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Food hygiene practices and standards and their implication on food safety among students in Senior High Schools in the Ashanti Region of Ghana and the effect of two food safety interventions were investigated due to increasing cases of food poisoning from schools reported in the media. Forty five sampled schools in the Ashanti Region were audited and compared with 10 schools from Lincolnshire, UK, as a means of categorising the schools into hygiene standards. Whilst all schools audited in Lincolnshire were in excellent hygiene category (9.0 - 10.0), in the Ashanti Region, only 17.8% were in good category (7.0 - 8.9), 73.3% were in medium (5.0 - 6.9) and 8.9% were in poor hygiene category (2.0 - 4.9). Although 60% of the sampled schools in Ashanti Region served between 1000 – 3000 students daily, there was no evidence of Food Safety Management System in place and 52% of the 180 sampled students reported to have experienced foodborne infections 3-12 times per year within their 1 and 2 years in secondary school. Staff hygiene training was absent in schools which led to substandard hygiene practices with low food and personal hygiene test scores. Although there was supervision, 31% of the kitchen matrons reported they had no hygiene qualification in Ghana. Early food preparation times with absence of hot holding equipment in the kitchens encouraged temperature abuse of Ready-to-Eat meals with Aerobic Colony Count (ACC), Bacillus cereus, total coliforms, Staphylococcus aureus, yeast and moulds counts exceeding the national acceptable limits for cooked meals. Lack of standardised hand washing and utensils cleaning procedure increased microbiological contaminants (ACC, coliforms, S. aureus, yeast and moulds) above existing advisory guidelines after washing. Eleven schools from the Ashanti Region of Ghana after the hygiene categorisation were given GHP training as an intervention and the previous hygiene indicators reassessed. There were improvements in all hygiene indicators with significant differences in staff food hygiene iii knowledge (Z= -2.934, p=0.001), personal hygiene requirement (Z= -2.847, p=0.001) and food temperature (Z= -2.142, p=0.015) Post GHP. ACC, total coliforms and Staphylococcus aureus levels were significantly reduced (p<0.05) in jollof rice. Microbiological contaminants on food contact surfaces and staff hands reduced Post GHP with significant reduction in ACC and coliforms with the exception of serving pans. Post HACCP results for all measured indicators were comparable to other international reports from schools with HACCP in place. Food temperature significantly improved [χ2 (2) =8.400, p=0.008]. Jollof rice microbiological contaminants reduced with up to 100% satisfactory rate for ACC and yeast and moulds, 80% for Staphylococcus aureus and 60% for Bacillus cereus. Coliforms significantly reduced [χ2 (2) =9.580, p=0.002] but had only 40% satisfactory rate. Post HACCP ACC on staff hands and food contact surfaces were significantly reduced (p<0.05) and also yeast and mould for the latter [χ2 (2) =7.600, p=0.024]. Reduction of total coliforms was not significantly different for both staff hands and utensils probably due to absence of disinfection. Food service/dishing time reduced to the agreed time (30-60 minutes) to student’s meal time. Post hoc analysis with Wilcoxon’s signed-rank test was conducted with Bonferroni’s correction. There were significant reductions in Post GHP - Pre GHP; food temperature (Z=-2.625, p=0.003), S. aureus in jollof rice (Z=-2.803, p=0.001), ACC (Z=-2.578, p=0.003), yeast and mould (Z=-2.490, p=0.005) on food contact surfaces. There was enough evidence to prove that GHP significantly improved hygiene and food safety. The study recommends the introduction of GHP and applied HACCP principles in schools.

Thesis (MTech (Food Technology))--Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2010. / Sulphiting is considered as the most reliable and understood preservation technique in the wine industry. Since sulphur dioxide (S02) has been associated with possible health risks, legislation as well as consumers, are becoming more reluctant about the general use of S02 in wine production. In order to avoid economic losses due to spoilage, the wine industry is seeking feasible techniques to possibly reduce the levels of S02 in wine. The purpose of this study was, therefore to determine the efficacy of ultraviolet radiation (UV)-C (254 nm) as an alternative technology to inactivate microorganisms in white and red grape juices and wines.

Thesis submitted in fulfilment of the requirements for the degree Master of Technology: Biomedical Technology in the Faculty Health and Wellness Sciences at the Cape Peninsula University of Technology, 2013 / The accurate and consistent measurement of antioxidants is crucial to evaluating their biological role in the prevention and delay of cancer and other pathological conditions. Hence, the performance of the analytical method utilized should be evaluated for acceptable levels of accuracy, precision and other performance parameters according to internationally accepted standards. Additionally, the measure and influence of existing errors should be evaluated and the method optimized to reduce such errors. In furtherance of this vital aim, this research project sought out to optimize and validate two bio-analytical assays for the measurement of total antioxidant capacity and L-ascorbic acid (L-AA), respectively in food commodities. The validation procedure was performed in accordance with ISO 17025 international standard. The first study in this thesis evaluated, optimized and validated the hydrophilic oxygen radical absorbance capacity (H-ORACFL) assay using fluorescein for total antioxidant capacity in various food and beverage products. The assay demonstrated good results with regard to accuracy, precision, linearity, specificity, limits of detection (LOD) and quantification (LOQ) and robustness. The extraction solvent (60% ethanol) recovered excellent antioxidant yields for most samples tested. The optimization of the method in terms of temperature and sample usage on the micro-plate significantly (p<0.05) reduced errors and subsequently improved precision substantially.