Raquel Braz Assunção Botelho

Adequação das boas práticas de fabricação em serviços de alimentação

Objective: classify a sample of 50 food producing establishments located in the Federal District (Brasilia, Brazil), according to their fulfillment of essential requisites contained in the sanitary regulation form published by the Agencia Nacional de Vigilância Sanitaria, Brazil’s National Agency for Sanitary Regulation. Methods: a metanalysis of two monographic studies on food production establishments (hotels and commercial restaurants) was performed, and associated to results of these authors’ research evaluating ten Foodservice and Nutrition Units led by nutritionists, and five commercial restaurants. The procedures for good manufacturing were evaluated according to the norms of the mentioned Agency; to this effect, the Agency’s specific forms were utilized to analyze the adequacy of requisites such as: construction, equipments, handling, production flow, and availability of the manual for good manufacturing procedures. Still according to the Agency’s norms, the establishments were further classified into three groups, respective to their fulfillment of the essential requisite items and procedures as defined in the form: in group I, were those establishments fulfilling more than 70% of the requisites; group II, fulfilling 30 to 69.9% of them; and group III, fulfilling less than 30% of the essential items and procedures. Results: according to the analyses, all the hotel foodservices were classified in group II, while the commercial restaurants were classified either in group II (33.3%) or in group III (66.7%). As for the Foodservice and Nutrition Units with a nutritionist, 80% were classified as group II, and 20%, as group I. Conclusion: the results indicate that the Nutrition and Foodservice Units, which had nutritionists available, were better classified in requisites such as equipments and availability of a manual of good manufacturing procedures. The hotels revealed better conditions on items such as construction, manipulation and production flow. The commercial restaurants obtained the worst results when compared to the other food production services.

Psyllium as a Substitute for Gluten in Bread

Celiac disease is an antibody-mediated enteropathy that presents permanent intolerance to ingested gluten. Currently, only one kind of treatment is available: the complete dietary elimination of all sources of gluten. The aim of the present study was to evaluate the effect of replacing gluten with psyllium on sensory characteristics of bread dough and to compare the chemical, nutritional, technological, and sensory characteristics of the modified preparations. This study is experimental and was subdivided into five steps: selection and development of preparation, chemical analysis, sensory analysis, and statistical analysis. Modified samples of the bread dough achieved a 93.0% acceptance rate for individuals with celiac disease and up to 97.0% for individuals without celiac disease. The most affected characteristics were odor and texture. In terms of chemical composition of the bread dough, energy was reduced by 32.1% and the fat fraction was 42.3% before being cooked. Data obtained from sensory analysis of psyllium doughs indicate that the products had good acceptance by individuals with celiac disease as well as by individuals without celiac disease. This suggests that psyllium can replace gluten in preparations. Furthermore, in terms of chemical composition, products made with modified dough had less fat and fewer calories.

Green banana pasta: an alternative for gluten-free diets.

The objective of this study was to develop and analyze a gluten-free pasta made with green banana flour. The study was divided into five steps: preparation/selection, chemical, sensory, technological, and statistical analysis. The modified sample presented greater acceptance (84.5% for celiac individuals and 61.2% for nonceliac) than standard samples (53.6% for nonceliac individuals). There was no significant difference between the modified and the standard samples in terms of appearance, aroma, flavor, and overall quality. The modified pastas presented approximately 98% less lipids. Green bananas are considered a subproduct of low commercial value with little industrial use. The possibility of developing gluten-free products with green banana flour can expand the product supply for people with celiac disease and contribute to a more diverse diet.

O Programa Nacional de Alimentação Escolar como promotor de hábitos alimentares regionais

OBJECTIVE: This cross-sectional and qualitative study analyzes the use of regional foods and preparations in the school menus of Brazilian public schools, as well as their frequency and the presence of dietitians. METHODS: The analyzed menus had been officially requested by the governmental area related to education in Brazil to the cities and the states of the entire country. For the sample, of the 2,962 menus received, 370 were analyzed, distributed proportionally by Brazilian regions. The criterion was the menus of the elementary schools located in urban areas. RESULTS: From the analyzed menus, 63 to 87.8% were made by dietitians. Among the regions, the south region stood out since 86.5% of the menus had at least one regional food per week. However, in the north region, the percentage of regional preparations dropped to 38%. Furthermore, this region had the smallest relation between the number of menus prepared by dieticians and the number of regional preparations, while the south region had the greatest. CONCLUSION: The professionals in charge of the National School Food Program need to encourage and consider typical regional preparations by including them in school menus and strengthen the monitoring of this practice.

