An assessment of the hygiene level in animal product processing plants in Mauritius

Abstract

A study was carried out to assess hygiene level in the 20 local animal product processing plants.   Questionnaire based interviews with managers and food handlers gave an overview of perception of hygiene and practices related to it. Checklists using a scoring system, were designed for objective hygiene inspection. According to the checklist, plants and food handlers were classified as “outstanding”, “good”, “average”, “poor” and “very poor”. The plants were mainly large to medium scale and sold their products locally. Six out of the 20 plants had outstanding or good hygiene level as they satisfied most hygiene parameters. The remaining 14 plants had average to very poor hygiene level. This study showed that factors like hygiene training, hazard control systems and other good manufacturing practices affect the hygiene status of a plant. Major problem areas identified were waste disposal, provision of facilities to staff, hazard control, training in hygiene,  cleaning  frequency and lack of mandatory control. These could represent hazard to public health and lead to  financial losses. Some recommendations have been formulated at the industry’s level, at the institutional level and at the consumers’ level.

Keywords: Hygiene, animal product processing plants, checklists