Hygienic-sanitary conditions in the production of meals in public popular restaurants located in the state of Rio de Janeiro

Com a evolução dos serviços de alimentação para atender a demanda populacional e o aumento do número de casos de doenças transmitidas por alimentos, surge a necessidade da implantação de medidas que garantam a condições higiênico-sanitárias adequadas como a adoção das boas práticas de manipulação (BPM) por estes serviços. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar as condições higiênico-sanitárias do processo produtivo de refeições em Restaurantes Públicos Populares (RPP) localizados no Estado do Rio de Janeiro. Trata-se de estudo exploratório, seccional, realizado entre março/2007 e janeiro/2008 em 10 RPP. Foram realizadas visitas aos RPP para aplicar roteiro de inspeção a fim de avaliar as condições higiênico-sanitárias e identificar não conformidades que possam interferir na qualidade das refeições servidas e foi calculado o percentual de adequação das condições higiênico-sanitárias (PACHS). Para classificar os restaurantes de acordo com o PACHS alcançado utilizou-se a faixa de pontuação: grupo 1 (bom) entre 76-100, grupo 2 (regular) entre 51-75 e grupo 3 (deficiente) entre 0-50 de adequação. Apenas 10 foram classificados no Grupo 1, 50 no Grupo 2 e 40 no Grupo 3. O item que obteve menor PACHS estava relacionado com a existência de manual de boas práticas.With the development of food services to meet populational demand and the increasing number in cases of diseases transmitted by food, there is the need of deploying measures that ensure the adequate sanitary-hygienic conditions such as the adoption of good manufacturing practices (GMP) for such services. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the sanitary-hygienic conditions of the production process of meals in Public Popular Restaurants (PPR) located in the State of Rio de Janeiro. This was an exploratory study, sectional, conducted between March/2007 and January/2008 in 10 PPR. Visits were made to the PPR in order to implement procedures for inspection to assess the hygienic-sanitary and identify non-conformities that may interfere with the quality of meals served, and to calculate the percentage of adequacy of sanitary-hygienic conditions (PACHS). To sort the restaurants by the PACHS achieved it was used a range of scores: group 1 (good) between 76-100%, group 2 (regular) between 51-75% and group 3 (poor) between 0-50% of adequacy. Only 10% were classified in Group 1, 50% in Group 2 and 40% in Group 3. The topic that achived less PACHS was related to the existence a good practices manual. Five restaurants (PPR1, 6, 7, 8 and 10) had nutritionists for quality control, 60% were classified in group 2 and 20% in group 1 and 3. The presence a nutritionist quality control is important to the adequacy of the establishment in accordance to the requirements of GMP, as the PPR which have obtained better PACHS count on this professional. But the professionals who work in this area should document good practices so that all procedures, corrective measures and conduct expected for food handlers during the production process of meals