained E. coli. However both samples tested negative for E. coli O157:H7. The microbial contamination of the Qatari traditional street vended foods was 3%. This result may be attributed to the food safety training requirement set by the regulatory authorities before issuing any license to food handlers in Qatar as well as the food inspection conducted by the Food Health Inspectors on a regular basis.

Keywords: Microbiological quality; Street vended food; Traditional dishes; Qatar

Introduction

Street foods are ready-to-eat foods and beverages prepared and/ or sold by vendors, especially in streets and other similar public places [1,2]. Street foods are known to be popular due to their accessibility, low cost, variety and nutritional value, however sometimes they are considered unsafe due to unacceptable handling practices of food servers. Street foods are mostly prepared and distributed in mobile and temporary shops that lack the major facilities and infrastructure required to ensure safe preparation of the foods [3]. The proliferation of street-food vendors is increasing because this business is very profitable and requires very low capitalization [4]. Nonetheless, many reports have shown that street vendors lack knowledge of food hygiene, thus they are unaware of basic food-safety issues [3].

Numerous reports have revealed the risks associated with consuming contaminated street-vended foods that have high levels of coliform bacteria and pathogenic bacteria, such as Escherichia coli, Salmonella spp., Staphylococcus aureus, Bacillus cereus, Clostridium perfringens, and Vibrio cholera [4-6]. In addition, the exposure to the above organisms could contribute to the increased prevalence of multi-drug resistance in these organisms posing a real danger to the public health of the general population [7,8].

Mosupye and Holy [9] indicated that street foods might increase health problems and these foods often were unsafe for human consumption. They studied 132 samples of street foods from two street vendors in South Africa and found a significant number E. coli spp. in these types of the foods. Cardinale et al. [10] pointed out that street foods were dangerous and could raise health risks. The investigators examined samples of foods from 148 street-restaurants in Dakar and found presence of harmful bacteria. The source was traced back to poor personal hygiene of the workers. They did not wash their hands, their clothes were filthy and they did not wash the vegetables before serving food to the customers. A study conducted by Hanashiro et al. [5] confirmed the findings of earlier research. His study was aimed to assess the microbiological quality of street foods selected from a restricted area in Sao Paulo, Brazil. About 35% of the samples tested were considered unsafe for human consumption. Another cross sectional study assessed the microbiological quality of local food items vended by the school-based street food vendors in Dhaka City [11]. Out of the 110 food samples collected for laboratory analysis, half of them (44.5%) were unsafe for human consumption. The study reflected the poor microbiological quality of the school-based street vended foods; thus indicating a health threat to the school children of Dhaka City. A similar study was conducted in in 2013 in Taichung, Taiwan, and Laguna, Philippines [12]. In the same study, different bacterial contamination patterns were observed in hot-grilled and cold-cooked street foods. The researchers noted that many of the samples were unsafe due to presence of high levels of pathogenic bacteria.

Most studies on street foods concluded that it could be harmful to health due to presence of harmful pathogenic microorganisms in foods. The common reason for the unacceptable microbiological quality was unhygienic food cooking and handling practices.

The phenomenon of street food vendors in Qatar is not popular when compared to other countries however there is a growing market for street vended foods due to the influx of work immigrants and tourists coming into Qatar. The street food vendors at the Souk Wagif are mainly sold by women who prepare the foods at home and then transport them to the market in insulated containers. The objective of this study was to obtain data on the microbiological quality of traditional foods sold in one of the most important markets in Qatar, Souk Wagif. The microorganisms to be analyzed were; Salmonella spp., Listeria monocytogenes, Escherichia coli and E. coli 0157:H7.

Materials and Methods

Study site and sampling

The qualitative study was conducted by the Department of Health Sciences, College of Arts and Sciences, Qatar University, Qatar in collaboration with Central Food Laboratories, Department of Food Safety and Environmental Health, Supreme Council of Health, Qatar. The food samples were collected from Soul Wagif. The duration of the study was 2 months. For this study, women, food vendors were randomly selected and the street foods were restricted to those prepared at home and transported to the market. The traditional composite dishes included in the study were 14 collected from 7 street vendors. The total of number of samples analyzed were 56 samples. Table 1 shows the list of the Qatari traditional foods included in this study. All these foods are cooked composite dishes.