Abstract:
Food-borne illnesses generally cause disorders of the digestive tract; however, they can also lead to more serious consequences. Food-borne illness is the result of having microbial contaminated food, expired, or toxic food items. Hospital food has become a major health issue for the patients admitted in the hospital. The hospital food service is to provide in-patients with nutritious meals for their recovery and health. The meals are tailored to the specific health conditions of the patients. However, the contaminated foods served in the hospital may cause a potential health hazards for the patients. The objective of this study was to isolate and identify the presence of enteric bacteria (E.coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio species, Aeromonas species, Plesiomonas shigelloides, Yersinia enterocolitica) in different hospital food items collected from different Hospitals of Dhaka city, Bangladesh. Thirty one food items were collected from different hospitals in Dhaka city. The tested food samples were Hot Dog, Vaji, Egg fry, Banana vorta, Booter daal, Mixed vaji, Beef kabab, Bun, Pizza, Ruti, Roll, Porota, Daal, Chicken soup, Singara, Somucha, Naan, Soup, Daalvaji, Chicken roll, Jaw vaat, Dim chop, Mach vorta, Vegetable soup, Sauce, Salad, Coffee. Sterile polythene bags were used to collect these different samples. They were tested for the presence of microorganisms following conventional microbiological processes. Biochemical tests were performed for the confirmation of E.coli, Salmonella, Shigella, Vibrio species, Aeromonas species, Plesiomonas shigelloides, Yersinia enterocolitica. Out of thirty-one food samples, 4 (12.9%) were suspected to be contaminated with E. coli, 9 (29.03%) were suspected to be contaminated with Vibrio spp, 4 (12.9%) were suspected to be contaminated with Aeromonas spp. The patients can be more vulnerable to have these contaminated food items which are potential cause for food-borne illnesses. Food contamination in a hospital is often overlooked. Further study is needed to find out the contamination of different types of food items with large sample size.
