Microbiological status of various foods served in elementary school based on social economic status differences in Karawaci Region, Tangerang District – Indonesia

Food can be easily contaminated by microorganisms in public places such as schools, sidewalks, festival areas and others; since it is widely exposed to the air. The purpose of this research was to determine the safety level of various foods served at three selected elementary schools according to their social economic status. Microbiological assay was conducted on fifteen kinds of food. Sample obtained from elementary school A were rice-with-chicken, meet ball, poffertjes, and noodle-with-chicken. Samples obtained from elementary school B were fried breaded-vegetable, banana chocolate, french fries, burger, and noodle-with-chicken. While the last, samples taken from elementary school C were batagor, dumpling, burger, fried banana and tempura. Total aerobic bacteria (APC), yeast and mold (YM), coliform bacteria, and Staphylococcus aureus (SA) were quantitatively analyzed, while qualitative test was conducted for Salmonella sp. The results showed dumplings had the highest contamination as the APC level reached approximately 10^5 cfu/g. The presence of Salmonella sp. was only found in foods obtained from elementary school C. In addition, metal contamination test was also performed within this study by means of Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy (AAS) method, which in conclusion that there was not any harmful metal found to contaminate those various foods.