Gare au poulet rôti des fast-foods – Le Jeune Indépendant

Worrying practices.

Of the 52 cases of food poisoning recorded since the beginning of June at the level of the Boufarik EPH, 16% are due to the consumption of roast chicken in fast foods.

With the arrival of summer and the increase in demand on fast dishes, roast chicken becomes one of the most popular dishes by Algerian consumers. In large cities, fast food restaurateurs and sellers are redoubled with efforts to respond to this craze. However, this race has given rise to worrying practices, including non-compliance with hygiene standards and food safety rules, exposing consumers to serious risk of food toxi-infections.

Among the drifts observed, the most alarming concerns the mixture of raw chicken and chicken already cooked in the same roasters. This method, which aims to save time and increase the rate of production, nevertheless promotes cross -contamination, a particularly dangerous phenomenon on the health. Professor Mohamed Yousfi, head of infectious diseases at the Boufarik hospital, alert on the gravity of this practice. He explains that suspending raw chickens above cooked chickens exposes them to juices and secretions of non-cooked poultry, rich in pathogenic bacteria, such as salmonella and amylobacter.

According to Professor Yousfi, head of the EPH infection of the Boufarik EPH, during his warnings, said: “These bacteria, if they are not eliminated by adequate cooking, can cause potentially fatal food poisoning. This type of contamination is extremely dangerous, especially in a context of high summer consumption. It is imperative that restaurateurs physically separate the cooked products from raw products to avoid these risks. The symptoms of food poisoning generally appear a few hours after ingestion and manifest themselves by nausea, vomiting, acute diarrhea, abdominal pain and fever.

The specialist recommends restoration professionals to respect strict hygiene rules, such as: use distinct cutting boards for raw chicken and cooked chicken, store raw chicken in the lower refrigerators, far from the roast chicken, wash your hands carefully and use soap after handling raw chicken, before touching all cooked food.

It also warns against the transmission of these bacteria by the hands of employees, recalling that these practices endanger not only customers, but also the workers themselves. This sanitary alert occurs while toxi-infections increases in summer, a period conducive to bacterial proliferation due to high temperatures. Health authorities therefore call for increased vigilance.