Nowadays, the incidence rate of foodborne disease has increased and become one of the global burdens affecting all individual ages in South East Asia region. Foodborne disease is responsible for mortality and morbidity worldwide thus affecting socio-economic and quality of life. Major causes of foodborne hazards diseases include diarrheal and invasive infectious disease agent, helminthes and chemicals. However, in developing countries, data and record is insufficient with poor surveillance systems leading to incomplete information on the real burden of foodborne disease. The introduction of Actor Network Theory (ANT) as tools for assessing and analyzing the food safety issues has drawn attention from various researcher as it is proven to be able to point out and identify the human and non human actors which is directly and contingently involved. The interaction between the actors such as a worker in an organization, student in school, and peoples in public provide information that can be used to minimize the risk of foodborne disease. The ultimate use of ANT is it helps the researcher to draw a framework of the source of contamination, agent responsible, factors involved, and idea to control the spread.
Keropok lekor is an important fish product in Malaysia. The customer demands for keropok lekorhave been increasing. This study was conducted to analyze the microbiological quality of keropok lekor in every stage of its processing, namely mincing, mixing, kneading, boiling and cooling. When processing keropok lekor, the boiling of keropok lekor at 100°C for 10 min reduced the Total Plate Counts (4.38±0.47 log10 cfu/g), psychrotrophic counts (2.00 ± 0.00 log10 cfu/g), mesophilic sporeformer counts (1.26 ± 0.34 log10 cfu/g) and total coliform counts (1.71±0.51 log Most Probable Number/g) significantly (p>0.05). However, the microbial counts were found to increase significantly (p
Maintaining the quality of bakery products is vital for consumers’ health and preference. Since bakery products are intermediate-moisture foods, spoilage by moulds is among the major causes of shelf life reduction. In the present work, the effects of substituting banana purée with banana powder to extend the shelf life of banana cakes were investigated over a ten-day storage period. Three types of banana cake were made using banana purée (control), laboratory-formulated powder (LP), and commercial powder (CP). Results indicated a significant difference in moisture contents and water activities between all treatments in which LP and CP exhibited mould growth at day 9 compared to day 5 in control. For fungal load, LP yielded the lowest CFU by the end of storage period. Although significant differences in texture and appearance were noted between all treatments, untrained sensory panellists scored LP as acceptable. Further works are therefore warranted to assess LP’s commercialisation potentials.
This study aimed to investigate the susceptibility pattern of Staphylococcus aureus isolated from
human and environmental surfaces in a research laboratory. A total of 320 samples from nostril
(n=80), hand (n=80), door knob (n=80) and table surface (n=80) were collected for 16 weeks,
before and after work. A total number of 256 samples were found positive for Staphylococcus
aureus. Out of 80 randomly selected isolates, 50 (62.5%) isolates were resistant to methicillin
(MRSA). Hence, the precautionary measures should be taken on self and environmental
hygiene as MRSA may be transferred from humans and environmental surfaces.