The Impact of Food Services Protocol on the Quality and Safety of Egg Served by Hospitals in Khartoum State, Sudan

Abstract

This work purpose was to assess the safety and quality of hospital meals and services. The egg was taken in several phases of the hospital food chain (raw food, storage, preparation, processing, and display) to highlight the cause of nutrient, safety, and quality changes in patient meals in Khartoum State. Chemical composition (moisture content, ash, protein and fat percents),total titrable acidity and pH value) and microbial loads (total viable count, yeast and mould, total Coliform bacteria, Salmonella and Staphylococcus spp.) were measured at all stages. The moisture content of eggs showed a significant (P≤0.05) slight decrease in private hospitals and a potential increase in government hospitals, while fat content showed a slight non-significant decrease in all samples, except for the sample taken from (D) governmental hospital, which showed a significant potential increase at the end-stage (processing and display stages), There were no significant differences (P≤0.05) in ash content, titratable acidity and pH served at all hospitals in all chain stages. Total bacterial count served at hospitals, all samples showed a significant (P≤0.05) decrease during food chain stages and total yeasts and moulds content served at privatized hospitals.