Safe preparation of Chinese cold dishes during major conferences: Identifying significant microbial hazards and relevant, perceived barriers

Cold dishes are an essential part of Chinese cuisine offered in Chinese restaurants. So far, no data are available to identify significant microbial hazards and relevant, perceived barriers food handlers may have to take appropriate health and safety measures in food preparation. Two hotel restaurants serving foods for a conference were selected from a list of restaurants provided by the People's Liberation Army Institute of Disease Control and Prevention. Data collection took place during a 12-day conference held in 2012. The entire process of cold dish preparation was observed and participants were given a questionnaire to complete. The goal of a <10% risk level was set and a beta distribution was used to describe the probability of occurrence of each observable factor. Our results showed that only one step, product processing, had a significantly high risk level compared with the target limit (<10%). In this step, four factors – indoor temperature, concentration of chlorine bleach solution, hand disinfection, and wearing a mask – had significant, high risk levels compared with the target limit (<10%). Relevant barriers identified most often for the indoor temperature factor were “feels too cold in the room”, “no signs/no reminders”, and “no incentive/no desire to do it”. The barriers to disinfecting their hands were “time constraints”, “irritation to exposed skin”, and “forgetting/having to remember”. “Time constraints”, “feels uncomfortable”, “lack of masks”, and “inconvenient” were the barriers identified most frequently to wearing masks. “Time constraints” and “lack of necessary tools” were the barriers identified against dispensing chlorine bleach solutions. These results provide insight into the high microbial risk level of cold dish processing in hotel restaurants. Effective interventions, therefore, must be developed and implemented to overcome relevant, perceived barriers of food handlers.