Workers Safety And Welfare in the Ready-To-Use Fruit Sector

Todays’ new life styles highly value looks “high value added” foods well as ready-to-use fruit and vegetables which provide at the same time high quality, hygiene, practicality and help save time. The words “ready-to-use” foods mean fresh fruit and vegetables that are peeled, chopped, washed, dried, packaged into plastic bags or tubs and sold in refrigerated box and so ready-to-use for consumers. The high quality of “ready-to-use” foods is guaranteed by technologies, as the refrigeration or the modified atmosphere packaging minimizes the oxidative process and the microbial proliferation. The use of low temperatures during the whole processing cycle is very important to slow down the microbial activity and preserve vegetable tissues from deterioration, but it determines uncomfortable conditions in the work environment. The present paper aims at characterizing the work environment conditions in a “ready-to-use” fruit business in order to find out the more considerable risk factors for workers health and safety. The study has pointed out that dangerous risks for workers are due to repetitive movements of the upper limbs, postures maintained for a long time and uncomfortable microclimate exposure and that work accidents can arise from the use of cutting tools, high frequency of handling, washed floors and unsuitable lighting of work places.