Assessment of food safety management systems of restaurants in Kawempe and Kampala Central Divisions of Kampala District

Abstract

Food borne disease outbreaks are caused by the consumption of contaminated foods that maybe linked to improper food handling practices at food serving establishments. In Uganda, the greatest factors contributing to food borne illnesses relate to low levels of awareness and poor practices in thehandling of food during production, processing, storage, transportation, and retailing. This study assessed the performance of food safety management systems (FSMS) of restaurants withinKampala. Specifically, it evaluated the context riskiness, core control, and assurance activities of an implemented FSMS in Kampala, Uganda. It also evaluated the microbial load of food sold in the restaurants in Kawempe and Kampala Central Divisions of Kampala. Additionally, it identified the challenges food service establishments in Kampala face in implementing FSMS. Using the stratified random method, qualitative data were collected from 42 restaurants using a semi-structured questionnaire and an observation checklist. Food samples (n = 126) were analyzed for Total Plate Counts, Salmonellaspp., Staphylococcusaureus, total coliforms, and Escherichia coli following standard methods. Descriptive statistics were carried out to get the means and frequency of qualitative data, which were then transformed into assigned scores to obtain the first indication of FSMS performance. Hierarchical cluster analysis with the furthest neighbor method and squared Euclidean distance was also used to get an insight into the differences in the classes of the food service establishments. Further analysis of data was carried out using analysis of variance and posthoc Scheffe tests to analyze the level of contamination according to the type of food. Results showed that the context riskiness, core control and assurance activities of implemented FSMS in Kampala ranged from moderate to high-risk performance. No differences(p<0.05) were observed in the microbial loads except Staphylococcusaureus in all the restaurants and Escherichia coli in high-class restaurants in the Central Division of Kampala. Salmonella spp. was not detected in any samples. The barriers to the implementation of FSMS included inadequate knowledge/lack of awareness of FSMS requirements and its benefits, lack of top management commitment, time for food safety issues, and the high costs associated with installing FSMS.