Evaluation of microbial quality of enteral feedings made at Tabriz Imam Reza (AS) hospital and implementation of the Hazard Analysis and Critical Control Point system to make them standard

Abstract

Abstarct Background: Consumption of contaminated enteral tube feedings can cause several infections in immunocompromised patients. To control the risks of microbial contamination as well as to prevent food safety problems such as food poisoning and foodborne infections, the microbial quality of enteral tube feedings must be monitored continuously. Purpose: Evaluation of microbial quality of enteral tube feedings and identification of Staphylococcus, Pseudomonas and Klebsiella species and implementation of HACCP system to standardize the microbial quality. Methods: Bacterial strains of enteral tube feeding samples were isolated and counted using specific culture media and final confirmation was performed using PCR. After the bacterial counting, the HACCP was performed and the CCPs were controlled for declining of the bacterial contamination. Results: Based on the results of counting the number of bacterial colonies of samples and comparing them with the FDA standard for approved hospital foods, 57% of the solutions have a higher microbial load than the standard. By the implementation of the HACCP system, the bacterial count of isolated species was reduced and total mesophilic count of the samples was 17% decreased. Conclusion: Improving hygienic conditions in the preparation room of the enteral feedings, together with the employment of the HACCP system to prevent contamination, helps to avoid the foodborne diseases as much as possible. Keywords: Enteral Tube Feeding; Microbiological Analysis; 16S rRNA amplification; Polymerase Chain Reaction