Luca Pennisi

The management of the domestic refrigeration: microbiological status and temperature

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to provide information on the consumer management of refrigerated food, establish the level and the incidence of bacterial contamination and operating temperatures in domestic refrigerators from north and centre Italy. Design/methodology/approach – A questionnaire was designed involving 24 questions which covered three topics: the socio-demographic data, the domestic management of refrigerated food and general information about the refrigerator. The questionnaire responses were subjected to descriptive statistical analysis and further processed with the multiple correspondence analysis (MCA) and cluster analysis (CA). Based on MCA and CA, 84 refrigerators were selected to assess the temperature and the microbiological status (total viable counts (TVC); Enterobacteriaceae total counts (ETC); Salmonella spp. and Listeria spp.). Findings – Totally, 660 interviews were carried out. The majority of respondents were female (81.4 per cent) and were married (71.4 per cent). ...

The hygiene-sanitary control in the wild game meats

The use of game meat as a food source is currently a growing trend in our country. These products have strong and historic ties with cultural and culinary tradition, but are also appreciated for their sensory and nutritional characteristics. A major contributor to the supply of this type of product is hunting. Practiced since the dawn of time for survival, hunting has evolved into a recreational activity with substantial commercial interests. Of particular importance in this context is hunting of large ungulates. The progressive urbanization of the population has allowed for the re-establishment of bush and wooded areas that represent the ideal habitat of species such as the wild boar, whose numbers are increasing throughout the country. It is therefore clear that implementation of safety rules regarding the hunting and consumption of game meat needs to be urgently addressed. The understanding and application of rules isn’t always easy since the health law is intertwined with that of hunting, and the decision- making power left to the different regions does not contribute to a uniform application throughout the country. The aim of this study was to examine the norms that regulate the use of large wild game meat intended for human consumption and their applicability in hunting activities. From the comparison of the data reported in the literature and our field experience the rules implementation and the problems are evaluated. Operational procedures are then proposed to simplify some of the most difficult aspects and fill in the gaps highlighted.

SURVEY ON SOLIDARITY GROUPS OF BUYERS: CRITICAL ISSUES

This work is intended to provide, through the analysis of the dynamics of purchase of solidarity groups of buyers, a contribution to the study of current trends that are affecting the alternative to the dominant agro-food industry. Through the use of a questionnaire the paper investigated the perception as consumers this particular class of buyers have of themselves and how their concepts of “conscious choice” and “responsibility” drive their shopping list and consequently influence the growth and development of the Short Supply Chain, as the work remarked the progressive and notable increment of commerce and families circling around this young but widespreading phenomenon. Particularly striking, in fact, emerge from the role that consumers are becoming part of this phenomenon and the most of them have matured during time the idea that biological and hand-made products are for themselves also Safe, while the Long Supply Chain should incarnate the role of an alienating and wholly food system. The analysis of the questionnaires revealed some problems concerning the methods of transport and storage.