[Sanitary quality of some food distributed by hospital food services of Costa Rica].

The sanitary quality of 100 samples of salad and 100 samples of skinless fruits distributed by the Hospital Food Services were studied. Samples were processed according to rinse solution method, and the bacteriological determination was based in the methodology described by Vanderzant & Splittstoesser. The preparation scheme of each product was realized in order to analyze risks and determine the critical control points according to ICMSF (International Commission on Microbiological Specifications for Foods). Microbiological studies on the critical control points (total and fecal coliforms determinations) were done according to the surface analysis using the swab contact method as described by Vanderzant & Splittstoesser. Our results show that 93% of the salads and 65% of the fruits presented contamination of fecal origin. The hands of the operators and kitchen utensils also presented important fecal contamination indexes.