Study on contaminant materials within “sun dried meat (jerked beef)” at the “Northern Houses

Abstract

The “sun dried meat” (carne de sol) is a handmade food produced by salting and dehydration procedures, and commonly consumed by people from the North and Northeast areas of Brazil. Taking into account the lack of advanced technology for preparing it and also lacking any official standards for product identity and quality, in addition to the unsuitable sanitary conditions for food processing, marketing and distribution, it might cause risk to consumers’ health. This paper evaluates the sanitary conditions of “sun dried meat”, by analyzing the occurrence of the extraneous materials in 44 samples of “sun dried meat” collected from 22 “Northern Houses” in Diadema - SP- Brazil. The additional information on food safety, product exposure and sale conditions at the “Northern Houses” were assessed. Several kinds of contaminants were found in 44 analyzed samples as whole insects and their debris, larvae, arthropods exuviae, mites, rodent fur, pieces of bird feather, fungi, and pointed and sharp objects. Mechanical vectors were detected in 11 sale spots. Among 44 “sun dried meat” samples, 90.9% showed unsatisfactory sanitary conditions, considering the occurrence of health hazardous contaminants. These findings and including the inadequate hygienic conditions of the “Northern Houses”, indicate these products are unsuitable for consumption.