Safe food handling in school kitchens is an important practice to protect the students from foodborne illnesses. Bacterial count in prepared food is a key factor in assessing the quality and safety of food. It also reveals the level of hygiene adopted by food handlers in the course of preparation of such foods. A case study research was conducted to examine the food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices of food handlers and bacterial contaminations in food from two women's hostel kitchens at Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences (SHUATS) Allahabad, India. Questionnaires regarding food safety knowledge, attitudes and practices were administered to all the 25 food handlers working at these two kitchens (18 (72%) from old and 7 (28%) from new women's hostel kitchens) through in-person interviews. A total of 72 cooked food samples (36 from each kitchen) were analyzed for evidence of contamination (total aerobic mesophilic bacteria, coliforms, and Escherichia coli). The majority of the food handlers did not used good food handling practices and did not practice proper personal hygiene, because majority of them had poor knowledge and attitudes regarding food safety. All the cooked food samples tested had total APC, coliform, and E. coli levels higher than acceptable. The study results, therefore, call for stringent supervision and implementation of food safety practices. Periodic trainings on personal hygiene and good food handling practices will play a pivotal role in improving the safety of the prepared meals in these kitchens.

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Perishable fresh vegetables that do not meet cosmetic standards and other crop waste rich resources are presently wasted. Mangifera indica leaves, Psidium guajava leaves, Petroselinum crispum leaves and Daucus carota were selected as model vegetables to show that they can be converted into a shelf-stable novel functional powdered product. A novel functional product from a blend of these powdered vegetables (FPPV) was formulated. To evaluate the shelf-life of FPPV. The novel functional product from a blend of powdered vegetables (FPPV) was prepared in the Food Science and Nutrition laboratory, Sam Higginbottom University of Agriculture Technology and Sciences, India. The samples were subjected to accelerated stability study maintaining temperature and relative humidity 40°C ± 2°C and 75% ± 5% respectively. Organoleptic, physico‑chemical and microbiological properties of FPPV was analyzed at an interval of 0, 1, 3 and 6 months to check the degradation levels in the formulation. Organoleptic characters showed no significant changes in accelerated stability condition. There were insignificant changes in physico-chemical profiles and product was free from microbial contamination at different intervals of analysis. On extrapolation of the observations the shelf-life of FPPV was found to be 51 months (4 years and 3 months) for climatic zone I & II countries and 34 months (2 years and 10 months) for climatic zone III & IV countries, respectively. The conversion of perishable vegetables and crop wastes into shelf-stable functional food products will reduce food loss and waste in the vegetable industry.

Murraya koenigii (Rutaceae) is a promising source of bioactive compounds since the leaves of this plant has been traditionally used extensively in the Indian Ayurvedic system of medicine for the treatment of a wide range of diseases and disorders. Although the pharmacological effect of the plant’s bioactive compounds has been extensively studied, however, study on the effect of using different extraction solvents to extract these bioactive componentsis scarce. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the impact of different solvents on extraction yields, phytochemical constituents and antioxidants activity of dehydrated Murrayakoenigi leaves. The results showed that the used solvents play an important role in the yield of extraction and the content of chemical components. Methanol was identified as the most effective solvent for the extraction, resulting in the highest extraction yield (5.70%) as well as the highest content of phenolic (27.2 mg GAE/g DW) and flavonoid (15.55 mg QE/g DW). The extract obtained from methanol exhibited highest antioxidant scavenging activity (93%), (using 2,2-diphenyl-1- picrylhydrazyl (DPPH) free radical scavenging assay), and the antioxidant activity of Murraya koenigi leaves extract was found to be higher than ascorbic acid. Therefore, methanol is recommended as the optimal solvent to obtain high content of phytochemical constituents as well as high antioxidants constituents from Murraya koenigi leaves for utilization in pharmacognosy. To best of our knowledge this is the first report that directly compares these 4 extraction solvents for the extraction of bioactive components from Murraya koenigi leaves.