Food borne diseases increase worldwide and contamination of food contact surfaces serves as one of the reasons for their occurrence. The aim of this study was to determine the microbiological quality of spoons at selected restaurants in Klang Valley, Malaysia. Five restaurants were selected therein for the study. They were respectively labelled A, B, C, D and E. A total of 150 cleaned spoons (30 spoons from each restaurants) that were ready to be used by customers at the restaurants were examined. Total plate counts (CFU/cm2) of the spoons were determined; the presumptive and confirmatory tests for the presence of Escherichia coli on the spoons were also conducted. The samples were collected by surface swabbing. The result showed that restaurant C and B had the highest and lowest total plate counts (TPC), respectively. Samples from 3 of the 5 selected restaurants (restaurants C, D and E) showed positive results for the presence of E. coli mainly due to poor dishware cleansing. On the contrary, negative results for the presence of E. coli at restaurant A and B were associated with the advance cleaning procedure, which used more hygienic method with dishwashers.
Salt or sodium chloride is widely used in most homemade dishes or processed foods. It can be considered as a crucial ingredient because, without adding salt most dishes or food products may have less flavor, become tasteless and not appetizing. The addition of salt can provide salty taste or can even mask the bitter taste. It is also widely used as a preserving agent and can increase product’s shelf life. Bread is widely consumed and serves as a staple food for certain countries. Not only that, bread is one of the world’s oldest foods and is said to be the largest contributor of salt in our diet. While bread is believed to supply the major percentage of daily salt intake, reduction of salt in this product can assist in reducing the consumption of salt in human’s diet. Salt is also found to have detrimental impact on human health as it can cause cardiovascular diseases. Nevertheless, the salt reduction in bread is not easy to apply as salt play important roles in bread-making and its reduction can affect the quality of bread. Salt in bread has been observed to improve dough-making process, enhances the flavor of bread and produces nice brown colour of the bread's crust through Maillard reaction. Besides that, salt also helps in improving the texture, decreasing staling and increasing the microbial shelf life of the bread. This article explains the bakery science of bread by discussing the effect of salt reduction on bread quality.