Abstract

Purpose
The administration of contaminated diets can contribute to severe infections, negative publicity of the hospital and huge financial loss. This study examined the microbiological quality of enteral feeds in order to help improve the process of the enteral feed preparation, storage, and delivery. Methods: The Hazard Analysis Critical Control Points (HACCP) system was implemented to control the level of microbiological contamination of enteral feeding formulations using a 6-sigma strategy, which was processed using the DMAIC method. The effectiveness of the 6-sigma activity was measured using the defect case, which is over the British standard of 10² CFU/ml in enteral feeds. Results: By performing the 6-sigma activity, the microbiological quality of enteral formulas were improved 2.20? to 6.00? (P=0.009). There were more defect cases in the concentrated enteral feeds than the standard or diluted enteral feeds before implementing the HACCP system. Conclusion: These results showed that the implementation of HACCP can help protect against microbial contamination and will be required in the near future for better quality control of enteral feeds. In addition, these results may be applicable to setting up a standard Korean microbiological control in enteral tube feeding. (JKSPEN 2007;1(1):5-12)

• Keywords: Enteral tube feeding, Microbiological control, 6-sigma, HACCP