Atitudes de risco do consumidor em restaurantes de auto-serviço

OBJECTIVE: The objective of this study is to evaluate the possible forms of food contamination by the costumer during the distribution period. METHODS: Data collection was performed in 10 food service units in Distrito Federal via direct observation of 12 risk attitudes (n=3,447) between October 2003 and September 2004. The risk attitudes were observed during the peak hour of each restaurant; the sample was systematized for each 5 consumers. The data collection instrument related the possible risk attitudes of the consumers while serving themselves. RESULTS: The obtained results demonstrate that there is a probability of contamination of the food by the consumers in restaurants, especially because 96% of the observed individuals did not wash their hands before serving themselves. Furthermore, 50% of the consumers were not concerned with the exclusive use of utensils, while 56% talked about the foods. CONCLUSION: The obtained data show that there is a need to improve the consumers awareness, especially in self-service restaurants. Food contamination by consumers needs to be prevented in order to avoid food intoxication.

A ficha técnica de preparação como instrumento de qualidade na produção de refeições

As profundas transformacoes nos metodos e tecnologias de trabalho tem gerado mudancas no processo de producao de refeicoes. A ficha tecnica de preparacao foi objeto de uma analise, na perspectiva de discuti-la como instrumento de qualidade na producao de refeicoes. Foram utilizadas bases de dados, livros e formas eletronicas de artigos para a pesquisa bibliografica. A compreensao de que o nutricionista, na condicao de profissional de saude, possui como atribuicao a atencao dietetica, e de que esta deve estar associada a racionalizacao e a otimizacao do processo de producao de refeicao, seguindo principios dieteticos, faz com que a Ficha Tecnica de Preparo seja um instrumento de promocao a saude. Sua construcao como ferramenta de atencao dietetica e, portanto, um dos desafios com vistas a necessaria mudanca de atitude dos profissionais, no que tange ao aprendizado e a aplicacao de novas tecnologias, e ao fornecimento de alimento seguro.As profundas transformacoes nos metodos e tecnologias de trabalho tem gerado mudancas no processo de producao de refeicoes. A ficha tecnica de preparacao foi objeto de uma analise, na perspectiva de discutila como instrumento de qualidade na producao de refeicoes. Foram utilizadas bases de dados, livros e formas eletronicas de artigos para a pesquisa bibliografica. A compreensao de que o nutricionista, na condicao de profissional de saude, possui como atribuicao a atencao dietetica, e de que esta deve estar associada a racionalizacao e a otimizacao do processo de producao de refeicao, seguindo principios dieteticos, faz com que a Ficha Tecnica de Preparo seja um instrumento de promocao a saude. Sua construcao como ferramenta de atencao dietetica e, portanto, um dos desafios com vistas a necessaria mudanca de atitude dos profissionais, no que tange ao aprendizado e a aplicacao de novas tecnologias, e ao fornecimento de alimento seguro. Termos de indexacao: ficha tecnica de preparacao, padronizacao, qualidade, servicos de alimentacao. A B S T R A C T

Doença celíaca, hábitos e práticas alimentares e qualidade de vida

Esta comunicacao apresenta o cenario da doenca celiaca e suas implicacoes em habitos, praticas alimentares e qualidade de vida de individuos intolerantes ao gluten. Apresenta dados importantes sobre a questao que, mundialmente, e considerada problema de saude publica. Por ser uma doenca cujo tratamento e fundamentalmente dietetico, a terapia durante a transicao alimentar deve ser bem conduzida pelo nutricionista para melhor adesao do paciente a dieta, considerando que a inclusao de novas praticas alimentares pode significar uma ruptura com a identidade individual e cultural: a alimentacao de cada cidadao nao pode ser deslocada da sociedade. Nesse contexto, a melhoria da qualidade de vida passa a ser um dos resultados esperados tanto das praticas assistenciais quanto das politicas publicas para o setor nos campos da promocao da saude e da prevencao de doencas. A vigilância sanitaria contempla as acoes capazes de eliminar, diminuir ou prevenir riscos a saude e de intervir nos problemas sanitarios decorrentes do meio ambiente, da producao e circulacao de bens e da prestacao de servicos de interesse da saude. O conhecimento do cenario da doenca celiaca no Pais se justifica pela necessidade de fundamentar as acoes da politica de alimentacao e nutricao ancoradas no conceito de alimentacao saudavel com enfase na dieta isenta de gluten. Os artigos pesquisados foram selecionados nas bases de dados MedLine e SciELO, considerando o periodo de 1995 a 2006.

Reducing fat content of Brazilian traditional preparations does not alter food acceptance: development of a model for fat reduction that conciliates health and culture.

