O comércio de gelados comestíveis na orla marítima de Salvador-BA: o trabalho infantil e de adultos, a rede de fornecedores e a segurança de alimentos

Abstract

The ices are much appreciated food worldwide, although their concern to artisanal production and its informal trade of these products. Salvador-BA in the informal trade of ices is characteristic, especially in summer when large numbers of sellers moving on beaches, including labor, child labor. This study aimed to characterize the trade of ices in the coastline of Salvador-BA, in view of their driving by minors and adults, supply chain and food safety. It was conducted cross-sectional study, exploratory and descriptive, conducted in two stages. In the first stage, 33 sellers were interviewed, 13 children under 18 years and 20 adults worked in the city's beaches, with collection of 198 samples of ices, being obtained from 120 adults and 78 minors. In the second stage, seven factories craft, identified from interviews with sellers, were evaluated using a questionnaire, covering hygienic and sanitary requirements and technical and classified into three levels: good, fair and unsatisfactory. Additionally, 42 samples were collected. All samples, sellers and producers, were subjected to microbiological analysis, including counts of psychrotrophic and coagulase positive estimate the Most Probable Number of coliform and thermotolerant/ Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp. Overall, it was found that the sellers were mostly men (93.9%), including individuals in the economically active age group and adolescents. For adults, the job was characterized as more permanent and ride compared to minors. For most groups (51.5%), the activity supplemented the family income and average monthly financial transactions surpassed the minimum wage. Most sellers did not meet the requirements of personal hygiene and hand, and with the cool boxes. Regarding the microbiological profile, most of the samples was in compliance with the standards, however, there were 34.3% of non-compliance, including contamination by various microorganisms examined, except Salmonella spp. As for the establishments, all were categorized as unsatisfactory and not applying the pasteurization of the mixture. Among the samples, 23.8% came not in compliance with equitable distribution for ices from fruit and milk, but without the presence of Salmonella spp. There was no statistically significant difference between the microbiological quality of ices in the production establishments and those sold on the beach. The study showed the irregularity of child labor on the verge of Salvador-BA and identified risks to the consumer, given the contamination in the products registered for salespeople and for producing units, indicating the need for programs that allow the safe production of ices aiming to achieve greater levels of food security.