Abstract:
Food service industry is forming a massive employment in Pakistan, however, the same time previous research records point towards some very significant yet over-looked issues that are the food-safety and health and safety concerns of the workers in the food-sector. The purpose of this study is to extensively examine the .lth and safety as well as the hygienic conditions of the workers employed mainly the BBỌ sector of the food industry in the city of Islamabad, Pakistan. BBQ meat s characterized as one of the high-risk foods that is prone to microbial contamination svon the climate conditions of the area. An increase in food-borne diseases in the Runtry has also necessitated the need to investigate the level of hygiene awareness ond practice among the food handlers. For this purpose, 92 different restaurants from all over lslamabad were sampled for microbial analysis to check their hygiene levels and a survey checklist was developed to determine the health and safety conditions of the workers/chefs as well as the workplaces. Furthermore, structured interviews and site inspections were carried out as an evaluation tool for many vital components regarding health and safety such as fire safety, emergency equipment and procedures, evacuation plans, trainings, general house-keeping, regulations and use of PPEs, etc. These 92 restaurants were further categorized into three main groups for better comprehension and to attain comparative results. Hygiene level of high-level restaurants was observed to be comparatively better than the middle and low-level restaurants. Several middle-level restaurants and most of the low-level restaurants had no awareness about food safety and had poor hygienic and safety conditions leading to compromised and unethical food quality. The microbial results show that the working platforms as well as the workers hands were contaminated with pathogenic bacteria such as E.coli. Salmonella and shigella. A general risk assessment was also CXecuted to determine the risks, their probabilities and degree/magnitude of harm that o IKeIy to occur. However, the existing control measures to reduce the probability of aese risks are observed to be followed only by the high-end and some of the medium- CIld restaurants in the food sector of Islamabad Pakistan, leaving the low-level set-ups under great risks regarding occupational health and safety hazards.
