Risk assessment in the recovery of food for social solidarity purposes: preliminary data

The most recent study, conducted by Politecnico of Milan, on food surplus management in Italy shows that in the Italian food supply chain the food surplus is around 5.5 million tons/year, and the amount of food wasted is around 5.1 million tons/year. During 2015, the charitable organizations (COs) belonging to the Italian Food Bank Network, active in recovering and distributing food for social solidarity’s purposes, reused 381,345 tons of food from 2292 donors. The main supplying sources of the Banco Alimentare Network are: food industries, organized large-scale retail trade and collective catering service. The aim of this study was to analyze several aspects of the food surplus recovery thanks to the collaboration with the Banco Alimentare Foundation Onlus and Caritas Italiana. In particular, two main features were analyzed in the food recovery chain: the microbiological profiles of specific food categories recovered from catering service with the aim to evaluate their conformity in relation to food safety and process criteria. For this purpose 11 samples were analyzed in four different moments: T0, same day of the collection; T1, after four hours of storage at 4°C; T2, 24 hours from the collection (storage at 4°C); T3, after four days at frozen storage (-18°C). For all samples several microbiological parameters were investigated: enumeration of mesophilic aerobic bacteria (AFNOR 3M 01/1-09/89), enumeration of Enterobacteriaceae (AFNOR 3M 01/06-09/97), enumeration of E. coli (AFNOR 3M 01/08-06/01), enumeration of coagulase-positive Staphylococci AFNOR 3M 01/9-04/03 A), enumeration of Bacillus cereus (UNI EN ISO 7932:2005), research of Salmonella spp. [UNI EN ISO 6579 (2008b)], and research of Listeria monocytogenes [AFNOR BRD 07/4-09/98 (AFNOR, 2010a)]. Furthermore, the volunteer’s knowledge on the correct hygienic procedures during the recovery was evaluated by the 71 questionnaires with the aim to prevent foodborne diseases. The results show that the recovery of surplus from catering service and their reuse at COs should be planned with correct procedures, and the volunteer’s knowledge on the hygienic aspects appears to be a critical point. The recovery and the charitable activities require an appropriate assessment and careful risk analysis, in order to manage the complexity of no profit organization.