Assessment of Food Safety Knowledge, Self-Reported Practices, and Microbiological Hand Hygiene Levels of Produce Handlers in Qatar.

Workers' hygiene is one of the most important risk factors in transferring pathogens to foods. Produce handlers lacked basic knowledge on personal hygiene and food safety. Produce handlers' hand hygiene levels were below set standards.

Application of MALDI Biotyper System for Rapid Identification of Bacteria Isolated from a Fresh Produce Market.

MALDI-TOF MS has revolutionized the identification of microorganisms and has become an indispensable part of routine diagnostics in the clinical microbiological laboratory. However, application of this technique in microbial surveillance outside of clinical settings is limited. In this study, we have evaluated the performance of a Bruker MALDI Biotyper System for the identification of bacteria isolated from the hand palms of fresh produce handlers and their surrounding environments in a wholesale fresh produce market in Doha, Qatar.