Quality and Food Safety in school feeding and nutrition units from public schools from São Luís, State of Maranhão

Introduction: School feeding and water offered to schoolchildren should be safe from the hygienic-sanitary point of view. Objective: To evaluate the hygienic-sanitary conditions of the School Food and Nutrition Units (UANE) of the municipal education network of São Luís, Maranhão, Brazil, and to analyze the microbiological quality of the food served and the drinking water of the schools. Method: The hygienic-sanitary conditions of 40 schools were evaluated using the Checklist of Good Practices in School Feeding (LVBPAE), proposed and validated by Stedefeltd et al.13. Quantification of coliforms at 35°C and 45°C, enumeration of Escherichia coli, enumeration of Staphylococcus aureus coagulase positive, and Salmonella spp. of 57 school feeding samples. Also, 64 water samples from the drinking fountains were analyzed. Results: All UANE presented a regular health risk. The average compliance in Good Practices (BP) was 69.7% (± 3.83). No food was considered unfit for consumption. There was a high water contamination rate in drinking fountains, with 48.4% of samples positive for total coliforms and 12.5% for Escherichia coli. Conclusions: Corrective measures should be taken for BP items considered critical and that guarantee the microbiological quality of the water served to schoolchildren.