Physical hazards in meat products: Consumers’ complaints found on a Brazilian website

Meat and meat products can be contaminated by physical hazards, which are a big concern for meat industries. The incidence of physical hazards in meat products from 2016 to 2018 in Brazil have been investigated through a website (Reclame Aqui) used by consumers to express their dissatisfaction. A total of 408 consumers' complaints were found involving the presence of physical hazards in meat and meat products. The greatest percentage of complaints was found in sausages (fresh, dried, and cooked sausages such as Linguiça Calabresa, Linguiça Portuguesa, and Linguiça Toscana, among others; 33.33%) followed by hamburgers (17.89%), fresh chicken meat (12.25%), and chicken nuggets (9.80%). Fewer consumers’ complaints were found in fresh pork meat (0.49%), fresh bovine meat (0.49%), and chopped ham (0.49%). The presence of bones (26.96%) was the major physical hazard found in meat products followed by plastic (25.24%), insect (11.26%), and metal (8.82%). Results indicated that even with quality programs implemented in the industry such as Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Points, Good Manufacturing Practices and Good Hygienic Practices, sometimes failures on processing line, packaging, commercialization, and service inspection can happen. Nonetheless, in order to detect physical hazards in meat products, the use of new technologies such as metal detector, sensors, and X-ray equipment by meat processors is extremely recommended.The authors would like to thank FAPESB and CNPq for the fellowships to Juliana Santana Falcão Leite and Samuel Keryson Rodrigues da Silva Felix. Claudia Ruiz-Capillas is a member of the HealthyMeat network, funded by CYTED (ref. 119RT0568).Peer reviewe