Typical treatment for obesity and/or other chronic degenerative diseases should always include a dietetic approach. Diet success depends on several individual aspects, such as patients personal motivation and attitudes; unfortunately, dietary planning does not always take into account the patients cultural habits, which minimizes the impact of the nutritional intervention. The objective of the present study was to analyze and reduce the fat content of 10 representative recipes from Brazilian regional gastronomy, maintaining their acceptability and developing a standard protocol that could be used for improving nutritional content of any type of fat-rich traditional preparation. The recipes selected were tapioca flan (pudim de tapioca) and banana pie (torta de banana) from the northern region; hominy porridge (mungunzá) and corn cake (bolo de milho verde) from the northeast region; goianian pie (empadão goiano) and cassava cake (mané pelado) from the central west region; tropeiro beans (feijão tropeiro) and spiced chicken with rice (galinhada) from the southeast region; and carreteiro rice (arroz carreteiro) and ground corn with pork ribs (quirera lapiana) from the southern region. The preparations were submitted to a chemical composition analysis for humidity, protein, ashes, and total lipid content according to official methods of the Association of Analytical Chemists (AOAC, 1998) in duplicate. After the average nutrient content was determined, sensorial analysis was performed in order to investigate the acceptance rate of each preparation. The results were analyzed according to the hedonic scale of 7 points considering good acceptance those rates higher than 70%. Additionally, for statistical analysis the test F was applied, determining whether the samples were accepted significantly different to a level of 95% confidence. Some recipes had main ingredients with characteristically high lipid content, thus, in order to keep the regional characteristics of the preparation, those ingredients were not changed. Also, according to sensorial analysis, although there were some differences between the standard and modified samples, the recipes obtained similar acceptance rates (p > 0.05), except for carreteiro rice and banana pie recipes. In the case of the carreteiro rice, the acceptance of the modified recipe was greater than the standard and for the banana pie the inverse occurred, although the final acceptance of the modified recipe was greater than 70%. The results show that it is possible to conciliate healthy food and alimentary culture, once the adequate preparation technique is used, in particular those concerning the nutritional composition of the main ingredients (respecting the recipe characterization) and healthier methods of cooking. Moreover, those techniques can be applied for any regional/typical recipes in order to facilitate the patients adherence to the prescribed diet plans or even for major actions concerning public health matters.

Food formulation and not processing level: Conceptual divergences between public health and food science and technology sectors

ABSTRACT Observed changes in eating and drinking behaviors in economically developing countries are associated with increase of obesity and related chronic diseases. Researchers from field of public health (PH) have attributed this problem to food processing and have created new food classification systems to support their thesis. These classifications conceptually differ from processing level concepts in food science, and state to people that food processing is directly related to nutritional impact of food. Our work aims to compare the concept of food processing from the standpoint of food science and technology (FST) and public health and to discuss differences related to formulation or level of processing of products and their impact on nutritional quality. There is a misconception between food processing/unit operation/food technology and formulation or recipes. For the public health approach, classification is based on food products selection and the use of ingredients that results in higher consumption of sugar, sodium, fat, and additives, whereas in FST, processing level is based on the intensity and amount of unit operations to enhance shelf life, food safety, food quality, and availability of edible parts of raw materials. Nutritional quality of a product or preparation is associated with formulation/recipe and not with the level of processing, with few exceptions. The impact of these recommendations on the actual comprehension of food processing and quality must be considered by the population.

Perfil e situação de insegurança alimentar dos usuários dos Restaurantes Populares no Brasil

This study aimed to characterize users of a government soup-kitchen program and the association with family food insecurity, using a cross-sectional design and random sample of 1,637 soup-kitchen users. The study used a questionnaire with socioeconomic variables and the Brazilian Food Insecurity Scale, and measured weight and height. The chi-square test was applied, and the crude and adjusted prevalence ratios (PR) were calculated using Poisson regression. Prevalent characteristics included per capita income ranging from one-half to one minimum wage (35.1%), complete middle school (39.8%), and food security (59.4%). Users in the North of Brazil showed the worst data: incomplete primary school (39.8%), per capita income up to one-half the minimum wage (50.8%), and food insecurity (55.5%). Prevalence ratios for food insecurity were higher among users with per capita income up to one-fourth the minimum wage (p < 0.05). Income was the only variable that remained associated with higher prevalence of food insecurity in the adjusted PR. Knowing the characteristics of soup-kitchen users with food insecurity can help orient the programs work, location, and operations.O objetivo foi identificar o perfil dos usuarios do programa Restaurantes Populares e suas associacoes com a situacao de inseguranca alimentar domiciliar. Trata-se de estudo transversal com amostra aleatoria de 1.637 usuarios. Foi utilizado um questionario com variaveis socioeconomicas, a Escala Brasileira de Inseguranca Alimentar e aferidos peso e altura. Foram aplicados o teste de qui- quadrado, calculo das razoes de prevalencia (RP) bruta e ajustada, utilizando-se o modelo de regressao de Poisson. Foram prevalentes a faixa de renda per capita entre ½ e 1 salario minimo (35,1%), o Ensino Medio completo (39,8%) e a seguranca alimentar (59,4%). Os usuarios da Regiao Norte apresentaram os piores dados: Ensino Fundamental incompleto (39,8%), faixa de renda per capita de ate ½ salario minimo (50,8%) e inseguranca alimentar (55,5%). Houve maior RP de inseguranca alimentar entre os usuarios que apresentaram renda per capita de ate ¼ do salario minimo (p < 0,05). Apenas renda manteve-se associada a maior prevalencia de inseguranca alimentar na RP ajustada. As caracteristicas dos usuarios em inseguranca alimentar podem orientar a melhoria desta acao, os criterios de localizacao e funcionamento do Programa Restaurantes Populares.