Evaluation the Safety and Quality of Ready-to-Eat Sandwiches: Short Communication

Introduction

One of the consequences of the lifestyle changes now days is the interaction between people and their foods which shows increases trends in eating of ready-to-eat foods (RTE) such as sandwiches [1]. Shawarma is a Middle Eastern Arabic typical style sandwiches or a kabab fast food that is popular worldwide, and it’s it is usually prepared from meat or chicken with bread and other ingredients of sandwiches such as salad. Due to its content of bread, certain microorganisms such as Bacillus sp. and several genera types of molds such as Rhizopus stolonifer, Neurospora sitophilie could be commonly found [2].

Sandwich ingredients, processing, handling and storage significantly contribute to sandwiches normal microbiological load which could risk its safety. It is quite accepted that food handlers might be carrying some pathogenic bacteria during the preparation of the sandwiches, besides improper cooking and storage temperatures which allow the growth of foodborne pathogens which that could lead to food poisoning outbreak similarly to any other food [3]. In fact, several bacterial species that normally causes foodborne diseases such as Salmonella sp., Escherichia coli O157:H7, Listeria sp., Shigella sp., Clostridium sp., and Campylobacter sp. were found in meat shawarma sandwiches [4].

Moreover, according to El-Fakhrany, et al. [5], found that out of 66 samples, chicken shawarma sandwiches were found with the highest mean values of mesophilic count e.g. 10.37 log10 CFU g−1 whereas, burger sandwiches were heavily loaded by with Enterobacteriaceae count e.g. 6.67 log10 CFU g−1. As it was reported by Jang, et al. [6], 0.2% of 1120 samples were tested positive for Salmonella sp. The aim of the study was to evaluate the microbial safety and quality of different type of sandwiches served different cafes.

Results and Discussion

Table 1 shows the mean values of total aerobic bacterial count in different sandwiches types which could be considered as an indicator of microbial quality of foods. Meat sandwiches showed the highest total bacterial count while the chicken shawarma sandwiches showed the lowest total microbial count. Table 2 shows the mean values of Enterobacteriaceae counts. As it can be seen, the highest Enterobacteriaceae count was found in meat sandwiches and the lowest was found in chicken sandwiches. According to the Food Standards Australia and New Zealand (FSANZ) [10], which limits a total bacterial count for fully cooked sandwiches with salads to be < 6.0 log10 CFU g−1 as satisfactory and a count of > 6.0 log10 CFU g−1 - < 7.0 log10 CFU g−1 as marginal limit, most of sandwich types were found at satisfactory level in the current study except meat sandwiches which were found to be the in a marginal level. This high microbial count could be attributed to the microbial contamination of different ingredients of the sandwiches such as salads as well as the degree of sandwiches handling.

Enterobacteriaceae count is considered as a good indicator of microbial to evaluate the hygienic status in food preparation. Moreover, the presence of Enterobacteriaceae is an indicator for intestinal and fecal contaminations either directly or indirectly from food handlers or sandwich ingredients and some the Enterobacteriaceae groups are pathogenic that might cause severe foodborne diseases (El-Fakhrany, et al., 2019). According to FSANZ, Enterobacteriaceae count > 4.0 log10 CFU g−1 is considered as unsatisfactory, > 2.0 log10 CFU g−1 < 4.0 log10 CFU g−1 as marginal and < 2.0 log10 CFU g−1 as satisfactory. Based on these criteria, almost all sandwich types in the current study were found at marginal level except normal chicken sandwiches which were found at satisfactory level from Table 2. It could be understood from these results that most of the sandwiches were either exposed to the microbial contamination prior to preparation or cooked and handled at improper temperature and handled at unhygienic practices. In comparison with other studies, the total bacterial count Table 3: Detection of Salmonella sp. in different sandwiches.

in chicken shawarma sandwiches in the current study was higher than that was found in Saudi Arabia study by Alharbi, et al. [11] and Ahmed, et al. [12]. However, our findings of chicken shawarma total bacterial count closely agreed with that were found in Egypt by El Zekaty, et al. [13]. In other sandwich types, total bacterial count in normal chicken sandwiches was lower than that was found in Bangladesh by Hasan [14]. The discrepancy in total bacterial count among studies could be attributed mainly to the initial bacterial count in sandwich raw materials, cooking temperature and hygienic status of sandwiches handling after preparation. For instance, sandwiches raw chicken and salads possibly contributed to vary the bacterial count among the sandwiches in the previous studies. Salmonella sp. was suspected in meat sandwiches which represented 10% of the total sandwiches (Table 3). Although, Salmonella sp. was not confirmed, vehicles such as food handlers could contribute to this pathogen incidence in foods [15].

Conclusion

In general, most of the sandwiches were found at the satisfactory microbial quality level with an exception of meat sandwiches. Moreover, most of the sandwiches were found at the marginal level of contamination and hygienic status with an exception of normal sandwiches. Salmonella sp. was suspected in 10% of the total sandwiches. This study showed the need for more studies to clarify the microbial safety and quality and urged to strictly implement of food safety laws.