ASSESSMENT OF FOOD SAFETY AND MICROBIAL QUALITY OF CHOWMEIN

A STREET FOOD SOLD IN RUDRAPUR CITY

PREETI KANDPAL, ARCHANA KUSHWAHA, KALPANA KULSHRESTHA AND HARAPRIYA NAYAK
Department of Foods and Nutrition
GB Pant University of Agriculture and Technology, Pantnagar, Uttarakhand – 263145
E mail: harapriyakvk@gmail.com
INTRODUCTION
 Safe food and water is a public health requirement. Food safety is intricately woven with food security and
nutrition. Foodborne diseases are a worldwide problem of great magnitude both in terms of human suffering
and economic costs.
 Street foods have become an integral part of food supply system and are unique source of
inexpensive, convenient and often nutritious food for urban and rural poor. Besides, these advantages street
foods are also associated with certain problems related to food safety measures, hygiene and sanitary
practices. Chowmein stall
 Chowmein is a food of Chinese cuisine which is very common in India. The dish is available in hotels, restaurants
as well as street vendors. Method of preparation of Chowmein in street vending units may be risk factor for food
borne disease outbreaks as stored water is generally used in the preparation and also stir frying cooking method.
Hence, there is a need to access microbial safety of street vended Chowmein because of poor
standard of hygiene and sanitation in street food service units.
Chopped vegetables
OBJECTIVE
 To determine the microbial load of chowmein served in stall, ingredients and water used in preparation of
chowmein
 To determine the microbial load of the serving utensils and equipment's used in chowmein preparation

MATERIALS AND METHODS Dirty clothes for

covering the container
 Locale of study: Rudrpur city
 Total street vending unit surveyed - 08
 Tools used for collecting information- Interview schedule and Observation schedule
 Sample collected for microbial analysis:
 Fried chowmein, boiled noodles, vegetables and water
 Surface swab collection from right hand of food handler, utensils and equipment
MICROBIAL ANALYSIS
Total plate count (TPC), Total coliform count (TCC) and Most probable number (MPN) of Chowmein Disposal of garbage in
Coliforms in water samples drains near vending units

RESULTS *Table 1: Mean microbial load in Chowmein and its

ingredients
Age of the street food vendors Working experience of street food vendors
18-34 years 35-50 years Between 5-10 years Below 5 years S. No Food Samples TPC (cfu/g) TCC (cfu/g)
1 Chowmein 1.08×105 6.0×102
37.50%, 37.50%
2 Chopped cabbage 1.46×106 1.30×104
62.50%, 3 Chopped onion 9.7×105 1.00×103
62.50%,
4 Chopped capsicum 8.6×105 4.9×103
5 Boiled noodles 1.05×106 5.2×103
6 Soya sauce, tomato sauce and ND ND
Education of the street food vendors Income (Rs. per month) chilli sauce

illiterate upto primary level upto high school level Rs. 5000-10000 Above Rs. 10000
*Table 2: Mean microbial load in different areas of
Chowmein preparation
12.50%
25%
S. No Surface swabs TPC (cfu/cm2) TCC (cfu/cm2)

1 Chopping board 1.41×104 1.39×103

50%
2 Knife 1.02×104 1.09×103
37.50%
75% 3 Serving dishes 9.0×103 9.8×102

4 Hand swab 7.0×103 8.1×102

• All the values are mean of two replicates
Plates for microbial load in Tubes for MPN test of Tubes for MPN test of water
prepared Chowmein dish washing water washing vegetables
The result of water samples E1 (First rinse water) and E2 (Last
rinse water) showed higher MPN of coliforms
(≥2400MPN/100ml and 1100 MPN/100ml respectively)
than the standard (10MPN/100ml).
TPC at 10-3 TCC at 10-1 Positive Negative
dilution dilution confirmatory test confirmatory test