HAZARDS AND RISKS TO CONSUMERS’ HEALTH CAUSED BY POPSICLES ON SALVADOR BEACHES – BAHIA STATE

Introduction : Beaches are a place for interaction and leisure, as well as a scenery for the provision of services, including the street food trade. In this segment, different workers with different type of foods are included, especially the popsicles. Methods: This study aimed to characterize microbiologically the popsicles commercialized on the beaches of Salvador, Bahia State. A cross-sectional study was carried out on 13 beaches, with the application of semi- structured questionnaires to 33 vendors  to  characterize  microbiologically  the  popsicles sold on the beaches of Salvador, Bahia State, and the collecting of 198 samples, which were submitted to analysis: counting of Psychrotrophic microorganisms and coagulase-positive staphylococci , estimation of the Most Likely Number of total and thermolerant Coliforms/ Escherichia coli and Salmonella spp research. Results: The results showed that in the microbiological profile, most of the samples were in compliance with the standards. However, 34.3% (68) of non-compliance were recorded, including contamination by the various microorganisms studied, except for Salmonella spp ., which was not identified. Conclusion: The study identified risks to the costumer's health, given the contamination in the products, for both groups of sellers.