“Ready-to-eat” is defined as the status of the food being ready for immediate consumption. For some ready-toeat foods, legal microbiological criteria exist, and in addition different national guidelines are available to complement legally enforceable standards. Control charts are used to statistically study results of a manufacturing process over a period of time with the aim to demonstrate if the process is under control. The current research examined the microbiological quality of 177 ready-to-eat food samples in the catering cooperative group “La Cascina,” in Latium, Italy, during a period of one year (2014–2015). Contamination trends were reported as individual control charts that were used to identify out-of-control data, address appropriate corrective actions, and finally promote quality improvements by setting customized dynamic control limits. Meals were individually analyzed using the alternative Micro Biological Survey method, in parallel with the conventional plating method, in order to propose an efficient, simplified, and suitable approach that could be useful for small industries to monitor constantly food quality.
Arienzo, A., Stalio, O., Losito, F., Murgia, L., Perrone, I., Biondi, A., et al. (2020). A Simplified and Affordable Trend Analysis to Improve Microbiological Quality of Ready-to-Eat Food Products. FOOD STUDIES, 10(3), 1-12 [10.18848/2160-1933/CGP].
A Simplified and Affordable Trend Analysis to Improve Microbiological Quality of Ready-to-Eat Food Products
Alyexandra ArienzoInvestigation
;Ottavia StalioInvestigation
;Francesca LositoInvestigation
;Lorenza MurgiaInvestigation
;Gianfranco TarsitaniConceptualization
;Giovanni Antonini
Conceptualization
2020-01-01
Abstract
“Ready-to-eat” is defined as the status of the food being ready for immediate consumption. For some ready-toeat foods, legal microbiological criteria exist, and in addition different national guidelines are available to complement legally enforceable standards. Control charts are used to statistically study results of a manufacturing process over a period of time with the aim to demonstrate if the process is under control. The current research examined the microbiological quality of 177 ready-to-eat food samples in the catering cooperative group “La Cascina,” in Latium, Italy, during a period of one year (2014–2015). Contamination trends were reported as individual control charts that were used to identify out-of-control data, address appropriate corrective actions, and finally promote quality improvements by setting customized dynamic control limits. Meals were individually analyzed using the alternative Micro Biological Survey method, in parallel with the conventional plating method, in order to propose an efficient, simplified, and suitable approach that could be useful for small industries to monitor constantly food quality.I documenti in IRIS sono protetti da copyright e tutti i diritti sono riservati, salvo diversa indicazione.
