Study of food hygiene in the public eating houses and food outlets in the Colombo General Electorate of the city of Colombo.

Abstract

The study was carried out to assess the sanitary conditions in the food outlets of Colombo Central Electorate. Information was lacking regarding the saaller outlets. One of the main objectives was to determine and record this information. Food outlets were categorized into five grades according to size and other criteria in annexure 3. It was observed that there were 85 precent of food outlets in the smaller grades, and their hygienic conditions were comparatively poorer than the larger ones. Water was not avilable in sufficient quantities in some food outlets, which used wells as an additional source. In over 70 percent of premises sampled, water in the wells was contaminated. A medical examination conducted on food handlers to determine skin or general lesions likely to contaminate food, showed that there were general lessions in 6.9 percent and skin lessions in 22.2 percent of food handlers. The findins indicate that further studies are necessary to formulate effective intervention programe in the future.