The objective of this study was to verify the compliance of the supermarket sector with respect to the Good Practice Program standards of the city of Santa Maria (RS), Brazil. Sixty nine establishments were verified using a checklist of good practices for the supermarket sector in Santa Maria, RS (Brazil), from April to July 2011. The data were collected by a food safety and quality professional using this checklist. The results showed that the overall adequacy of the establishments surveyed was 29.07%. The highest percentage of compliance was found for storage at ambient temperature (64.13%). The lowest compliance percentage was also found in different sections and areas in the supermarkets such as bakery and confectionery (14.93%), water supply (18.30%), food handling (21.01%), sausage and cold meat (or deli meat) (36.38%), and documentation-related items (4.97%). None of the supermarkets evaluated had the necessary documentation for the implementation of good practices. The results of this study show the importance of effectively implementing a good practice program and quality systems by raising awareness among technicians and professionals of the importance of quality programs used in food companies and the need for more thorough inspection delivered by competent authorities to ensure food safety for consumers.

O objetivo deste estudo foi avaliar as condições higiênicas de serviços de alimentação de acordo com a Normativa Brasileira NBR 15635:2008. Foram avaliados 23 serviços de alimentação do município de Santa Maria-RS durante os meses de julho e agosto de 2011. Como critérios de inclusão da pesquisa, foram utilizados os serviços de alimentação comerciais do bairro Centro da cidade de Santa Maria-RS registrados na Vigilância Sanitária e que apresentaram os alvarás sanitários 2009 e 2010 atualizados. O instrumento de coleta de dados foi uma lista de verificação em boas práticas elaborada a partir da Normativa Brasileira para serviços de alimentação. Os resultados demonstraram que somente 4% (n = 1) dos serviços de alimentação avaliados foram classificados no grupo I (Bom), sendo que 70% (n = 16) foram classificados no grupo II (Regular) e 26% (n = 6) foram classificados no grupo III (Deficiente). Pode-se concluir que a maioria dos estabelecimentos avaliados de acordo com a normativa utilizada encontra-se classificada nos grupos regular e ruim, não atendendo, assim, aos requisitos da Normativa.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the hygienic conditions of food service in accordance to the Brazilian Normative NBR 15635:2008. We evaluated 23 food services in the city of Santa Maria (RS) during the months of July and August in the year of 2011. As an inclusion criteria of the research, the food service business from the district of Santa Maria (RS) registered in the Surveillance of health that have the license in 2009 and updated in 2010 were used. The data collection instrument was a checklist in the good practices drawn from the Brazilian Normative for foodservices. The results showed that only 4% (n = 1) from the food services were evaluated in group I (good), 70% (n = 16) were classified in Group II (Regular) and 26% (n = 6) were classified in Group III (Bad). It can be concluded that the majority of the evaluated establishments according to used the rules are classified in the group regularly and bad, thus not attending to the requirements of the Normative.